Popeyes: What A Fried Chicken Sandwich Should Taste Like
Throughout a never ending debate among food writers, it’s clear there will never be a ‘best burger’ or ‘best pizza’ in any city in the world. Quite simply, because everyone has unique tastes, and preferences.
Because of personal preference, undisputed superlatives in the food world are limited to a cozy club that contains only Heinz Ketchup, and now, the Popeyes Regular Chicken Sandwich.
Without a doubt, there are plenty of people who will claim preference to another chicken sandwich, however, those who jump into this defense stance, just might miss the point. What raises Popeyes’ sandwich into this haloed pantheon isn’t any special quality it has — but rather, quite the opposite.
Simply enough, this is what a fried chicken sandwich should taste like.

The slightly buttered bun is acts neutral vehicle, soft enough to allow your tooth to sink through and cleanly break into the chicken’s crispy breading, but not so soft that it dulls the chicken’s crunch (or worse, lodges itself to the top of your mouth, distracting you from the rest of your sandwich).
The breading is seasoned just enough to remind you that it’s there, and that it’s not just fried flour, however, there are no specific discernible spices in the breading, other than some black pepper. There isn’t really another way to describe the flavor other than: it tastes like fried chicken seasoning.
In terms of the breading’s crispiness, the sandwich hits the mark of a perfectly uneven texture with pebbles of crunch that make each bite a distinct experience from the ones before and after. However, unlike real pebbles, these pops of crunch are supple with a slight bite, rather than being hard and dry. Yet miraculously, at the same time, the coating has not become a sponge for oil that will turn to mush as soon as the sandwich cools off a bit.
Inside this perfect golden blanket is a fairly large piece of chicken breast. While the defining characteristic of so many other parts of this sandwich is how unremarkable they are, the chicken itself immediately stands out…because it’s a piece of chicken breast…a real one…where one side is somewhat larger than the other. What made this detail so surprising is how common it is for restaurants to deform the chicken through some level of pounding, or more aggressive industrial processing. The reason most chicken is smoothed into an even patty is to ensure it cooks evenly, which completely makes sense, however, this sandwich appears to defy science in its form and juiciness.
With a dollop of mayonnaise that adds a touch of creaminess to each bite of chicken and crisp, and a couple thicker-than-expected pickle slices to cut through all the fat with a punch of briny freshness, the sandwich’s two toppings are contradictory in purpose, yet complementary in effect.
This sandwich is perfect as is, and as a fried chicken sandwich should be — which brings us to the Spicy variant.
Going back to the idea of preference, many people might prefer to kick things up a notch with the addition of outspoken peppery spices in the breading, and similarly spicy swap in the mayo. These people are not wrong in the choice, the Spicy sandwich is good, however, these modifications take away from the sandwich’s core achievement of elegant simplicity — stripping it of what makes it perfect. With the addition of spice, no longer is the sandwich defined by understated perfection, now drawing new comparisons to other spicy chicken sandwiches, and into category where the chicken is no longer the star, but relegated to be the vehicle in which spice is delivered.
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While there will continue to be countless entries vying for the title of Best Fried Chicken Sandwich, this jockeying will be for naught. Just as, Heinz has done for ketchup, from here on out, all other chicken sandwiches can only be benchmarked against this perfect execution.
