4 Ordering Tips To Get The Best KFC Famous Bowl

While chicken chains proliferate these days, KFC, or Kentucky Fried Chicken, was among the first to capture consumers' taste buds. The restaurant was also a front-runner in the "slop bowl" phenomenon (i.e., several ingredients layered in a bowl and hastily consumed on a work lunch break). KFC's Famous Bowl debuted in 2006 and features mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, chicken nuggets, and three types of shredded cheese, so basically every craveable item at the chain (except for biscuits, but more on those later). However, with a little customization, your next Famous Bowl can become a beacon of new possibilities — and we have a few ordering tips to help make that happen.

The Famous Bowl is on our list of things you should never order from KFC, primarily due to its nutritional deficit. It has undeniable comfort food appeal, and if you want to make it taste even better, incorporating new ingredients and sauces may exponentially maximize the meal. Some of our tips require a DIY approach, while others involve making a special request when ordering. In either case, KFC bowls are ripe for enhancement.

KFC's trendsetting slop bowl was met with some apprehension when it debuted. Despite claims that it was an overindulgent mess of a meal, Famous Bowls quickly became a top-selling item. KFC attributed its success to flavor layering, which seems preposterous to people (me) who have a conniption when food touches. For those who aren't satisfied unless they get a bit of everything in a single bite, the Famous Bowl must be akin to a religious experience. Yet we can't help but notice two conspicuous absences: biscuits and coleslaw. 

If five layers of flavor are good, seven is surely superior, right? You can remedy this ingredient oversight by combining crumbled biscuit and a little coleslaw to the dish. The sweet tanginess of the slaw brings contrast to the richness of the fried chicken and starchy salinity of potatoes and biscuits, making for a more complex balance of flavors. And while we acknowledge that Famous Bowls are already loaded with carbs, no trip to KFC would be complete without a flaky, buttery biscuit. 

Allow me to get vulnerable: I'm not a huge fan of gravy in any form. While KFC's gravy is pretty popular among customers, it has yet to win me over. If you're gravy-averse like me, consider swapping it out for one of KFC's many sauces the next time you order a Famous Bowl. There's honey BBQ, ranch (or Buffalo ranch), sweet and sour, hot sauce, and KFC sauce, a honey mustard-adjacent condiment with hints of molasses, and more. While you'll likely be tasked with saucing up your own Famous Bowl, it's pretty easy to hack this item. When ordering online, you can deselect the gravy under the customization tab and add your desired sauces.

It turns out that KFC gravy has been a historically contentious subject, at least according to the chain's founder. Harlan Sanders was famously critical of KFC gravy and would even harangue franchisees about its quality during surprise restaurant inspections. If you think that's wild, remember that Colonel Sanders was once involved in a shootout with a competing business owner over a hand-painted sign. 

Chicken nuggets are a relatively recent arrival at KFC. The item premiered nationwide in 2023 and was included in the restaurant's Mac Bowls (aka Famous Bowls with mac and cheese instead of mashed potatoes and gravy). KFC nuggets come with the same breading as its Original Recipe chicken, and are often well-received by fast food fans. However, it's worth exploring the chain's additional chicken options if you're looking for a bolder flavor and crunch. 

You can make this happen by deselecting nuggets in the customization tab and adding another type of chicken to the order (which you might need to incorporate into the Famous Bowl on your own). Your à la carte chicken options include a honey BBQ drumstick, Original Recipe breast, drumstick, thigh, wing, and a chicken tender. Unlike KFC's nuggets, which are only available with one breading option, these options can be ordered extra-crispy, hot-and-spicy, or both.

Long before Famous Bowls, chicken buckets ruled the KFC menu. The chain's first chicken bucket meals were sold in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1957, and the new menu item was mostly attributed to a surplus of paper buckets that founder Colonel Harlan Sanders needed a use for. The original bucket came with 14 pieces of chicken, but these days diners can choose from 8-, 12-, and 16-piece buckets. It just so happens that the restaurant's legendary chicken receptacle plays a role in our largest ordering tip. 

Transform the Famous Bucket is a Famous Bowl times five by ordering five Famous Bowls and kindly asking the employee to serve them in a bucket instead of individual cups. The result is the mother of all slop bowls. We fully acknowledge that the appeal of this hack is the spectacle, and it's most practical for three or more diners. In case you're wondering whether KFC would even honor this unconventional order, video proof of one customer successfully scoring a Famous Bucket exists (clip courtesy of YouTube).