Fried Chicken Ranked

Fried chicken is probably my favorite food of all time. Yes, I know most of my blogs in this category are about my journey to physical and mental health, but sometimes you just gotta eat the chicken nuggies. My friends and I had a “winner winner chicken dinner” in college once, where we all went to a different fast food chicken joint, pooled our food, and judged harshly. It has been years since I’ve had a night quite like that, but I have been taste testing these places and documenting my thoughts over the past several months, so here is my official ranking of fried chicken restaurants…

Sandwich

Chick-fil-A

Best sandwich, but I have to list this one first because it is so in its own league. It would win in several categories if I put it up against the other places, but I think it needs to be on its own because the chicken is cooked in a unique way that can’t be found anywhere else. Chick-fil-A wins in customer service, best chicken sandwich, best chicken nuggets, best fries, and best healthy option (including the most perfect fruit salad to ever exist). But I’ll give the others a chance in the other categories and just leave it here.

Sit-Down

Chili’s

Best sit-down restaurant for fried chicken. You can still feel like an adult while ordering the crispers, because it’s a hearty portion and comes with a vegetable side dish. You can’t go wrong with the original or the honey chipotle, and you will probably have leftovers, which is always a great thing. The ranch you dunk it in is spot-on as well.

Family Buckets

Popeyes

Best family bucket, and best non-fry side item with the red beans and rice. I’ll admit I didn’t really like this place as a kid and I don’t often think of it now, but when Colton begs me to take him there, I am always pleasantly surprised with how good it is.

KFC

Back when we did winner winner chicken dinner, this won for best biscuits, but the last time I tried it, they weren’t that great. Not so good customer service, they got rid of the potato wedges, and I don’t really like their brown gravy all up in the mashed potatoes. However, their chicken is still pretty great. That’s what they’re known for after all.

Wings

Pluckers

Best wings. Plus they have great ranch, a great atmosphere, and great customer service. My sister did their thing where she went to Plucker’s every week for a year in order to get the perks, and she loved every minute of it. I went several times with her, often using a “5 free wings” coupon and it was always great. Even if you go for a healthier option of naked wings, they are delicious.

Wingstop

Best fries and best ranch. The only downside to this place is when you get the all-in bundle, you get plenty of wings, plenty of tenders, plenty of ranch, and nowhere near plenty of fries. You need to double that order, y’all. We’ll pay a little extra, just give us all the fries you have.

Buffalo Wild Wings

Best alcoholic beverage, and best atmosphere. This is just a fun place to hang out and have a beer. You don’t even have to like sports- I’ve spent plenty of good times there without even looking at the TVs. The time we had to change Colton’s tire in the parking lot. The time we did tequila shots with my siblings right after we got engaged. The time my friend tried to rope me into a pyramid scheme by luring me with yummy wings. Good times.

Nuggets

McDonald’s

Best nuggets, and best bang for your buck; I mean, you can get 20 nuggies for $5. Plus, yes, we all know McDonald’s is like super bad for you, and yet we keep going back for those nuggets and fries, baby.

Wendy’s

Best food combination. If you know, you know. I’m talking about dipping those fries in that chocolate frosty. Even with the newer fry recipe, this is still the perfect combination of sweet and salty. Hot and cold. Everything you could possibly want. And if you have to order a chicken nugget meal in order to get to what you truly want, the chicken isn’t that bad. At fast food joints like these, I would always rather order the nuggets than the burgers. I can’t trust them to put NO CHEESE.

Burger King

This is Colton’s favorite fast food place, and he’ll always make a stop when I’m out of town or something. I’ll admit their nuggets and even their little chicken sandwich thing aren’t that bad, but it’s never my first choice. Or any choice. And I can’t reward it any prizes, sorry babe.

Strips

Chicken Express

Best strips, most consistent, best biscuits, and best non-alcoholic beverage with that sweet tea, yes please. 

Kountry Chicken

Best bang for your buck. Their family pack is like $15 for 4 honey-smothered rolls, a hearty serving of fries, and like 16 tenders. Plus, they are conveniently located in two of our favorite gas stations, so we’ve made plenty of runs over there and the food will last all weekend.

Golden Chick

I’ll be honest, the first time I had Golden Chick, I was not impressed. Only the rolls were good to me, so I avoided it for years. Until we lived in middle of nowhere, Texas, and it was the only place to get my beloved fried chicken. I actually grew to love it. It has a large menu, complete with several sides and even fried fish, but you know I just get the four-piece tender meal. The chicken, the fries, the gravy, and the roll are actually pretty good, but I’m not sure I can give them an award for the best in any category. Since we moved away from that town, we have not been back to a Golden Chick, because there are just so many more options!

Raising Cane’s

Best unique sauce. Cane’s actually isn’t that consistent. Sometimes the tenders are small, the fries are soggy, they’ve gotten orders wrong. It’s just really irresponsible, especially since Colton and I both worked there in high school, and it’s not that hard to push the NSXF button (no slaw extra fries). But we keep coming back for that Cane’s sauce, baby. 

Slim Chickens

Best variety. This is the only place where I might order more than one thing off the menu. Each other place, I have my regular and that’s all I get there. Here, they have the traditional strips meal, which is great, and you can get a variety of different sauces with it, although I’m partial to the ranch. But they also have really good chicken and waffles if you’re craving something sweet as well. They also have delicious fried pickles, and when I’m craving those, this is where I’ll go.

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