A person’s preference in fast food locations is going to vary significantly depending on who you talk to. Beyond that, it’s going to vary from food item to food item. Just today I was having a debate with someone about whose French fries are better. I argued Burger King had the superior fry, but the consensus of others seemed to fall with McDonald’s. If there was one thing that could be agreed on by most people, though, it’s that Burger King had the weakest chicken nuggets among them: McDonald’s and Wendy’s. But BK has been on a tear trying to reinvent themselves. They recently changed their style of chicken nuggets. Has it been worth it?
Not Burger King’s First Reinvention
This isn’t the only reinvention Burger King has tried recently. We recently covered what they did with the Whopper. They went to extra lengths to improve the packaging, sauce, and bun quality. The results were mixed. The packaging was a definite improvement. By putting the burger in a box and a paper sleeve, it did a lot to keep the burger fresher and more together. As for the improved taste quality, that part was a bit negligible.
When it comes to the nuggets, though, absolutely everything is better. If you’ve had Burger King nuggets before, you know that they’re considerably different than Wendy’s or McDonald’s nuggets. The Burger King nuggets feel like an afterthought to the menu. They have no sense of crispiness to them. They feel kind of flimsy and soggy. It’s like they were undercooked in a microwave. They’re not breaded well and really lack flavor. They come in a little bag, and the standard highest increment was 8 or 16 compared to the 10 or 20 at McD’s.
Chicken Nuggets Reference Point
Before I continue, I should note that I keep using McDonald’s as a reference because I consider their nuggets to be the superior meal. When compared to Burger King and Wendy’s, they’re the top. Let’s call them a 10 out of 10. Not because they’re the best thing in the world, but because compared to their fast food brethren, they’re the top of the line. Wendy’s would be at about a 7.5, with Burger King being at a 3 or 4. At least, that’s the case with the old Burger King nuggets formula.
Imagine my surprise when I went to Burger King earlier this month and tried to place an order for an 8-piece. I’m told that they don’t do 8-piece anymore; they have a 10-piece. I thought that was odd. They told me it was because they stopped doing the crown-shaped nuggets. That was fine with me; the shape of my processed chicken bites doesn’t matter to me. So, I ordered the 10-piece with barbecue sauce.
Packaging, Appearance, Taste
When I get my order, I’m greeted with a box instead of a paper sleeve. Already, that’s a step-up. Those flimsy bags are not proper nugget containers. Maybe they’re cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Still, I like my nuggets contained in something with substance to it. This box has substance.
After I open the box, I immediately notice that these things are different. The breading is different. No longer is it some dark brown desert of granular nonsense. What we have here now looks more akin to what I expect a fast food nugget to look like. It has that rolling, folded skin of a deep-fried piece of breaded meat. It feels like it has solid heft to it and isn’t going to fold under the weight of undercooked moisture.
Then, when I actually bit into the nugget, the flavor and texture profile was an absolute world of difference when compared to before. This nugget has actual crisp to it. From the moment you bite in, it rewards you with a similar experience to Wendy’s and McDonald’s. It’s not quite the same as McD’s, but it’s substantially better than anything Burger King has done before. They also advertise that it’s 100% white meat. That part I can’t tell, but the overall taste is supremely improved.
Putting a Number to it
If I were to put this on a numeric scale like before, this nugget has jumped up to an 8.5 out of 10. It’s still not quite as good as McDonald’s, but it is so much closer in quality that I have no qualms going to Burger King for a chicken nugget fix now. I prefer BK’s burgers to McD’s, so if I was really hungry for a combo of burgers, fries, and nuggets, it would get complicated. I would have to order my burger from BK as well as my fries, then go across the street just to get chicken nuggets. But now, I can do it all with BK and feel like my cravings are sated.
The only thing I have yet to sample is all of the sauces. As I mentioned before, I had the BBQ. I can’t say I had any noticeable change in flavor there. I have always preferred Burger King’s BBQ sauce to McD’s, though. BK’s sauce is richer and thicker. McD’s is thinner but still tangy. Can’t argue with the richness that BK provides, though. I also had the new honey mustard, and I can say it was an improvement. There’s an improved kick to the mixture that makes the flavor profile more robust. The honey sweetness is still there, but the mustard is more pronounced with tang. It’s a great combination, and it makes the overall experience even grander.
Keeping Chicken Nuggets in Perspective
That sounds like overdramatic use of language, and I get that. I probably should’ve noted this before, but keep in mind that I’m using this language in the course of discussing chicken nuggets. I’m not talking about fine dining or earth-shattering home-cooked meals here. Saying “grander” in a discussion of fast food is like saying a 6-year-old hit a great grounder to third in a backyard baseball game. The context matters.
And in this context of fast food chicken nuggets, Burger King has hit a home run with this new chicken nugget. This is easily one of the best reinventions of a menu staple in the history of fast food. In a time when corners are being cut throughout food and service industries, this is a wonderful accomplishment. To put it in video game terms, this is like the improvement from the original Street Fighter to Street Fighter II. In film terms, it’s like the difference between the first Star Trek film and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It’s rare to pull off a comeback this big, but credit where credit is due, Burger King did it.
