While new to the United States, save for a brief appearance at a few outlets in Miami a couple of years ago, the Chicken Big Mac has made various debuts elsewhere. In fact, it sold out when it was introduced in the UK in 2022.
Of course taking food advice from a Brit is like taking romance advice from a German, so that's probably not an endorsement you want to put too much faith in.
Still, it has found some favor in the U.S. since its debut a couple of weeks ago.
"Best item in years"??!?
That's a pretty low bar. I mean, we are talking about McDonald's here, right?
When I first Googled "Chicken Big Mac reviews," I got nothing but positive accounts like that one. This was another.
Let's linger on this one a bit as I had a ... different take.
The look: Pretty neatly assembled and surprisingly close to McDonald's promotional photos for the Chicken Big Mac. The cheese was nice and melty. The bun was shiny and not at all soggy. The lettuce was green and fresh-looking.
I guess that's the kind of review you get when you taste-test the promo photo instead of the actual sandwich.
Here is the promotional photo, the one that appears in their marketing and, in this case, the picture they show you on the app when you are placing a mobile order.
And here is what the one I ordered looked like in real life:
"Surprisingly close to McDonald's promotional photos"? She might be the only person in the world who is never disappointed with her Tinder date.
The bun was shiny ...
Shiny? This is a bun, not a new set of earrings. Is shiny a thing now with bread?
... and not at all soggy.
I'm not sure that's the vote of confidence she thinks it is.
Does she introduce her new boyfriend to her parents by excitedly pointing out that "he doesn't even smell that bad?"
Here's another review.
"A Food Editor's Honest Review"?
When you feel the need to specifically point out that your review is "honest," what does that say about your other reviews?
She ended up concluding that
Honestly ...
She's really laying the honesty on thick. How often does this person lie?
... the Chicken Big Mac is tasty and filling, but nothing to write home about.
Well, at least she was honest.
And then I came across this bit of hagiography.
I Tried the Chicken Big Mac, and I Have Opinions on This Sandwich.
This was written by Allison T.S. Robicelli, a James Beard-nominated cookbook author, recipe developer and food writer.
She looks like a woman who is going to have opinions on this sandwich ... and just about everything else.
Here she goes:
This might be the best chicken sandwich of all the chicken sandwiches currently in the McDonald's canon.
I'll take my adulation a step further and posit that the Chicken Big Mac may actually be better that [sic] the original beef-based version.
I have a feeling McDonald's either paid Google to push these kinds of reviews to the top of searches or they are just really good at playing the algorithm, because when I mentioned to my wife that I was going to review the sandwich and that I was hearing good things she said, "I heard it was getting panned."
She mentioned the Washington Post specifically which when I checked called it "a bland, beige mess," echoing my own first impression.
To begin with, the sandwich doesn't seem like the product of much serious R&D. The younger Big Mac sibling simply swaps in chicken patties — that resemble chicken nuggets in disc form — for the beef ones and calls it a day.
Believe it or not, I'm agreeing with a Washington Post reporter, but yes, exactly. This is the Kelce Mix of the McDonald's menu.
I taste-tested the Chicken Big Mac twice (you're welcome), once by myself as a "meal" together with the fries and coke to get the whole McDonald's experience, and the second time with my son eating the Chicken Big Mac with me eating the original Big Mac and a McCrispy sandwich.
First, the classic meal combo, only with chicken.
I don't expect a McDonald's sandwich to come perfectly made, and so am never totally surprised at the "some assembly required" approach the workers take with the taller offerings, however this was like an Ikea box that had broken open during shipping and the UPS guy tried to shove it back in like nothing happened.
Do they use Predator drones now to apply the lettuce?
I got it presentable after some fiddling and pushing and rearranging, like a bridal party just before the ceremony.
When iceberg lettuce is the thing that brings some "pop" to your sandwich, you might have a visual problem.
I had this for lunch on a Saturday. These clock in at 700 calories, 110 more than the original. I was not surprised as these are deep fried, so for those of you who are diet conscious, the chicken isn't doing you any caloric favors.
(Also, what are you doing in a McDonald's?)
I had been very physically active that day, with more to come, so thought it was an opportune time to go all out and get the medium fries and a medium coke, full sugar. The entire thing clocked in at over 1200 calories.
Definitely not doing that every day.
The monochrome banality of the presentation only got worse as you ate it, exposing the white meat.
My first impression of this was a solid "meh." It wasn't awful, but there was something gaggy about it as I found it soft, soggy, and bland save for the special sauce which seemed totally out of place, like a kitchen accident.
Before I give you my final take, let's move on to the second taste-test in which my son had the Chicken Big Mac, and I had the original and a McCrispy.
Since this was his dinner, I got him fries and a drink but otherwise it was just the three sandwiches.
I should note this second Chicken Big Mac was made pretty well, better than I usually get when I order the original.
That actually looks appetizing, although the chicken looks like breaded cod to me. In fact one reviewer said he was waiting for the Filet-O-Fish Big Mac and I have to admit I find that intriguing.
One big difference that becomes all the more obvious when you put them side by side is how much bigger the chicken version is.
It looks like they use the Quarter Pounder box for these (e coli not included).
This was primarily to accommodate the chicken patties which were thicker, making the sandwich taller, and also had a slightly irregular shape that made them stick out beyond the bun at random points.
I chose the McCrispy for a more stark comparison, and I got it, with the McCrispy darker and more robust (and crispy!) as compared to the Chicken Big Mac.
We both dove in.
With the second taste-test under our (now loosened) belts, let's break down some of the components followed up by an overall review of the sandwich.
The chicken patties.
McDonald's proudly notes that these chicken patties are "tempura" battered, the famously delicate and delicious Japanese coating. Many of the reviewers above echo that enthusiasm.
You know how whenever you hear a bell ring, an angel gets his wings? I think whenever someone refers to these as "tempura" battered, a Samurai sheds a tear.
The patties themselves are a soggy mess save for the very edges which cling to crispiness the way an aging politician clings to power.
My son came to the same conclusion as some other reviewers: They were essentially a Land-of-The Giants version of Chicken McNuggets.
For some reviewers this was a plus, but even my son, who still enjoys the occasional Chicken McNugget said, "if it's a choice between two big Chicken McNuggets and eight small ones, I'd probably go with the eight small ones."
I've always thought they were gross, tasting bland and hyper processed, so that might explain a lot.
The components:
These are "Two all beef chicken patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun."
Yes, aside from swapping out the burgers for chicken, they eliminated the onions. (More on that in a moment.) Otherwise, this is a Big Mac with chicken patties instead of beef patties. That's it. As the WaPo reporter noted, that's all the thought that went into it.
The special sauce is there and then some. In fact, my son's first bite was pretty much all special sauce. "It tastes just like a Big Mac," he said.
That did not last long.
Overall
I liked the second one more than the first, perhaps because I was getting accustomed to the different taste profile. I was so accustomed to the Big Mac, that the chicken one threw me for a loop.
I may have liked it more, but I still didn't like it.
Unlike the original Big Mac,it was utterly forgettable.
One reviewer thought the problem might be that it was missing the bite of the onions. Okay, we can fix that. I scraped what I could off the Big Mac.
And spread them on a small part of the Chicken Big Mac.
Yeah, this thing is going to need more than onions to save it.
It's going to need two all-beef patties.
I should note the pickles did offer some tang, but I always thought pickles were an odd addition to a chicken sandwich and detracts more than adds to it, perhaps reminding how very little the chicken adds to the overall flavor.
My son is the chicken sandwich fan in the family, so I was particularly interested in his opinion.
The bottom line is, he really didn't know exactly what to make of it. His first comment was about the special sauce as I noted above. The second one "interesting." Then "hmmm," like he was puzzling it out as he ate it.
Taste is subjective, so these early impressions, largely devoid of opinion, tell you a lot: It's a sandwich that doesn't make a lot of sense. You may end up liking it, but the components and flavors of a Big Mac were not formulated to work well with chicken patties, something that becomes increasingly obvious as you eat it.
He ended that taste-test noting the similarities to Chicken McNuggets as I mentioned earlier.
I asked him a few days later if he had any additional thoughts. "It's confused," he started to say and then stopped. "No, it's awkward."
That's a perfect description.
I'm glad I had the McCrispy on hand because that was a decent chicken sandwich and so a good comparison.
My son was too full to eat anymore (he had the fries as well) but he's had the McCrispy before and said it was much better, although still not close to Chick-fil-A. Still, it had a genuinely crispy coating which, while mine did not have any condiments on it (It was surprisingly good left dry, something my son suggested I do) I am certain it would have held up better in the Big Mac. It also had — get this — flavor!
Perhaps the chicken breast would have been a better choice, perhaps not. Perhaps the best choice was to not try it at all and instead put the time and effort into making an entirely new sandwich!
You may very well love the Chicken Big Mac, like many of the reviewers, and that's great, but this was still an extremely lazy effort.
I'll stick with the original, thank you.
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