The humble chicken tender – or chicken fingers, in some circles – is making a comeback.
Chicken tenders are the most glorious incarnation of handheld fried chicken – heftier than nuggets, simpler than wings, ideologically purer than boneless wings. The adoration for chicken tenders is universal, bridging the spans of age and class alike – the great equalizers, so they say, are death, taxes, and tenders. With McDonald’s resurrecting them on their menu and Wendy’s introducing theirs, the time for tenders has come.
A handful of major fast-food chains offer tenders, and we decided to put them all to the test to see which con-tender (sorry) reaches the top of the tourney.
We have six chains duking it out: Chick-fil-A, Dairy Queen, KFC, McDonald’s, Popeyes, and Wendy’s.
That’s a lot of chicken.
6. Dairy Queen
We all knew someone had to come last, and to be honest, most knew it was going to be Dairy Queen.
Are they terribly awful? No. But Dairy Queen's roots lie in, well, dairy, and it's what they do best. We all love a Blizzard - but DQ's food is often lacking, both in quality and direction. Their tenders have some crunch from their thick breading, but it overpowers the chicken.
It's strangely doughy in taste, and the entire tender is meek - and it's definitely not inheriting the earth. At best they're slightly better than expectations, but blandly mediocre nonetheless.
5. KFC
KFC's chicken tenders are a fairly substantial step forward in quality. The tenders are large and burly, and have a definite crunch to them.
The taste of their signature eleven herbs and spices is instantly recognizable, with the little cracks of black pepper scattered here and there in the breading standing out. The chicken is savory and fairly good, but it lacks a certain "oomph", a je ne sais pas that sets it apart with true and certain distinction.
4. Wendy's
These are a fairly new item to Wendy's menu, which could be seen as a defensive response to the threat posed by the ever-expanding reach of Chick-fil-A.
A considerable amount of chicken is in each tender, wrapped in a rather soft and subdued breading that recedes in deference to the meat.
The chicken is salty and rich - a smooth, almost buttery taste develops. It's quite good, especially in comparison to Wendy's chicken nuggets, which are decidedly unimpressive.
But, a crunchier, more texturally satisfying outside would bring these tenders to the next level.
3. McDonald's
McDonald's new tender formula is leaps and bounds better than their previous Chicken Selects iteration - they're hefty, juicy, and crunchy. There's more flavor in the breading, with presence of black pepper and buttermilk.
The chicken does tend to get a little stringy towards the ends of the tenders, but that's to be expected - overall, the meat is juicy and of rather impressive quality. Plus, the consistency of the crispness is huge.
2. Popeyes
Popeyes does chicken well. It's unbelievably crunchy, undeniably moist, and unerringly consistent.
They offer two kinds of tenders - mild and spicy - so for the sake of comparison, we went with mild.
And indeed, mild is accurate, for better or worse. The chicken is juicy and unoffensive; a little towards the sleepy side of flavor. The spicy version has more verve, but including it in this would be unfair.
Even still, the quality of the chicken and the consistency at which Popeyes delivers makes these tenders very strong runner-ups.
1. Chick-fil-A
While McDonald's tenders improving so much was quite a surprise, the winner for now may not be a shock to some. Chick-fil-A has found the perfect way to make chicken, and it hasn't let up.
The tenders are just that: tender.
And while the crunch is inconsistent from tender to tender, the meat is always flavorful and juicy. They're good enough to even eat on their own, without the aid of dipping sauces - not that one should ever pass up an opportunity to enjoy Chick-fil-A sauce.
McDonald's and Popeyes are almost the same at this rate, which is impressive, but Chick-fil-A still manages to come out on top.