Close Finish for First in Fast Food Fried Chicken Taste Test
Chicken is one of the most versatile proteins in the culinary world. It pairs well with many side dishes, and cooks easily in a variety of ways: baked, grilled, stewed, rotisserie, and, of course, fried.
Fried chicken has been part of American cuisine for hundreds of years. Dating back to the 1800s, Scottish immigrants are credited with bringing deep fried chicken (as opposed to the British way of cooking it, baking or boiling it) to the southern United States, and it remains a staple when it comes to comfort food today.
Despite its popularity, there are not many major national chains that primarily serve fried chicken. However, in an effort to find the best fast food fried chicken in America, I sampled four of the largest chains in the country to determine which one can call itself the Prince of Poultry.
Being based in New York, I included national chains Church’s Chicken, KFC, Popeye’s, and Kennedy Fried Chicken, a smaller chain primarily based in the northeast.
The parameters were the same throughout the taste test. Order two pieces of chicken (one leg, one breast), two sides (mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese), a biscuit, and a drink. The restaurants were ranked based on the flavor, temperature, freshness, quantity of food and price point.
Kennedy Fried Chicken
Price: $7
Order time: One minute
Temperature: Chicken was hot, sides were cold.
Review: Like everyone else, I always enjoy a good underdog story, which is why I wanted Kennedy Fried Chicken to pull an upset over its bigger, more well-known competitors. My experience started out great. Kennedy’s price was better than the rest and everything on the plate looked appetizing, so much so that I was able to overlook the fact that I was served a dinner roll rather than a biscuit. The chicken, which looked distinctively different than any of the other chains’ offerings, managed to strike the perfect balance of crispiness, juiciness, and flavor. Kennedy’s chicken was tender, and its skin seemingly took the best qualities of Popeye’s and KFC and combined them to create the perfect casing for the piping hot poultry. And then I tried the sides. The mashed potatoes were lukewarm, bland, and the serving size was skimpy. The macaroni and cheese was outright cold, which was disappointing because it looked to have the most homemade look of any of the restaurants I tried. Without a doubt I would eat Kennedy’s chicken again, but the sides and lack of biscuit were just too much to truly put it on the same level as Church’s, KFC, and Popeye’s.
Ranking: 4th
KFC
Price: $11.30
Order time: Four minutes
Temperature: Chicken and sides were warm.
Review: KFC (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken) is easily the most recognizable of the five chains I sampled during this test. From its iconic mascot, Colonel Sanders, to the trademark blend of 11 different herbs and spices, KFC is like the McDonald’s of fried chicken. What set KFC’s chicken offering apart from the others was its flavorful skin, which was visibly seasoned and was the best tasting of the bunch. While there was a little crunch, for the most part, the skin lacked crispiness and was greasier than the others. The overall temperature of the chicken was warm, which led to the breast being a little dry once you took more than a few bites. What I thought was a juicy piece of meat was really just grease. The biscuit that came with my meal was dry, overcooked, and lacked flavor, easily making it the worst part of the meal. KFC’s biggest selling point was its side dishes. The macaroni and cheese was absolutely delicious, with soft elbow-shaped pasta coated with plenty of melted goodness. The mashed potatoes came with rich, traditional brown gravy, which made it the perfect dipping companion for my pedestrian biscuit. KFC’s strong points were its seasoned chicken skin and superb sides, which were enough to overcome a mediocre biscuit, a slight lack of freshness, a higher price and longer wait. But the chicken skin and sides were not enough to have it leapfrog the top two chicken joints on this list.
Ranking: 3rd
Church’s Chicken
Price: $11.95
Order time: Two minutes
Temperature: Warm
Review: Tucked away in the back of a food court in Midtown Manhattan is a diamond in the rough when it comes to fried chicken. Seeing as Church’s Chicken restaurants are scarce around the entire country, it’s not surprising that more people don’t mention it when it comes to fast food, which is a shame because, for the most part, they offer an excellent product. Church’s was one item away from dethroning the winner of this competition, which is saying a lot considering the low expectations due to my lack of experience with the chain. Church’s Chicken most closely resembled Popeye’s, with a flaky, crispy skin and juicy, flavorful meat on the leg. In addition to a delicious piece of chicken, the sides were rich with flavor and aesthetically pleasing. This is particularly true of the mac and cheese, which appeared to have been baked, sporting a well-done top layer and stringy melted cheese. The mashed potatoes had a nice consistency and, while on their own, were mediocre, the gravy, which had a nice black pepper kick, elevated them enough that they did not take away from the meal. The biscuit was moist on the inside, had a nice crust on top, and was brushed with a light coating of honey, which was a nice touch that really made it stand out among its competition. Truth be told, I was ready to declare Church’s the winner after sampling all of this, but when I got to the chicken, I was severely disappointed. There was not much meat at all on the breast and what little I could actually find was dry and tasteless. While it may have been a one-off experience, the terrible breast, combined with a slightly higher price tag, were enough to keep Church’s from pulling off the upset and coming away with the win in this taste test.
Ranking: 2nd
Popeye’s
Price: $7.61
Order time: One minute
Temperature: Hot
Review: I would be lying if I told you this was an easy decision. Popeye’s and Church’s were like two heavyweight fighters trading blows in the 12th round of a world championship bout. What earned Popeye’s the victory, was the overall excellence of its chicken, which had every quality I was looking for in a great leg and breast, and the fact that there was little to complain about. Popeye’s chicken was cooked to perfection, offering a hot, juicy center as well as a flaky, crispy outer coating that provided contrasting textures that easily made up for the lack of flavor when compared to KFC’s and Kennedy’s skin. That said, if Popeye’s manufactured fried chicken skin crisps like potato chips, I’d be the happiest —and heaviest — man on Earth. Chicken aside, the only part of my meal that may have been better was the biscuit, which was superior to all other bread offerings. Popeye’s biscuit was flaky, soft, warm and moist in the center, and on top of it all, topped with a light coat of butter. If I had to give one gripe about my meal, it would be that the side dishes were a bit disappointing, with the macaroni and cheese resembling what you would find in a T.V. dinner, and the mashed potatoes sporting a Cajun gravy, featuring various spices and flecks of red beans that gave it a flavor that I wasn’t quite looking for. Despite those minor qualms, at the end of the day, that the sides were fine, just not up to the same level as KFC or Church’s. Ultimately, this was a taste test for fried chicken, and Popeye’s offered a product that was crisp, fresh and juicy, three of the most important components of a great piece of meat, giving it the edge over the rest of its competition and allowing it to claim the title of Yahoo Food’s fried chicken king.
Ranking: 1st
More fast food taste tests from Yahoo Food:
Surprise winner in hamburger taste test
Fast food breakfast: Who takes the crown?
Dominos, Little Caesars, Papa John’s, Sbarro, and Pizza Hut: Which is best?
