Chalupa Vs. Gordita: What's The Actual Difference?

Broadly speaking, Mexican chalupas and gorditas sound similar to each other. They're both dishes with a masa flatbread base, one which is fried (chalupa) and one of which isn't (gordita). The chalupa takes a vaguely taco or tostada-like shape (or a boat shape, really, which is where it gets its name), and it has a crunchier texture than the gordita, as well as a more robust structural integrity. The filling is usually some kind of meat, like beef, chicken, or chorizo, with toppings like salsa, lettuce, and crema.

A gordita, on the other hand, resembles a small Mexican calzone (another popular street food), or perhaps a pita pocket, as its filling is stuffed inside its masa shell, creating thick little dumplings or turnovers. (Gordita literally means "fat little girl," and it's hard to say it's not an apt description.) This is obviously quite different from a chalupa, and very different indeed from the Taco Bell Gordita.

At this point, most people are probably aware that the food served at Taco Bell is not, in fact, authentic Mexican food. That's not meant as a judgment of its quality, but as a reminder that a lot of what you see labeled on the menu as such-and-such item may be something entirely different from the genuine article. Two cases in point: the Chalupa and the Gordita. Both contain the same fillings as a Taco Bell crunchy taco (meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes), but wrappped in a wheat flatbread instead of a crunchy corn shell — or the masa-based wrapppings of their authentic cousins.

So, let's discuss the differences between the two Taco Bell dishes. Gorditas and Chalupas at Taco Bell are really two umbrellas that cover several different menu items, such as the Gordita Supreme from the Decades menu or the gone-but-not-forgotten Chalupa XXL, but let's not split hairs. There's really only one main difference between the two menu items, which is that the Chalupa flatbread is deep fried, while the Gordita flatbread isn't. Both dishes come from the same base, with the only difference between them being a minute in the fryer. Thus, the Chalupa is a lot crispier and crunchier than the Gordita — which may or may not be a draw for you. We don't claim to know your deeply held Taco Bell belief system.