KFC Honey BBQ Chicken And Spicy Mac & Cheese Wraps Review: A Satisfying Snack At A Great Price
If 2019 was the year of the fast food fried chicken sandwich wars, and 2021 was the year of fish sandwich wars, then 2024 is shaping up to be the year of the fast food wrap wars. With McDonald's announcing its plans to finally put the fan-favorite snack wrap back on the menu by sometime in 2025, other fast food chains have rushed to fill the wrap-shaped void — reintroducing wraps of their own to the respective menus and creating new wrap combos to try to entice diners before McDonald's joins the fray.
The most recent wraps to make waves are the Spicy Mac & Cheese KFC Wrap and Honey BBQ KFC Wrap, new additions to the KFC wrap menu that returned earlier in 2023 — claiming to be the first restaurant to bring chicken wrap fans what they've been craving for years. The newest wraps hit menus everywhere on New Year's Day after KFC quietly released a regular Mac & Cheese wrap back in November of 2023. So I headed to my local Kentucky Fried Chicken for a taste of the wrap field's newest entry and got all the details on what you can expect from this particular snack.
Spicy Mac & Cheese KFC Wrap
Something about a wrap stuffed with macaroni and cheese and chicken tenders seems very comforting, but the addition of spicy sauce makes it feel like a slightly more mature snack somehow. The Spicy Mac & Cheese KFC wrap includes one Extra Crispy chicken tender, what looks like two or three regular forkfuls of macaroni and cheese, a light drizzle of spicy sauce, and a small sprinkling of a shredded 3-cheese blend, all wrapped in a six-inch flour tortilla. (For those who might be wondering what the difference is between KFC's original fried chicken and the Extra Crispy version in the wraps, the original chicken is breaded once and fried in a pressure-fryer, whereas the Extra Crispy chicken is double-breaded and fried in an open deep fryer.)
The KFC website lists the new Spicy Mac & Cheese KFC wrap as containing 470 calories per wrap, although no other nutritional information is specifically listed. The company's Full Nutrition Guide breaks down most of the menu items by component, informing us that 140 of those calories come from the Extra Crispy chicken tender. Assuming the flour tortilla includes about 100 calories, that leaves about 230 calories contributed by the macaroni and cheese, hot sauce, and additional shredded cheese. The chicken tender provides about 10 grams of protein, which is a welcome benefit for those looking for a fulfilling snack.
Honey BBQ KFC Wrap
There's nothing stopping you from ordering a Classic KFC wrap and putting your own honey BBQ sauce on it, but the option to order it so you don't have to pull the wrap apart to dress it is also nice. Where the Spicy Mac & Cheese KFC wrap brings a little unexpected heat to an otherwise typical flavor combination, the Honey BBQ KFC wrap packs a touch of sweetness from the additional sauce. It also includes one Extra Crispy chicken tender, a small squeeze of mayonnaise, and two bread & butter sliced pickles rolled into a flour tortilla.
The Honey BBQ wrap boasts fewer calories, with only 340 calories listed in total on the company's website. As we previously assumed, about 240 of those calories likely come from the chicken tender and tortilla. KFC's nutrition guide lists the BBQ sauce at 45 calories per serving, leaving about 55 calories, which likely comes primarily from the mayo. Between the Extra Crispy chicken tender and the BBQ sauce listed on the company's website, we have a slightly clearer picture of some of the other nutritional factors. The Extra Crispy chicken tenders contribute about 320 mg of sodium each, with an additional 150 mg of sodium added by the BBQ sauce. The tortilla has the potential to add about 270 mg of sodium, which can add up to a startling 740 mg of sodium per wrap — something to consider if sodium is a factor in your meal choices.
KFC wrap prices and availability
When KFC released the first two fried chicken wraps in February of 2023, it was with the caveat that they were only available for a limited time and in select locations. There also wasn't any indication that the menu would continue to grow — a development that probably occurred after the fried chicken brand was actually able to gauge the public's interest, and compounded by the announcements from other fast food chains about similar snack wrap offerings. While there's no telling just how long the wraps will stay on the menu, all indications are that they'll probably be around for the foreseeable future (or at least until the McRib sandwich makes yet another appearance).
What's especially attractive about the wraps is the price — currently available for $3.00 each, or two for only $5. Depending on your needs, that's a whole lunch for a price that's hard to find anywhere these days. If you're looking for a little more, a wrap combo is also available and includes fries or your choice of KFC sides and a drink. The base price for the wrap combo was originally $7.99 when the wraps were introduced last year, but has since gone up to $8.49 with the launch of the two newest wraps. Prices may vary depending on the location, and you can expect additional fees and potentially menu price mark-ups for delivery orders.
All of your KFC snack wrap options
The first two fried chicken wraps to hit KFC menus in early 2023 were the Classic KFC wrap and the Spicy Slaw KFC wrap. The Classic wrap includes an Extra Crispy chicken tender, mayo, and two pickles — essentially a snack-sized Classic Chicken sandwich in wrap form. The Spicy Slaw wrap swaps regular mayo for spicy mayo and adds a little more crunch and heat with a spicy slaw. The Mac & Cheese KFC wrap is nearly identical to the new Spicy Mac & Cheese wrap, just without the spicy sauce. It's also got 70 fewer calories.
I took the opportunity to taste both the macaroni and cheese wraps side-by-side, as well as the Classic wrap next to the new Honey BBQ wrap. All of the wraps are built to order, so if there's something you'd like left off of them, you could certainly request it. The Spicy Mac & Cheese wrap is noticeably spicier than the regular Mac wrap, but (as someone who generally has a low heat tolerance) it's not so spicy that you won't be able to feel your face afterward or enjoy the wrap. Where the Classic KFC wrap is pretty much just a chicken tender wrapped in a tortilla, the addition of the Honey BBQ sauce adds a touch more complexity and interest to the classic setup. With that said, I'd still be interested in ordering the Classic wrap with another sauce, like the Classic Ranch or Buffalo Ranch.
Final Verdict: A decent snack for a price that's hard to beat
Are KFC's snack wrap options good enough to earn them the title of best fast food snack wrap? Only time will tell, but for now, I can say with confidence that they're a satisfying snack at a great deal. At first glance, they seemed a little small, but once eaten, two were plenty to fill me up. The $5 price tag felt like a deal I couldn't walk away from, and the combo meal felt like a reasonable upgrade.
Like other reviewers, I thought the Mac & Cheese wrap was fine, but a little lackluster. The addition of hot sauce added just enough complexity to make the spicy version pop. Likewise, the addition of the Honey BBQ sauce to the classic wrap made it substantially more interesting and enjoyable to eat, although I would have liked to add even more to it with some regular coleslaw — or even some mashed potatoes. Ultimately, you're getting a baseline snack with these wraps, but they're warm and crunchy, and the fried chicken is exactly what you'd expect if you're already a KFC fan.