Bachelor on the Cheap

By Mike Thayer

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. 

Look at that bun/meat gap!

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 Hardee's Hand Breaded Chicken Sandwich.  It's been awhile since I've eaten at Hardee's and even longer since I've had one of their chicken sandwiches (Their Mushroom Swiss Burger is pretty darn tasty).  Their "Hand Breaded" Chicken Sandwich is "New", let's see how it looks, tastes and scores.....

Sloppy prep, not a pickle in every bite

For a "New" sandwich in this Chicken Sandwich War, Hardee's needs a new weapon.   This sandwich just doesn't get the job done.  There's TOO MUCH BUN!  The meat to bun ratio is not good, the chicken was NOT crispy at all, a bit dry and under-spectacular in the seasoning department.  The mayo was average and the only thing giving this sandwich some life were the pickles, which in typical fast food fashion were applied in  a very sloppy, uncaring way, all centered together and not providing pickle in every bite. The bun was good, but IT WAS TOO MUCH!  The chicken, which SHOULD have been the star, was not.

Mayo on half the sandwich. check out the meat to bun ratio

I paid $8.31 for my Hardee's Hand Breaded Chicken Sandwich combo meal.  That wouldn't be a bad price had the sandwich been better, but what I experienced today is NOT worthy of a repeat buy.  This sandwich scored just 44 out of a possible 63 points, putting it in the lower tier of chicken sandwiches in this challenge.

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Related:  Wendy's Classic Chicken Sandwich

Related:  Popeye's Classic Chicken Sandwich

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Related:  Burger King's Hand Breaded Crispy Chicken Sandwich

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Related:  Chick-fil-A's Chicken Sandwich