Wilder Shaw/Cheapism
We know Wendy’s makes a mean chocolate shake. We know Wendy’s has a good grip on bacon. But what about the chicken game? With 10+ chicken items on the menu, how should you know what to order?
I serve the public, so I went to Wendy’s and ordered every chicken item they had for you, and ranked them from best to worst. Here’s what to order from the Wendy’s chicken menu.
$5.39
I’ll start here: No item on the Wendy’s chicken menu is something to write home about. You’re here for a tiny cheeseburger or a Frosty.
The spicy seasoning on Wendy’s chicken patties is barely spicy. It’s barely anything, really, but it certainly adds a bit more depth of flavor than any of the “Classic” chicken items, which are bland as all get out.
$2.69
I probably would never have ordered this, because I’m not fully convinced the fried chicken and American cheese are the best combo, not to mention a fried chicken sandwich almost never needs bacon on it.
I would have been missing out. The tiny, slider-esque size is perfect, and I swear it feels like the smaller patty is crispier and juicer. Wendy’s does a decent job with bacon too, so even though there’s no one terrific ingredient, this sandwich is greater than the sum of its parts.
$6.39
You never really see Asiago cheese inside the sandwich anymore. It’s always an Asiago bun of some sort, and in my opinion, they’re way too overpowering. The “ranch sauce” is a little gross, and really doesn’t taste too much different than plain mayo, but it’s balanced by the cheese and the chicken.
$5.39
The spicy version of this sandwich is barely spicy, so this is only a slight step down the heat scale. It’s also a little bit worse without the flavors that come with the spicy seasoning. Toss the lettuce and add more pickles.
$1.79
This sandwich is a game of dualities. It's crunchy, but the seasoning is bland. The mayo and pickle combo is nice, but the chicken is forgettable. Good and bad. Yin and yang. Go almost anywhere else if you want a snack-sized chicken sandwich.
$2.79 for a four-piece
Before we move forward, I need to take a minute to explain Wendy’s new Saucy Nuggs, because they’re a little different than you might expect.
You may expect something similar to what KFC is up to, with innovative flavors on crunchy, mismatched sizes and shapes of fried chicken.
Wrong! This is just a bunch of Wendy’s standard, boot-shaped nuggets, stuffed into a cup and drenched in sauce. It’s probably my mistake for giving Wendy’s that much credit, but I really thought it would be something more carefully thought-up.
The good news: Garlic Parm is the only flavor worth your time. I wouldn’t have expected something oily and cheesy to compliment a Wendy’s nugget, but I was wrong. These taste like the sticky pool of olive oil, garlic, and parmesan that’s left at the bottom of a plate of Italian garlic knots. I’d drink that stuff for breakfast.
$1.99 for a four-piece
Wendy’s nuggets will do in a pinch, of course, because at the end of the day, a fast-food nugget is a fast-food nugget. The ones at Wendy’s are extremely low-tier.
$1.99 for a four-piece
We’ve got the same problem here as we do with the classic sandwich. This chicken is so bland that anything, including and especially the spicy seasoning, makes it better.
$6.29
There’s decent heat in here, and I should hope so for including the words “ghost” and “pepper,” but it never gets so spicy that it’s unmanageable. There’s a lot going on in here, like crispy onions, ghost pepper cheese, and ghost pepper crispy onions, but unfortunately that’s not exactly what I want out of a fast-food sandwich. Let’s keep it simple, please.
$2.79 for a four-piece
10th place doesn’t accurately reflect the flavor profile here, but I don’t know what else to do. Of course a piece of fried chicken dipped in BBQ sauce is good, but this is the dumbest possible way to order that. Unlike Buffalo and Garlic Parm, you can actually get a little cup of BBQ sauce alongside a normal order of nuggets. Dipping at your own pace is a superior way to eat these. All the sauce does is make the chicken soggy.
$2.79 for a four-piece
Without the safety net of the bun and cheese that you get with the sandwich, there’s no denying these things are spicy. If you want to clean the sinuses out, go for it. If you’re on a road trip or something, I can’t imagine a more hellish thing to eat while you cruise down the highway.
$2.79 for a four-piece
Dang. These are very, very bad. Wendy has an interesting take on Buffalo sauce, and I’m not sure she and I have the same ideas as to what it’s supposed to taste like. There’s no conceivable reason to order these.
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