We tried fried chicken from 4 fast food chains — and the winner was clear (2024)

• We tried fried chicken from Popeyes, Church's, Chick-fil-A, and KFC to see who makes it the best.
• KFC was the clear loser — their chicken was dry and their batter was bland.
• Chick-fil-A came in third place because while we loved the batter's flavor and seasoning, but the chicken didn't taste as authentic because the chain doesn't offer meat on the bone.
• Church's came in second place. The meat was juicy and tender, but its batter wasn't as flavorful as Popeyes, which came in first place.
• Visit INSIDER's home page for more stories.

A good piece of fried chicken has to achieve the difficult balance of being crispy on the outside, and juicy on the inside.

Not all restaurants get it right — which is why we set out to find which ones do.

We sampled fried chicken from four popular fast food chains:

• Popeyes
• Church's Chicken
• Chick-fil-A
• KFC

Keep scrolling to see who won.

Church's Chicken

Our first stop was the popular chicken chainChurch's Chicken. We ordered the original chicken 3-piece meal, which comes with a honey-butter drizzled biscuit for$5.43.

At first bite, we were struck by the overalljuiciness of the chicken and the perfect crunch of the breading. However, while the chicken itself was full of flavor, the batter was pretty bland.

Chick-fil-A

Our next stop was Chick-fil-A, which claims to be "Home of the original chicken sandwich."

We had high expectations for this chicken, as Chick-fil-A boasts that its chicken dishes aremade from the most tender part of the breast, then"marinated in special seasonings, hand-breaded, and pressure cooked to perfection."

Read more: 20 fast-food meals you can get for $5

We decided to order the 3-count Chick-n-Strips, which cost$5.11.

Our first reaction uponseeingthe strips was disappointment. Theyseemed small compared to Church's. That said, partof the size discrepancy stemmed from the fact that this chicken does not come on-the-bone, and appears to be ground up meat—essentially a glorified chicken nugget.

But once we took a bite, it was hard not to love this chicken. The breading was bursting with flavor (unlike Church's), and the chicken had just theright amount oftenderness.

While Chick-fil-A was delicious, it tasted more like a chicken nugget than true, on-the-bone fried chicken.

Popeyes

It's no secret that Popeyeshas quite the fan base, so we were excited to putthis chain to the test.

Popeyes boasts bonafide real chicken that is "marinated for at least 12 hours, then hand-battered, hand-breaded, and bursting with bold Louisiana flavor."

Once again, we ordered a 3-piece meal which came in at $5.65.

We were immediately impressed with the first bite. This chicken had everything. The inside was just as juicy as Church's, yet the breading was full of delicious flavor and seasoning.

Read more: We taste-tested Chick-fil-A, KFC, and Popeyes and found the best fast-food chicken chain

KFC

If any chain could beat out Popeyes, we thought it had to be KFC. A worldwide chicken-chain, KFC also has quite a large fan base to its name.

With high hopes, we ordered the 2-piece meal, this time coming in at $5.99 — which is quite a bit more expensive than the other chains, considering you're getting less meat.

At first bite, we were super disappointed. The chicken was very mediocre. The meat was incredibly dry compared to the others, and the breading was thin and tasteless. Although the batter did have some flavor, the chicken washard and lacked the flaky crunch the others had.

In the end, we wonderedwhy KFC is so popular.

The finalranking

After finishing our taste test, there was no doubt in our mind thatPopeyes was the champion. Their chicken had the best crunch, flavor, and tenderness. We also had a clear loser— KFC. Their chicken was dry, and theirbatter bland.

The real debate came when picking between Chick-fil-A and Church's for second place. Both were solid contenders, so we called in a backup taste tester to settle the matter. Overall, we chose Church's over Chick-fil-A because it was more authentic thanChick-fil-A's ground up meat.

All in all, if you want excellentfried chicken, your best bet is Popeyes or Church's. If you're willing to sacrifice a true, on-the-bone experience, Chick-fil-A's strips are your bestbet. But don't bother with KFC.

• Read more:
• I tried chicken wings from 4 restaurant chains and the winner had the best value
• The real differences between chicken nuggets, tenders, wings, and fingers
• 11 mistakes you're making when cooking chicken
• We compared the most popular menu items at KFC and Popeyes — and the winner is crystal clear