We tried chicken tenders every major fast-food chain - and the results are surprising

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

That's a lot of chicken.