McDonald’s may be an industry leader when it comes to Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets (billions sold to parents of screaming kids), but in the Chicken Sandwich Wars the Golden Arches has yet to succeed at commanding the field. It has thrown out many salvos over the years, usually setting its site on the people packing into premier clucker Chick-Fil-A, but has come up short so far. However, the latest revision to its spicy chicken sammy (as well as the whole chicken sandwich line) may help it to gain some ground.
The latest upgrade to their spicy chicken sandwich offers the following: “new spicy pepper sauce topping the new southern style fried chicken on a new toasted potato roll”. Wait, there are pickles on that thing as well and they aren’t touting those as new. Should we be worried? And what is the deal with potato rolls? They sound all fancy and stuff, but to me they usually just taste like a regular bun. Anyway, on to my review of the sandwich.
The breading is not too thick, but has a nice crunch to it. The whole breast filet is plenty tender and tasty throughout, not at all dry as chicken breast sometimes turns out. And it is a decent size piece of chicken. The sauce is like a spicy mayonnaise that delivers a nice tang and a bit of heat. It actually enhances the spiciness of the sandwich, unlike regular mayo which generally offsets the heat. The pickle slices add just a little bit of extra tang but are otherwise unremarkable. The seasoning comes mostly from the breading and the sauce as opposed to Chick-Fil-A’s spicy chicken which is marinated and delivers heat throughout. The bun holds everything together, but I didn’t find it particularly remarkable.
This is definitely spicier than your average drive thru fare, amping the heat above mild but not quite approaching medium. But it does have a nice kick to it, more so than the Hot and Spicy McChicken which is one of the value selections on the permanent menu. McDonald’s is not really known as a go-to location for spicy food, even though they regularly try to promote the heat with specialty menu items. But this new sandwich should definitely satisfy lovers of spice as long as they are not expecting too much heat.
Sporting a whole breast filet, the new sammy is a step above the ground chicken used in McNuggets and the McChicken, and I rank this as a better-than-average premium spicy chicken sandwich. I would still put Chick-Fil-A’s spicy chicken above this one (and their spicy grilled chicken is a real winner), but it acts as a pretty good substitute. It comes in at 530 calories which is a little bit above average for a fast food chicken sandwich, but not a diet buster. Just be sure to get the small fries with that and a diet drink, otherwise you may be checking out the next pants size up on the store rack!
Whether this latest try by Mickey D’s will steal enough business from the competition remains to be seen. Chick-Fil-A’s drive thru line is still circling the building these days, and with the playgrounds closed at McDonald’s the kids aren’t dragging their parents into that establishment lately. But perhaps this one will convince a few more people to head to the drive thru at the Golden Arches (always quicker) in the coming months. If not, expect it to head off to Limited-Time-Only-Ville at some point and McDonald’s execs will go back to the drawing board once again.
Tale of the Tape:
Serving Size: 1 Sandwich
Calories: 530
Fat: 26g (4g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 27g
Carbs: 47g
Sodium: 1230mg