We compared the most popular menu items at Chick-fil-A and Popeyes - and the winner is clear

The Louisiana-based Popeyes and Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A are two of the biggest names in fast-food fried chicken.

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You'll find similar items on the menus at both restaurants.

The chicken tenders, the nuggets, the chicken sandwich — these are staples at any go-to chicken spot.

But how these restaurants distinguish themselves from each other is by offering a unique and distinct take on these classic dishes.

So we set out to see for ourselves how Chick-fil-A and Popeyes attempt to set themselves apart.

We sampled the most popular or best-selling menu items from each, referencing rankings posted by the companies and other publications and public forums.

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That meant ordering different dishes at each restaurant.

For Chick-fil-A, that was the chain's chicken nuggets, which was the second most ordered main dish on the chain's menu in 2018.

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For Popeyes, we went with its spicy chicken tenders, a crowd favorite.

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Chick-fil-A's chicken nuggets are always a delight, with their soft, warm texture and taste ...

... but the sheer quality of Popeyes' crispy chicken earns it the trophy for this round. The chain gets it right every time.

But that's just the chicken on its own — how does it fare when it comes to each chain's take on the chicken sandwich?

We went with the Chicken Po' Boy from Popeyes and Chick-fil-A's iconic chicken sandwich ...

... which is iconic for a reason. The perfect combination of the buttery bun, crispy chicken fillet, and pickles is unbeatable.

But we need to acknowledge Popeyes' Chicken Po' Boy.

It comes with two breaded chicken tenders, lettuce, pickles, and mayo on a French baguette.

The sandwich shines purely thanks to the sublimely crispy fried chicken.

Chick-fil-A's sandwich is a more cohesive dish, with its chicken and bun making for an entree that is more put together.

With the Po' Boy, you are reminded that it's indeed two pieces of Popeyes chicken sandwiched between bread ...

... but that's not necessarily a bad thing because the chicken is so darn good.

We gobbled up every bite.

For the side orders, we went with french fries at both restaurants. The menu item has been ranked as some of the best that the chains have to offer.

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Chick-fil-A's waffle fries took the No. 1 spot as the chain's most ordered menu item in 2018.

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And for good reason — the fries' unique shape, perfectly salty taste, and texture alone would warrant a trip to Chick-fil-A.

And while they, too, claim victory in the battle of the side orders, Popeyes' french fries are delectable in their own way.

They're a deeper auburn in color than their Chick-fil-A counterparts.

The restaurant, which originated in New Orleans, also seriously knows how to season food.

Each fry comes dressed in an even layer of Cajun spice.

They're difficult to ignore.

The same could be said about the flaky, buttery triumph that is the Popeyes biscuit. It was a nice addition to our meal.

The contents of our meal, the fries, the chicken, and the biscuit, came packaged in a box with a wide opening.

It made sharing amongst ourselves an easy feat.

There's a lot to be said about a sharing-friendly take-out container.

The same could not be said about Chick-fil-A's food packaging — we had to fight over each other to grab the chicken nuggets from their small box.

We weren't too thrilled about that.

But on-point packaging design aside, Popeyes is not the winner of this taste test.

That title belongs to Chick-fil-A.

But that in no way diminishes Popeye's downright superb fried-chicken quality.

The crisp, the breading, the texture, and the taste — Popeyes nails it every time.

But what Chick-fil-A does to single itself out is take each of its menu items and make it entirely its own.

From its chicken sandwich to its chicken nuggets and chicken strips, Chick-fil-A isn't the only fast-food restaurant with these items on the menu, but it crafts them in such a way that its competitors don't stand a chance against.

Its colorful variety of dipping sauces plays a big role in that.

We got one of each available sauce for this taste test: the original Chick-fil-A, the Polynesian, the honey mustard, the garden herb ranch, the zesty Buffalo, the barbecue, and the Sriracha.

The sauces were so much fun to mix and match with our food that we abandoned our goal of dipping only Chick-fil-A's nuggets into them and started using them with Popeyes' dishes.

We tried the spicy Cajun fries from Popeyes with the Polynesian sauce ...

... and slathered the zesty Buffalo sauce onto the Chicken Po' Boy at one point.

Part of the fun of going to Chick-fil-A is experimenting with all of its different sauces, and double, triple, or even quadruple dipping to see what flavors can arise out of the various combinations.

That's not to say Popeyes doesn't have good sauces, but, again, Chick-fil-A just dominates in that department like it does in almost every other one.

So it's easy to see why the chain has gone from a regional favorite to a nationally ranked chain with a cult following in recent years.

Source: Business Insider