by Bottom Line: The Chipotle Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich from Biller Miller’s delivers a superior poultry sammy with a little bit of a kick.
The Chicken Sandwich Wars have led to quite a number of poultry options showing up at the fast food chains over the last few years. But if the opportunity presents itself to go local, I always prefer to take that route. Bill Miller’s is a barbeque and chicken chain that is exclusive to San Antonio and the surrounding area, and while they have a darn good chicken sandwich, they have not offered a spicy version until just recently. But they finally got that added to the menu–at least for a limited time–and I decided to stop by and check it out.
The Spicy Chipotle Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich comes with their battered and deep-fried breast filet, pickles, and their new spicy chipotle Ranch sauce. It is basically their regular chicken sandwich that is kicked up with the new sauce. But there is nothing wrong with that!
The chicken filet is not too thick but still plenty meaty and it is nice and tender and well-seasoned. The batter delivers some crunch and some flakiness, and there is some sweet in there as well. The sauce has a little bit of the expected Ranch zing and some notable smokiness from the chipotle along with a peppery kick. They should definitely keep it on the menu. The pickles are flavorful (I believe they make their own) and deliver a nice tang, though I would have liked a few more. The bun is not particularly exciting on its own, but it holds everything together well enough.
Heat-wise this barely comes to Mild on my scale. But it still delivers a slight burn and it is quite a good chicken sandwich, so it is worth a trip to the Bill Miller’s nearest you. It doesn’t have nearly as much sauce as in the promo picture, so if you ask for extra sauce maybe it will be hotter. But in any case, this is definitely a step above the standard fast food chicken sammy with the sauce kicking it up to the next level. Next time, I will ask them to include jalapenos, and if you go inside to order, you can get your own from the condiments bar.
Nutrition-wise, they don’t give the calories for the spicy chicken sandwich, but the regular comes in at 710. That Ranch sauce likely adds another 50 to 100 cals, so you are definitely heading into big-eating territory with this one. And you know you are going to want a side of their awesome fries, so you will be well over a thousand calories by the time you are done. Just schedule some extra time on the treadmill, though, and consider the meal worth it because Bill Miller’s cooks up some good food.
The chain got its start as a fried chicken restaurant in 1953 and later added barbeque to the menu. They do not do much in the way of advertising and rely mostly on name recognition and word-of-mouth, which is usually quite good. The chain has also shown little interest in expanding nationally, and it remains focused primarily on the San Antonio market with some locations in Corpus Christi and Austin. They also have several seafood restaurants called Laguna Madre in the area.
If you get the Spicy Chipotle Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich as a combo with fries and a drink, it comes up to just under nine bucks which is a steal for the drive thru these days, especially for this quality of sandwich. They indicate that it is only available for a limited time, but since the Ranch sauce is the only thing that separates it from their regular chicken sammy, maybe it will work its way to the permanent menu. Go and give it a try now, though, in case they run out of the sauce. And if they do, just get the regular chicken sandwich and add jalapenos.
