Last week, my cousin Jason and I saw the commercial for these new Chicken Fries from Burger King. We vowed we would try them the very next day for lunch, which we did. Our verdict: meh.

The chicken fry seems like a good idea…a flavorful, seasoned strip of white chicken breast with a crispy light batter on the outside, delivered in a novel french-fry form factor. Conceptually, it’s similar to the venerable Chicken McNugget, but promises to be more fun. The container itself shows some thought: it’s designed to fit in your car’s cup holder (though I didn’t try this). The lid flips up with a place to stick your dipping sauce container, which is rather clever.

In reality, the chicken fry experience leaves something to be desired. It’s a rather dry product, which the ranch/buffalo sauce did nothing to help because of its overall acidic saltiness. The batter on the chicken fry is very well bonded to the chicken, but it fails to work as a delightful contrast in texture. It’s more like a protective layer, similar to that spray-on rubber you see on pliers. The batter really needs to be chewed into oblivion before any satisfying chicken flavor is released…I counted 5-6 good chews before I thought, “yeah, that tastes pretty good”.

The chicken itself seemed to be formed. Its consistency reminded me of artificial crab meat, which you can find in asian markets. Artificial crab meat is made of fish paste, somehow formed into a “muscle fiber” texture. Tastes OK, but it’s just a little too smooth. I’m not sure if the chicken fry uses formed chicken meat or just sliced breast meat; the uniform quality of the fry itself makes me think it has to be manufactured, or they have perfected some kind of amazing chicken process. Jason said it reminded him of a Costco Chicken Finger. That does not bode well.

Glad I tried it, but probably won’t be trying it any time soon. The McD’s Chicken McNugget kicks its ass, despite its obvious manufactured attributes. First, the McNugget is actually crispy and juicy. The moment you bite into a nugget, you get a tri-burst of texture / flavor / juice sensation in your mouth. You’ve really got to work a Chicken Fry to get anything like that, and by then you’re already bored. Second, the sauces (particularly the hot mustard variety) are better balanced with the taste of the nugget, in my opinion.