One Of The Best New Fast Food Items Of 2026 Brought Serious Heat To Panda Express
Several restaurant chains have released spicy new menu items in 2026, and Panda Express delivered the heat too. The fast casual chain collaborated with spicy instant noodle brand Buldak to release Dynamite Sweet & Sour Chicken in March, and customers say it was one of the best fast food items of 2026.
The limited-time dish was basically sweet and sour chicken recreated with some serious heat, featuring chunks of crispy, deep-fried chicken, red bell peppers, and onions tossed in a tangy sauce made with Buldak's signature fiery spices. According to a press release, this American Chinese and Korean fusion dish is five and a half times hotter than Panda Express's Blazing Bourbon Chicken, making it the restaurant's spiciest dish yet.
Quite a few customers said Dynamite Sweet & Sour Chicken lived up to the hype, with those who tried the item describing it as being actually spicy. "Just had this on a whim. Nobody warned me how spicy it was," one person wrote on Reddit. "I can handle spice, but this stuff was borderline for me." Another Redditor said, "I'm south Asian and this had me crying. It's actually a proper Indian medium-hot."
It's spicy, but how does Panda Express Dynamite sweet and sour chicken taste?
Panda Express Dynamite Sweet & Sour Chicken had Buldak's signature spice level, but that doesn't mean the flavor was exactly the same as the brand's instant noodles. One person on Reddit described it as a spicy orange chicken. Others noted that while it was a similarly sweet and spicy meal, it was not as sugary tasting as orange chicken. "To me it's very similar to Nashville hot chicken," commented one Redditor, and another likened the flavor to that of General Tso's chicken.
Every order came with one packet of Buldak Original Hot Sauce on the side so you could add even more heat, if you dared. Some folks that tried Panda Express's Dynamite Sweet & Sour Chicken found it to be intolerably hot as-is, though the more neutral-tasting bases, which include white rice, vegetables, and noodles, helped tamp down the heat level some.