We compared McDonald’s ‘better chicken’ to Chick-fil-A’s — and the winner is obvious

McDonald’s has introduced a new chicken tender to its menu. The Buttermilk Crispy Tenders seem to be an upgrade to the Chicken Selects. We pitted them against Chick-fil-A’s chicken tenders to see how they stacked up.

McDonald’s tenders have enjoyed a checkered past.

In 2015, the company nixed its Chicken Selects tenders after over a decade on the menu, leaving McDonald’s diners with McNuggets as the only dippable option.

But now, two years later, the prodigal tender is back with a new name – Buttermilk Crispy Tenders – and a better approach. This new formula, it seems, is a resurrection of the Chicken Selects of yesteryear.

We tested these new tenders recently and were impressed with what we found. But can they hold a candle to the fast-food industry’s fried chicken heavyweight champion, Chick-fil-A? We decided to put them to the test.

Here stand two chicken-tender titans: Chick-fil-A's and McDonald's.

Chick-fil-A has been churning out tenders for years now — they're a tried-and-true part of the menu.

The new tenders from McDonald's come in an ... odd box. One could see it as a cardboard bungalow, slung low with a sauce-pocket porch out front. It's weird, but it's not an issue.

Chick-fil-A's tenders are swathed in the chain's delicious and unmistakable chicken aroma. They keep warm for a long time too.

The McDonald's buttermilk tenders don't have the same alluring scent — just an average, run-of-the-mill fried chicken smell. It is what it is.

It's no surprise that an entirely chicken-focused chain does tenders so well. Chick-fil-A's chicken tenders are simple and elegant and can't be refined, for better or worse.

They're just as the very name advertises: tender. The marinade is a subtle and rich buttermilk flavor, and it makes for an incredibly smooth and juicy inside.

The tenders are often crunchy, but not always; they're inconsistent. Chick-fil-A's weakness seems to be crunch, but it's excusable given how superb the actual chicken is.

The difference in McDonald's newest iteration of tender is immediately apparent. They're thicker and heftier than before, and they seem to have more meat on them.

The meat itself is surprisingly tender with easy give — no stringiness or dryness. The breading is also surprisingly crispy, and it's more forward with black pepper seasoning than Chick-fil-A's. The meat does get a little stringy towards the ends of the tender, but that's difficult to avoid.

These are a marked improvement on their predecessors — juicier, crispier, and more flavorful. Do they stand a chance against Chick-fil-A's? Given a choice, I'd still choose Chick-fil-A over McDonald's newcomers, but McDonald's has definitely closed the gap in the tender race.