Fried Chicken Sandwich Wars!

Yes, I’m late to the fried chicken sandwich wars, at least in the fast food world. If you scan back through my posts through the years you will see I have had my fair share of them in SF and around the country. It seems for local restaurants, having a fried chicken sandwich on your menu is as common as a burger. Neighborhood spots have been elevating the fried chicken breast for years before the quickie compendium began to muscle in on the mom and pop shops.

That’s not to say fast food boîtes didn’t have them, they did, but they seemed to be of the pressed, processed chicken kind and not the hand breaded or battered fresh chicken breast. Just take at look at the original examples below (yes, I’ve had some fast food breakdowns occasionally)

The one on the left was a version from McDonalds’ when they were trying to do an “artisan buttermilk chicken” a couple years ago. The one on the right was a spicy fried one from Burger King they started pushing around the time they added they Beyond Whopper to the menu. As you can both are all white meat chicken but they are of the pressed together pieces of white meat chicken to form patties that are then breaded and frozen before sending to franchises to just drop in the deep fat fryer straight out of the freezer. Doesn’t sound too appetizing, but then, usually one stops here for speed, convenience and cheapness. Yep, that about covers me!

Then in 2019, before the world shut down, Popeye’s got the “brilliant” idea—hey we already sell hand battered chicken and have chicken breasts around, why don’t we just make a fried chicken sandwich out of them using our crispy chicken recipe. And voila! Through some kind of marketing genius, it took off through TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and so on and became a hot commodity. So much so, that in the beginning, some locations actually ran out of sandwiches. From there, the rush was on to match the fried chicken hysteria at other chains and over the next couple years it seems each major chain and a number of minor ones, have rolled out their versions of this still national obsession.

Now I’m not forgetting that red and white chain which is closed on Sundays and that shall not be named by me. Technically they did offer the original fried chicken sandwich restaurant based solely around the sandwich. But before their corporate homophobia, I grew up with them. My mother loved them. They were in every mall. Yet I was never a fan. While it is a chicken breast, it is more a light coating and not hand breaded. Kind of reminded me of the original recipe chicken at KFC. But I always remember going into these places with mom and getting the sandwich and thinking, why is this so dry? There are just pickles on it? Why is there nothing on the bun? No mayo? I didn’t get it. My mother usually just ate the chicken inside and the pickles skipping the bun since she was on a diet you know. I just kept thinking, I hope I get free refills on my soda because this is a lot of dry bread and chicken and I just didn’t get the pickle. I will concede, I liked their waffle fries. You can’t really go wrong with deep fried potatoes.

Beyond all that, and for purposes of these next few posts, I will not be including them that shall not be named and just concentrate on the newest batch of sandwiches. Hitting up some national well known spots, a handful of places that seem to be chains around the Southeast and whatever ever new addition that seems to adding to the fried chicken fervor I may come across. So yes, this will most likely be an ongoing thing.

The first four sandwiches I will cover are all from places which do chicken, primarily fried, as their specialty. I mean, if they can’t do a fried chicken sandwich right then what hope do those other fast food chains have? Let’s see shall we.

Why not start with the sandwich that started all the hubbub from Popeye’s. As mentioned, the big deal about it was it was a full chicken breast, not pounded down or pressed white meat, hand battered in their signature style on a toasted bun with a pickle and mayo—an addition over those other people with just a pickle.

As you can see in the pic, it just looks tasty. The breast is sizeable and outstretches the bun, a good ratio since you don’t want to have just some bread and mayo as your last bite. Since it is cooked to order you get a juicy hot piece right out of the fryer. But don’t fret, it doesn’t taste all greasy and they bun isn’t soaking up any excess grease either. It is a big juicy, crunchy bite from the get go and the addition of mayo does help add some extra tang along with the pickles.

I must say as a side note, I’ve never really gotten the whole chicken and pickle thing, kind of like chicken and waffles. I mean why? Pickles I get as a sandwich condiment but it seems as if someone just had a personal taste for this combo and people went along with. I have found though, not all pickles are equal when it comes to these sandwiches, and yes, they ALL did the pickle thing no matter where I got it.

For this one, they add just enough vinegary-ness without overwhelming the chicken. Just a hint, kind of like the mayo which is on the top and bottom of the bun, just enough to help the sandwich along without drenching it. (Mayo was also of varying degrees in the sandwiches). It comes on a brioche bun because, you know, they are fancier than your basic white bread burger bun. Supposedly adds a little buttery back taste, though—me, I would have been fine with some actual butter on the toasted bun—#dreams!

I can see why this took off. Seems Popeye’s did a lot of market testing to make it right from the get go and nailed it. I’ve had more than one of these and each was pretty spot on. They were all from the same location and as I will cover with others, sometimes sandwiches can vary from location to location. Chains make every effort to have consistency and standards for cooking and while for the most part it works, sometimes, depending on who is working, small things get rushed or overdone. Too much mayo, overcooked chicken, no pickles, etc. I know these things having worked at three different fast food chains in years past. You try as hard as you can to follow the guidelines, but sometimes…..it just happens.

In essence, I liked this sandwich and it kind of is the gold standard on which all others can be judged, good or bad. They also offer it in a spicy version, which is really just a spicy sauce addition instead of mayo. I haven’t tried that one, yet, and other spots also offer classic and spicy, which I’ll cover. I would say if you are going to dive into the fried chicken sandwich debate, start with the OFCS (that’s original fried chicken sandwich for the oldsters) and go from there.

Much like me to these sandwich wars, Bojangles finally released theirs just a few weeks ago. Their difference is a breast in their signature spicy bread seasoning, meaning, they don’t have a regular, just the spicy. It comes with mayo and two largish pickles, on the top of the brioche bun. I kind of liked this one as the breast was bigger, though not as big or extra crunchy as Popeyes. The pickles, however, were thicker and cruncher and do add some vinegar to the spice which is leveled off with the mayo. Though it is a late comer, it is definitely a contender.

One point of note, as mentioned above, because these places are chains, while they try to maintain consistency from location to location sometimes it doesn’t happen. I tried this at two different spots and my first pass came with no pickles (maybe they were out?) and there was just a drop of mayo. Since I’d just spent 20 minutes in the drive thru to get it I did not go back. Instead, I hit up another spot near work and they created the complete version above.

**Zaxby’s spicy fried chicken sandwich**

Zaxbys, here is one of those chains which is specific to the Southeast with over 900! locations. Though I believe they also have a handful in Utah of all places. They are known for their wings, chicken fingers and sauces so adding a sandwich really isn’t much of a stretch. Theirs came out late 2020 and they went all in. It is a large size breast with thick pickles on a potato bun (not brioche!). It comes with your choice of Zax sauce in either regular or spicy. Zax sauce is kind of like 1000 island dressing with hints of Worcestersire sauce, vinegar, garlic and other stuff mixed in. Spicy is the same sauce pepper spiced up.

I went spicy and they squirt it on the bottom bun and then drizzle it across the chicken before putting the top bun on. This was another one I liked with a juicy breast and great chicken to bun ratio. The spicy is kind of spicy and I’m a fan but it isn't enough to burn your tongue and miss out on the crispy chicken and pickles. While they may not get the notice of bigger chains, it is a sandwich worth checking out. I will probably go back and try the regular Zax sauce version. Once I get through everyone else’s that is.

KFC, we all know them. They do chicken right. Isn’t that their tagline motto? The idea they only entered into the sandwich fray a few months ago is surprising somewhat. I believe their reasoning was they wanted to make something that could compete with the popularity of Popeyes (doesn’t everyone?!) and did massive amounts of product testing get it right, supposedly. What you get is a hand dipped breast in their signature crispy 11 herbs and spices on a brioche bun (it’s back!) with mayo and pickle. Honestly, the chicken part had that great classic KFC seasoning taste, the rest, eh. I didn’t like the bun here. It tasted more like a regular hamburger bun than buttery brioche. The mayo was a little thin, not thick like out of the jar, more like a sauce and the pickles were ho hum.

Which is why I went back and tried their spicy version. Which as you can see is a sauce they add in addition to the mayo already on there. The spicy sauce was akin to mayo with tabasco added thus it was like drenching it in double mayo which just made the bun more soggy and didn’t do much to enhance those 11 herbs and spices people enjoy so much about KFC. While I’ll give them the thumbs up on doing the chicken part right, for me, they didn’t pull of the other sandwich components with basic pickles and bread. Plus for the spicy, if it is just a spicy mayo then no need to add more regular mayo to what is already a too wet sandwich. It just makes a mess.

As a recap for this first batch (oh yes, I gots plenty more to come y’all!)—Popeyes OGFCS is well worth trying and for once, hype does live up to reality. Bojangles and Zaxbys are a solid options worth trying if the drive thru line is long at Popeyes. Oddly enough, at least here, I find these places seem to all congregate near each other. Go figure. And KFC, well, they do good chicken, plus some decent slaw and solid green beans, but I’d stick to the meals and buckets and take a pass on the sandwich.

Stay tuned, next up are the burger boys. Let’s see what they can do with chicken when they aren’t chicken spots. How do you get some fried skin in the game when normally all about the beef? It is no longer “where’s the beef?” Now it's where’s the chicken?