Round two of the Chicken Dinner Wars has been served! In this bout, the KFC Chicken sandwich and the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich face off! This week’s contestants brought the heat!
If you didn’t catch last week’s match-up, scroll down to the bottom of the page for a refresher on the rules!
With that out of the way, let’s dig in.
Popeyes and KFC both performed remarkably well in this close battle. The individual elements scores were neck and neck, but in the end, only one winner will come out of this razor-close battle with its reputation intact.
The bun on the KFC Chicken Sandwich was evenly toasted, soft and delicious. It was thicker than a typical fast food bun, which complemented the sandwiches’ chicken-to-bun ratio nicely, earning a score of 8.
The Popeyes bun was not as evenly toasted but it was nearly identical to the KFC bun in terms of texture. However, the Popeyes bun was much more flavorful, bringing its score to an 8.5.
In the sauce category, both sauces exceeded the expectation of a usually tasteless fast food mayonnaise. Both sauces were nearly identical but the Popeyes sauce was slightly more flavorful, bringing the sauce scores to 5 for KFC and 5.5 for Popeyes.
Both sandwiches’ toppings consisted solely of pickles, but KFC proved that sometimes, that’s all that’s needed. The KFC pickles were like little crunchy refreshing vinegar circles. They were by far the best fast food pickles I’ve ever had, earning a 9.
The same cannot be said about Popeyes’ pickles, which were a to-be-expected flimsy, mostly tasteless pickles, earning a score of 6.
Onto the make-or-break component of the Chicken Dinner Wars, the chicken patty.
The KFC chicken patty’s breading was not as flavorful as was expected, especially considering the famous 11 herbs and spices it apparently contains. However, it was crispy and evenly coated, earning a solid 7.5.
The Popeyes Chicken Sandwich took the breading element and ran with it. The breading of the patty was a thick, heavily seasoned, crispy flavor layer coating the Popeyes chicken. The breading was significantly more flavorful than that of the KFC chicken sandwich, earning it a perfect 10.
In the chicken category, both sandwiches shined for differing reasons. The KFC chicken was remarkably tender and flavorful, earning 8.5. The Popeyes chicken was juicier than the KFC chicken but was not as tender, also earning an 8.5.
The extra points category was dead even.
Both sandwiches were priced at $3.99 meaning no extra points will be awarded in this category.
Popeyes earns a customer service point for the worker asking me if I wanted any extra sauce, which was denied due to the rules of the Chicken Dinner Wars prohibiting any modifications.
While the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich was slightly bigger, KFC earns a presentation point for a perfect chicken to bun ratio, which I (the grand master of chicken sandwiches) decided is a more valuable element of a chicken sandwich.
This battle came down to less than a point, with KFC earning an overall flavor score of 39 and Popeyes barely scratching out a win with a remarkable overall flavor score of 39.5! Meaning that the Popeyes chicken sandwich will advance to the next round of the Chicken Dinner Wars!
While KFC put up a good fight, it was not enough to pass to the next round and it will join McDonald’s on the Chicken Sandwich wall of shame!
Be sure to catch our next battle between The Habit, and Tournament favorite, Chick-fil-A!
