Chipotle Has Finally Revealed Its First-Ever Dessert

Laura Murray/Thrillist
Laura Murray/Thrillist

Although Chipotle has long been reluctant to complicate its menu with new dishes and ingredients, the company has been teasing the introduction of dessert at its restaurants for months now. On Tuesday, the company finally revealed what it has in store and -- spoiler alert -- it's not churros. 

During its latest quarterly earnings call, the company announced it will begin testing a simple fried dough dessert called buñuelos. The sweet treats are made with fried flour tortilla chips, honey, sugar, and cinnamon that come with an apple caramel sauce. While simple, they are Chipotle's first-ever dessert and the chain will begin testing them in some stores next month, company spokesman Chris Arnold said when reached via email. He said more details will be available soon. 

Buñuelos is the first new menu item Chipotle has offered -- albeit a test for now -- since it added chorizo as a protein option last fall, and it comes as the company continues to recover from devastating food-borne illness incidents in late 2015. Notably, the company also announced same-restaurant sales increased 17.8% during the first quarter and revenue increased 28.1% to $1.07 billion -- numbers that immediately sent Chipotle's stock up, according to a report by Business Insider. Chipotle CEO Steve Ells characterized the increases as a "strong start" and as the result of focusing on the customer experience at its restaurants. 

It's worth pointing out that Chipotle recently touted its simple, additive-free menu of just 51 ingredients, but plans to add additional menu items like desserts to lure in more customers over time. We're still holding out for so-called Nacho Bowls, of course.

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Tony Merevick is Cities News Editor at Thrillist and hopes they come to NYC as part of the test. Send news tips to news@thrillist.com and follow him on Twitter @tonymerevick.