The chicken sandwich wars are in full swing, and McDonald’s is coming out with its own heavy casualties.
On February 24, McDonald’s unveiled its latest chicken sandwiches: the Crispy Chicken Sandwich, the Deluxe Crispy Chicken Sandwich and the Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich.
Immediately, fans and industry experts noticed that the new offering looked very similar to Chick-fil-As and Popeyes’ iconic chicken sandwiches. Kate Taylor of Insider reported earlier on a leaked menu revealing that McDonald’s plans to release a new chicken sandwich said the chain plans to take a page from Chick-fil-A’s playbook .
Former McDonald’s chef Mike Haracz told Insider “it’s very clear” that McDonald’s Chick-fil-A’s lead follows with his sandwich. “It comes in a foil bag just like Chick-fil-A, from what I understand it has a very similar taste profile,” he said.
The description of the McDonald’s crispy chicken sandwich describes it as a “southern-style fried chicken sandwich” with crumpled pickles and a roasted potato roll. Chick-fil-A’s chicken sandwich also comes on a toasted, buttered sandwich with dill-pickle chips.
However, I did not want to assume that the sandwiches are identical – I had to try them myself.
Here’s what I thought of each chicken sandwich, of how similar it was to who one could even win the chicken sandwich wars with.