There’s a wide sweeping push across all of the fast food world involving chicken. Hot, grilled, or buttermilk fried, 2015 might be known as the year of the chicken. Pittsburgh also seems to be the epicenter of test marketing for chicken. We’ve previously visited Wendy’s Grilled Chicken as well as KFC’s Nashville Hot Chicken, and now we have discovered a brand new line of Buttermilk Chicken being tested at Arby’s.
Being campaigned as having Bold Flavors and Buttermilk Breading, Arby’s is testing this out in three sandwiches. Buffalo Chicken contains the new chicken breast smothered in buffalo sauce, then topped with spiced ranch, and lettuce. The Chicken Bacon Swiss is a current menu item, but contains the new buttermilk chicken, pepper bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a dijon honey mustard sauce. Finally, we have the sandwich that we tried out, the Chicken Pepperoni Parm, which presents the new chicken lathered in marinara sauce, then topped with thick cut Parmesan cheese, and deli sliced pepperoni.
While these are only test items, I do want to drop some thoughts on the Chicken Pepperoni Parm. The new chicken is crispy and flavorful but the true buttermilk flavor was hard to truly appreciate in the marinara sauce. The Parmesan cheese was the real deal, thick cut and authentic. The Pepperoni was a nice spicy addition and the sandwich really reminded me of a premium, deluxe version of Subway’s old Chicken Pizziola. Arby’s truly doesn’t skimp on premium ingredients and it shines through. Here’s hoping this new chicken line makes it nationwide.
