I might have found the best fast-food chicken sandwich in America - and it's not where you'd expect
These are tumultuous times; more than ever, we need some crispy, crunchy, golden, and delicious chicken served up in a bun.
Recently I taste-tested a glut of chicken sandwiches from major fast-food chains to see which chain does it best.
There were some surprises (Arby's makes a fried-chicken sandwich?) and some severe disappointments.
But what's most surprising - to me, at least - is which sandwich tasted the best. Not McDonald's new recipe, not Wendy's reliable Homestyle, not even Chick-fil-A's inimitable classic snagged the top spot.
It was KFC's sandwich.
I can already hear the cries: What? How could Chick-fil-A not be the best of them all? KFC, the chain of mutant chickens and the creepy Colonel?
The Doublicious from KFC is a beautiful creation. A crispy breast of KFC's finest chicken, resplendent with the mysterious herbs and spices, swathed in bacon, Monterrey Jack cheese, and some sweet, tangy sauce - all lovingly embraced by a fluffy and lightly sweet Hawaiian bun.
Smokey bacon lends a richness to the sandwich that melds seamlessly with the mild and rich cheese. The chicken is crispy and thin. There's the unmistakable tang of buttermilk in every bite.
The sauce seems to be a combination of mayonnaise and barbecue sauce, with perhaps a pinch of paprika and garlic. It adds a perfect balance of smooth, creamy flavor and a vinegary kick all while managing to play second fiddle to the chicken and bacon.
In terms of quality, it seems more genuine than countless other items on the menu. There's little "gross factor" with this sandwich, which can't be said for most of the competition, or even of KFC's own sides.
And yes, Chick-fil-A's sandwiches are always fantastic - I'm not denying this by any stretch of the imagination. Classics are classics for a reason, and if we were judging on terms of tradition, Chick-fil-A would walk away victorious with ease.
But KFC's Doublicious is a surprisingly flavorful, rich sandwich that manages to sidestep the looming, greasy shadow of KFC's previous sandwich of note, the quadruple-bypass-to-go that was the "Double Down."
It's not too much, or too little; it's simply delicious.