Ranking Fast Food Fried Chicken Sandwiches From Worst To First

It's a good time to be a fried chicken sandwich in America. After spending years trying to dazzle hungry customers with increasingly over-the-top creations, stacking everything from house-cured maple bourbon bacon to sour cherry compote on top of burgers and chicken sandwiches, chefs have gotten back to basics.

A truly excellent fried chicken sandwich doesn't try to dazzle you with the cheffy pedigree of its toppings, or the complexity of its preparation. A warm, soft bun. A little dab of mayonnaise or other signature sauce, sometimes. The tang of a few sliced pickles to cut through the richness of the shatteringly crisp, moist fried chicken filet. Maybe a scattering of lettuce and/or tomato for color and texture. And that's it.

Made correctly and with restraint, a simple, balanced fried chicken sandwich can be a thing of understated beauty, especially when the individual components are treated with care and attention. And yes, you really can find an excellent fried chicken sandwich at a fast food drive-thru window. Not all fast food fried chicken sandwiches are created equally, however... so there was just one thing to do. We ate them all. Here are the results.

The Big Chicken sandwich from Checkers puts all the emphasis where it counts; namely, on a full quarter-pound of fried chicken breast, served simply with shredded lettuce and mayonnaise on a sesame seed bun.

Unfortunately, most of the good news stops there, as this sandwich seems like a much better idea on paper, than in reality. For all of the promotion of the pre-cooked weight of the (weirdly ridged and bumpy) processed chicken filet, the finished product seems a little wimpy; there's not much in the way of plumpness or moisture, with a soggy, nearly flavorless breading that starts to fuse with the mayonnaise-covered cut interior of the bun into a pasty sludge long before you've worked your way through even half of the sandwich. 

At their best, good fast food fried chicken sandwiches can stand solely on the strength of their quality ingredients. The Checkers Big Chicken sandwich represents the opposite approach.

Unless you're lucky enough to live in one of the few states that enjoys their sackfuls of tiny hamburgers, you may not have had the chance to eat at a White Castle recently — that 100-year-old chain of castle-shaped roadside restaurants that were once the pride of roadside American dining.

Their small, 2x2-inch steamed burgers continue to be a craveable obsession for many, but the chain's efforts to branch out into other pocket-sized sandwiches have been mixed, at best. White Castle has a few options for getting your chicken on: One is the bizarre, nearly flavorless feat of food engineering known as the Chicken Ring Slider, made with formed, highly-processed chicken breast. Another, somewhat more natural and appealing choice, is the  Chicken Breast Slider. These tiny sandwiches provide a surprising pop of flavor, featuring a chunk of very moist and juicy chicken breast topped simply with American cheese, and served on one of White Castle's signature steamed slider buns. The overall impact is like someone softly whispering a little puff of chicken breath into your ear while you are sleeping soundly; it leaves the impression of having eaten food, without any evidence to support the consumption of a meal other than a sad scattering of empty cardboard slider boxes.

For those of us that love eating in our cars and drinking sweetened ice drinks that taste like pickles, it's hard to compete with Sonic Drive-In. The chain continues to serve rock-solid versions of classic drive-in fare, at low prices and with friendly service. This tradition mostly continues with the Classic Crispy Chicken Sandwich, with some caveats.

The Classic Crispy Chicken Sandwich is served traditionally, with lettuce, sliced tomato, and mayonnaise, on a Brioche bun. The bun is pleasantly squishy and warm, with the lettuce and tomatoes neither adding nor particularly detracting from the experience, as with most of the fried chicken sandwiches we tasted. The chicken itself has a natural texture, and is breaded crisply and evenly. The chicken stays crunchy, though it does lean toward being somewhat underseasoned. Our biggest objection is to the overall dryness of the sandwich, which is something of an issue across the menu board at Sonic. It's a good thing they have more than a million drink choices...

Depending on where you are in the US, you either have a Hardee's or a Carl's Jr. in your area — or you have neither. Regardless, the chicken at both places is the same chicken; it comes from the same place, and the tastes are the same. 

Their chicken is the Big Chicken Fillet Sandwich — "big" because everything they serve is enormous. The sandwich is lettuce, tomatoes, and mayo, on a massive brioche bun. When they say big, they mean big! This is a YUGE piece of chicken. It's actually not that bad. It's not super flavorful but it's also fairly edible with a mild spice and moist chicken — it's just... big. Too big. If you're just off a three-year desert island stay, this might be a good choice for stop number one. If not, that's a whole lot of chicken going on. Buyer beware.

Chicken fingers are a thing, and people get very passionate about their favorite places. Here's the secret: They're all just selling sauce and the "spoon" is the chicken finger. But all the big places out there actually make a pretty fine chicken! Zaxby's is no exception, specializing in "fingers" but Zaxby's also does offer up a sandwich if you're so inclined.

For this entry, let's actually discuss both. The Chicken Fingers Sandwich is simply chicken fingers on a bun — wisely served with their signature "Zax" sauce and lettuce and tomatoes. This—on paper—works. But something about Zaxby's chicken, sauce, and lettuce doesn't play the way it should on a bun. It doesn't make much sense but it's probably the one thing you don't want to get at Zaxby's.  

They also offer a couple other traditional chicken sandwiches. For our purposes we're focusing on the regular old Southern TLC sandwich. It's about as traditional "southern homestyle" as you can get — just lettuce, tomato, and mayo. It's hard to not want to pour a Zax's sauce on here, but if you do that, you're just back to the Chicken Fingers Sandwich (without the fingers). It's fairly underwhelming and you're better served going with another sandwich or just riding those chicken fingers.

For many years, long before a simple fried chicken sandwich became the "of the moment" fast food item of choice, the Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Wendy's was our gold-standard for what a drive-thru chicken sandwich could be. It's traditionally stood out in a field of fried chicken sandwich wannabes, with a perfectly balanced blend of spicy peppered breaded chicken that will wake up your senses without being overpowering, topped simply with leaf lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise, and served on a faux-Brioche style bun. But with the heat rising in the chicken sandwich space, would Wendy's be able to keep up with the new field of competitors?

The chicken here is thinner than many of the other sandwiches we tasted, but it doesn't compromise in terms of flavor. That familiar Wendy's heat is still there, and still seems the most balanced of many of the sandwiches in our lineup. The biggest inconsistencies lie in the quality and crunch of the breading, which can range from "crunchy" on a freshly-made sandwich, to "soggy and lifeless" on a chicken patty that's been around a while, as well as in the tomato, which almost always seems to be mealy and lifeless. Get lucky with at least two out of the five ingredients, however, and this sandwich is still a star.

If you've never been to a Culver's, you should find one. They really stress quality ingredients, and practice a friendly service each time they dutifully take your order. Culver's—if you don't know—makes their bread and butter on... butterburgers. But they also offer up a chicken sandwich. And wouldn't you know it? That's a darn tasty sandwich.

The Crispy Chicken Sandwich is in the family of "southern style." The texture has a nice flavor to it; it tastes like a real piece of chicken. Culver's standard toppings aren't what you'd expect — you get lettuce, tomato, and pickles, but there are no condiment present. No mayo, no mustard, no secret sauce. Yet somehow, you won't even miss it. The tomato provides all the moisture you'll need for this chicken sandwich. You're not thinking chicken when you go to Culver's, but this is an excellent and unexpected chicken sandwich — well worth adding into your chicken eating repertoire.  

It's difficult to go to a place and not get the specialty. Raising Cane's is a chicken finger joint, and if your eyes never even ventured over toward the sandwich part of the board, we can't blame you. Cane's chicken is just flat out good. They're known as a "signature sauce" place and a lot of people will just think it's the sauce that makes it work — but nope, that's some tasty chicken. But what about eating it between two buns?

Despite their amazing chicken, they know the sauce is boss. The standard chicken sandwich is just three chicken fingers on a bun with lettuce — but the trick is that they go ahead and put the sauce on there for you. Actually, they "double sauce" it, adding Cane's sauce top and bottom buns. If you think the chicken is good, and the sauce is good, throw it between some bread and add some lettuce and you've got something that's so simple, yet it's so good. Sometimes it's that simple — don't reinvent the chicken finger, just throw it on a bun and enjoy!

Congrats to Popeyes! They made a few sandwiches — keyword few — and then watched the viral world spin all the free publicity they could handle (and perhaps a bit more) into the great chicken wars of 2019... literally wars. That's all great for Popeyes, but what it comes down to is taste — so what's the real deal with the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich?

For the build, they are going the pickle route ala Chick-fil-A with a few accompanying a buttered brioche bun. Whereas Chick-fil-A has a menagerie of sauces that you can self-apply to your chicken, Popeyes does that for you by providing mayo on the bun. There's a lot of mayo going on, and the chicken is crunchy — like crazy crunchy. That really sets it apart from other chicken sandwiches; most sacrifice taste for crunch, but Popeyes delivers on both.... kinda. The downfall to a lot of crunch is that it takes oil to produce it, so you may notice a lot more grease on this sandwich than the typical competition.

After you make it through the double battered breast you'll note the chicken tastes like chicken. That seems logical, considering, well, it is, but when other places brine their chicken and Popeyes doesn't, the taste is certainly different. 

While the sandwich may not be a favorite of everyone, it's certainly a favorite of many. Popeyes' chicken took the top spot in our readers' poll for restaurant with the best fried chicken. 

Shake Shack has exploded in recent years, based on one simple concept: Elevate classic fast food to its maximum possible potential, and turn it around quickly to keep the line moving. With the Chick'n Shack, Shake Shack's much-hyped foray into the realm of fried chicken sandwiches, the tradition continues.

The first thing you notice is that hulking mass of fried chicken breast, dwarfing the squishy toasted potato bun it is served on, with craggy, seasoned edges hanging lasciviously out of the edges like a college student at Mardi Gras. In fact, the impression isn't that this is a piece of chicken sitting on a bun at all, but instead a bun that's been somehow wrapped around a piece of chicken. 

In spite of its enormous size, the chicken remains impossibly crunchy, each bite of peppery breading shattering into juicy, naturally-textured chicken breast. A generous layer of artisanal-looking pickles (these aren't the weird, yellowed bargain dills being passed off at other fast food locations) compliments the fattiness of the chicken beautifully, offering lots of acid to cut through all of that richness. The lettuce is nothing spectacular (lettuce rarely is), but it's dressed in Shake Shack's herbed mayonnaise, redolent with the flavors of thyme, green onion, parsley and pepper.

As with much of Shake Shack's menu, the Chick'n Shack is a perfect example of what even a simple chicken sandwich can be, when you take time to balance the different elements and source good ingredients. It's deceptively simple, completely satisfying, and the new standard by which other fried chicken sandwiches should be measured.