Bachelor on the Cheap

By Mike Thayer

A&W Chicken Sliders wrapped up like baked potatoes?

There's been a chicken sandwich war going on in fast food, it started in 2019 and it's still going on today.  

Shots fired!  Chick-fil-A made headlines in 2019 becoming the third largest fast food chain, led with their classic chicken sandwich.  Popeyes reacted by putting a new chicken sandwich on the menu and consumers went crazy over it, so crazy in fact, Popeyes ran out of ammo. Already armed with a spicy chicken sandwich, Wendy's entered the battlefield that year by bringing back their spicy chicken nuggets, fans of the item went in a Twitter frenzy.  

Popeye's Chicken Sandwich has been so popular, it is now considered THE gold standard for a chicken sandwich.  So how do all the other fast food joints stack up?  In the name of 'food science' (cough), I intend to find out. 

In this Chicken Sandwich War Challenge, sandwiches are evaluated and scored on the following criteria:  Visual appeal, the meat, bun, meat to bun ratio, crunch factor, the pickle/mayo and of course, overall taste.  There are 1-9 points available for each category for a total possible total score of 63. 

Today I sampled A&W's Chicken Sliders.  Known for their draft root beer and root beer floats, let's see how their hand breaded chicken sliders stack up against their fast food competitors.

Tasty pickles!

In taking that first bite I was hit with how juicy the chicken was and coupled with the tartness of the pickle it was a splash of flavor in the mouth!  The crunch however, was missing.  The chicken was nicely seasoned, but the lack of crunch in the breading was a downer.  The slider buns were 'pillowy' and dressed nicely with mayo.  The meat to bun ratio - excellent.  These are good sliders, but they would be great with some crunch! I will say these were the best pickles of the challenge.

I paid $4.99 for the two sliders, which equates to a regular sized sandwich.  The A&W Chicken Sliders scored 55 out of a possible 63 points, a much better score than competitor Sonic's Chicken sliders.  With that score of 55, the sliders get 4 out of 5 Bachelor on the Cheap stars and is worthy of a repeat buy, but there are better chicken sandwich offerings out there.

$pend Wisely My Friends..... 

Related:  KFC's Chicken Sandwich

Related:  McDonald's 'New' Crispy Chicken Sandwich

Related:  Slim Chickens Crispy Chicken Sandwich

Related:  Wendy's Classic Chicken Sandwich

Related:  Popeye's Classic Chicken Sandwich

Related:  DQ Crispy Chicken Sandwich

Related:  Burger King's Hand Breaded Crispy Chicken Sandwich

Related:  Sonic's Chicken Slinger

Related:  Church's Chicken Sandwich

Related:  Chick-fil-A's Chicken Sandwich

Related:  Hardee's Chicken Sandwich

Related:  Arby's Classic Chicken Sandwich