Nov. 9 was National Fried Chicken Sandwich Day – an occasion with, as the food service trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News put it, arguably “significantly more weight behind it now than it did in early 2019….”
Things changed for chicken sandwiches on Aug. 12, of that year, when Popeyes launched a new menu item – a fried chicken sandwich – igniting the so-called “chicken sandwich wars.” The culinary (well, actually, marketing) conflict began a week later, when one of the chain’s rivals, Chick-fil-A, tweeted that its chicken sandwich was “the original.” Popeyes promptly fired back “…y’all good?” – and the fight was on.
Popeyes scored big on social media, earning 80,000 shares and 340,000 likes within hours of its tweet, and over the next few weeks, thousands of chicken-sandwich-lovers tweeted about their preferences, while other chains, including KFC and Wendy’s, weighed in on the merits of their own versions. Popeyes emerged victorious, at least in the short term, temporarily selling out of the item, and reporting a 38% jump in sales in the fourth quarter of the year.
Needless to say, just about every other fast food chain soon either rolled out a fried chicken sandwich for the first time or refined and began promoting one it already offered. Both chicken sandwiches and the war over them are still hot topics in the food world. One indication: The hashtag #ChickenSandwich has racked up over 1.7 billion views on TikTok, while #ChickenSandwichWars has gotten 7.9 million.
So whose chicken sandwich is the best today? Brian and Scott Wilson, who style themselves “the Mashed Brothers,” set out to answer that question, compiling the results in “21 Chicken Sandwiches, Ranked: The Ultimate Tier List” on the food website Mashed, the results of which they shared with 24/7 Tempo.
The two tasted chicken sandwiches from 21 chains in the course of one 24-hour period, grading them on “taste, fixings, outer crispiness, inner moistness, and meat fibers/thread count, similar to the way that picky hotel guests judge their sheets by the thread count….” (Scott notes “Big thick threads is when you know it’s real.”)
The sandwich judged No. 1 was given a “Mashelin Star” (a play on haute cuisine’s Michelin star). That one came from 700-plus-unit Louisiana-based Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, whose sandwich the brothers hailed for having “so much beautiful meat” – in the form of three crisp chicken fingers instead of a chicken patty or slab – and for a secret sauce they liked. (If wings are more your thing, here’s a list of the best place to get chicken wings in every state.)
The next two entries were given an “S” rating, for “super” or “superb.” The rest were graded on a conventional A-F scale, all the way down to the last-place entry, which also got a special prize: the Burger Time Award, meaning that you should just forget the chicken sandwich at this establishment and get a burger instead. That was actually quite appropriate, since the ultimate loser was McDonald’s. (These are the McDonald’s capitals of America.)
21. McDonald’s
Source: hapabapa / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 67.9 billion
- TikTok hashtag: #mcdonalds
- Award or grade: Burger Time Award
20. White Castle
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 263.1 Million
- TikTok hashtag: #whitecastle
- Award or grade: F
19. Burger King
Source: lawcain / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 9.4 Billion
- TikTok hashtag: #burgerking
- Award or grade: F
18. Portillo’s
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 156.3 Million
- TikTok hashtag: #portillos
- Award or grade: D
17. Rally’s Drive-In
Source: jetcityimage / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 107.2 Million
- TikTok hashtag: #rallys
- Award or grade: D
16. Dairy Queen
Source: sanfel / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 5.0 Billion
- TikTok hashtag: #dairyqueen
- Award or grade: D
15. Sonic Drive-In
Source: Wolterk / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 22.7 Billion
- TikTok hashtag: #sonic
- Award or grade: D
14. Arby’s
Source: RiverNorthPhotography / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 1.4 Billion
- TikTok hashtag: #arbys
- Award or grade: C
13. Hardee’s
Source: J. Michael Jones / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 363.9 Million
- TikTok hashtag: #hardees
- Award or grade: C
12. Popeyes
Source: JHVEPhoto / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 3.2 Billion
- TikTok hashtag: #popeyes
- Award or grade: C
11. Zaxby’s
Source: J. Michael Jones / Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 240.1 Million
- TikTok hashtag: #zaxbys
- Award or grade: C
10. Shake Shack
Source: mizoula / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 370.6 Million
- TikTok hashtag: #shakeshack
- Award or grade: B
9. Jack in the Box
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 29.9 Million
- TikTok hashtag: #jackinabox
- Award or grade: B
8. KFC
Source: bankrx / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 19.1 Billion
- TikTok hashtag: #kfc
- Award or grade: B
7. Chick-fil-A
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 8.6 Billion
- TikTok hashtag: #chickfila
- Award or grade: B
6. Wendy’s
Source: RiverNorthPhotography / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 3.9 Billion
- TikTok hashtag: #wendys
- Award or grade: B
5. Jaggers
Source: Courtesy of Bill C. via Yelp
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 1.1 Million
- TikTok hashtag: #jaggers
- Award or grade: A
4. Culver’s
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 409.7 Million
- TikTok hashtag: #culvers
- Award or grade: A
3. CityBird
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 759.5 Million
- TikTok hashtag: #citybird
- Award or grade: S
2. Church’s Texas Chicken
Source: jetcityimage / Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 54.4 Million
- TikTok hashtag: #churchschicken
- Award or grade: S
1. Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers
Source: jetcityimage / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
- Total chain TikTok views to Nov. 9, 2023: 1.9 billion
- TikTok hashtag: #raisingcames
- Award or grade: Mashelin Star
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