Chicken nuggets. Nuggets made of chicken. There are many types of nuggets that exist today. Original nuggets, spicy nuggets, vegetable nuggets, the possibilities are endless. Since the 50s, nuggets have been an important American dish. Much like fries, chicken nuggets are also fried! Fried food is the pinnacle of the standard American meal.

We will be trying chicken nuggets from Wendys, McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A and Burger King. To make the competition equal, we tried each nugget without ketchup and with ketchup. The nuggets will be judged based on the crispiness, how real the meat is, appearance and finally overall taste. 

Below, the nuggets will be ranked from worst to best. 

4- Burger King

Oh Burger King, are you okay? There was WAY too much breading on this nugget, barely even chicken. We cannot describe to you if the chicken tasted real because, to be honest, we could not taste it. Although these were the cheapest nuggets we bought for the amount we received ($1.69 for 10 nuggets), the nuggets were extremely crispy and weirdly big, but that is about it. As people who use chicken nuggets to fill the void in our lives, Wendy’s nuggets deepened the void. We now understand why they are so cheap because wow. Burger King, we advise you to stick to the Whopper. 

3- Mcdonalds 

This was shocking to us. Going into this review, we believed that this would be the BEST nugget. We were left betrayed and disappointed. The nuggets were soggy, lacking any type of crispiness. They were soft and obviously not chicken (but what else can you expect from McDonald’s?). Growing up, our parents would take us to McDonald’s after the doctors, or as a reward for small achievements. These memories fueled our love for the, strangely hated on, McDonald’s. They were simple and, now we understand why you grow out of your chicken nugget phase and into your Big Mac lifestyle. It’s a good thing that their french fries do not disappoint, or else we would be baffled by the popularity of this fast-food establishment. Once a legend, always a legend, but maybe not today. 

2- Chick-fil-A

So, this nugget lacked in one serious category: the breading. The crunchiness of this was fine except for the fact that there was way too much chicken and not enough breading. We understand their viewpoint of wanting to create their own unique nugget, but the overall experience and joy of indulging in a fat, juicy nugget were nowhere in sight. The chicken tasted very real, but the lack of breading threw us for a loop. They were also weirdly small, but we understand that they are banking on the “real chicken” angle. The taste was close to exquisite, with each bite leaving you wanting more. Chick-Fil-A, you made your point, and we respect that. 

1- Wendys

Wendys, oh how you came, saw and conquered. We were never the biggest fans of Wendys, so we had expected them to be ranked either in last, or third place. We were taken aback by the results of this taste test. These nuggets were crispy but not overbearing, the chicken tasted pretty real, but you could still tell it was fast food. It gave us Tyson chicken nugget vibes, but more upscale. It was the perfect proportion of chicken to breading and honestly, it was amazing quality for the price. The feeling after biting into these nuggets felt like a kiss from an angel on a spring day in the outskirts of Northern Italy. It was only $1.06 for the 4 nuggets (including tax). We have to say, Wendys surprisingly did not disappoint. 

In the end, nuggets will be nuggets. That fact will never change. Nuggets will have their bad days and many, MANY good days. Wendy’s nuggets just seem to have fewer bad days than others. Although there were many more restaurants out there that sell the mystical nugget, as two broke high school juniors, we worked with what we had. Celebrate nuggets, eat nuggets, for they are what makes America run.