KFC’s entrant into the Fried Chicken Sandwich wars gets the FFG treatment. Let’s take a look.
Here is how KFC describes their revamped sandwich:
The new KFC Chicken Sandwich is expected to delight the most discerning of chicken sandwich connoisseurs in every way – from the quarter-pound, all-white meat, double-breaded, Extra Crispy™ chicken breast filet, to its freshly-toasted buttery brioche bun, crispier, thicker pickles, and the perfect amount of the Colonel’s real mayo or spicy sauce. Each sandwich is made when ordered, so it is served piping hot every time. Fried chicken fans have never tasted a sandwich like this before.
When we’ve previously taken a look at Wendy’s and McDonald’s latest Crispy/Friend Chicken Sandwich offerings, they’ve simply been ok. Fast food eateries that don’t specialize in chicken can get by only having mid tier sandwiches, but if your bread and butter is the fried bird, you better have a top shelf, pants down to your ankles offering.
While Chick-fil-a has sat idly by on throne, KFC has taken aim by offering a bigger, crispier breast, pickles so thick that they should have spelled it with three c’s, and a sauce offering on both the original and spicy variety. The press release for this sandwich reads like the sandwich is God’s Gift to Mother Earth, mentioning that eight different pickle thicknesses and six different bakeries were used for bun prototypes to create the best sandwich out there.
You’ll notice that it seems like everyone is copying the Chick-fil-a approach of presenting the sandwich in a heat sealing bag. While the KFC fold job wasn’t done with much precision, the sandwich within looked unblemished.
Also of note, before we get to the taste, is that multiple KFC’s had to be visited to actually purchase this sandwich, due to the fact that the first one we tried didn’t have any breasts thawed. I was asked if two strips would suffice, and I promptly drove away. It’s amazing to think that fast food employees think people are merely in the drive thru to have a meal, but in actuality trying to review and experience a product.
The sandwich appeared beastly, after debuting out of the bag. The chicken had that golden, brown glow of being freshly fried. I must admit that truly great friend chicken as a robust aroma that tantalizes your taste buds, and this sandwich brought that dream scenario. Due to the ample size of the chicken and also that it didn’t have a prefab shape or appearance at all, the sandwich has a more premium, restaurant feel.
The pickles were round and thick, which they needed to be to handle the girth of the chicken. The three pickles were so diameter rich that when laid flat, they nearly covered the whole bottom bun.
There was a large smattering of sauce on both the top and bottom bun, way more abundant and noticeable than on the McDonalds sandwich. I got the spicy sauce variety and it was rather spunky. It seems that restaurants got the message that this spicy sauce, should actually be enough to notice. I’d love to have this sauce to dip in some fries.
I will also note that the bakery brioche bun that was used, was very soft, pillowy and actually toasted to a reasonable amount. When you held the sandwich, it got a little bit flat, but I think that’s just the general nature of brioche withstanding fried chicken.
Overall the KFC Chicken Sandwich was a standout. The extra crispy, juice nature of the chicken was the best chicken I’ve had on a sandwich to date. It was radiating in taste. The pickles and spicy sauce created a dynamic element, and both were very noticeable while not taking too much away from the chicken.
While I’ve seen the least amount of publicity for this sandwich out of them all, it definitely is in the top tier of chicken sandwiches, neck and neck and possibly dethroning Chick-fil-a’s standard sandy. We can’t wait to try Popeye’s sandwich so we can conclude our rankings.
KFC Chicken Sandwich: 8.5/10
Extra-Crispy Double Breaded KFC Breast: 9/10