Popeyes fried chicken sandwich took the world by storm after its debut in 2019.
Many compared this fried chicken sandwich to Chick-fil-A’s own fried chicken sandwich,
and a debate formed over which was better. Here, in 2023, four years after this debate
began, I, Dillon Schneider, the news editor and now a “food critic” for CN Blue and Gold,
am here to settle this matter once and for all.
The fried chicken sandwiches I picked up originated in the Popeyes on Military
Trail and the Chick-fil-A on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd, right next to the wonderful Cardinal
Newman High School. I first picked up the Popeyes fried chicken sandwich, then the
Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich, finally bringing them to my house. The Popeyes fried
chicken sandwich was out for roughly 20 minutes, but still was warm when I arrived
home. Because I wanted to directly compare the fried chicken on the sandwiches and I
do not like pickles or any of the standard toppings on the Popeyes fried chicken
sandwich, I ordered and ate two plain fried chicken sandwiches.
To begin my comparison, I first thoroughly inspected each fried chicken sandwich
with my eyes. After this thorough visual inspection, I came to two conclusions, the first
being the Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich was more visually appealing, and the
second being the Popeyes fried chicken sandwich had more fried chicken than the
Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich. After my visual inspection, I began my olfactory
inspection. Each sandwich smelled good in its own way, and there was no clear winner
in this regard. My third inspection involved listening to the fried chicken sandwiches.
After listening to them for some time, neither of them made any sounds whatsoever.
There was also no clear winner in this regard. The fourth inspection I performed
involved touch. When I picked the fried chicken sandwiches up, neither fell apart, which

was good. The Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich had a fluffy bun, while the Popeyes
fried chicken sandwich had a very thin, smashed bun. Neither fried chicken sandwich
was too greasy, either, and no fried chicken sandwich won in the touch category.
Finally, we have come to the most important section of all. As I bit into the
Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich, one thought immediately jumped into my head: “This
is a (fried) chicken sandwich.” Then, immediately after my bite from the Chick-fil-A fried
chicken sandwich, I took a bite out of the Popeyes fried chicken sandwich. As I took the
bite, a new thought popped into my head: “That wasn’t a very good bite. I didn’t get
much (fried) chicken.” To rectify this problem, I took another bite. However, my original
bite was not the issue. It turned out that the fried chicken sandwich’s fried chicken was
too fried! The majority of the matter was breading, not the juicy chicken inside! As I took
bite after bite, I struggled to find the good fried chicken I desired. After four or five bites,
I finally discovered a thicker portion of the fried chicken which had the meaty part I
sought. However, the amount of this thicker portion only made up roughly half the fried
chicken sandwich, leaving the other half with the undesirable thin fried chicken.
During the fiasco, I made several observations about the Popeyes fried chicken
sandwich in comparison to the Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich. First of all, the
Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich was lightly breaded and had a large amount of fried
chicken, while the Popeyes fried chicken sandwich was heavily breaded and had much
less fried chicken. The original observation I had made was mistaken! I prefer more
fried chicken over breading, so the Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich takes the point
here. The increased breading on the Popeyes fried chicken sandwich led to more
crunch while eating it. I enjoyed this crunch more than the no crunch the Chick-fil-A fried

chicken sandwich offered, so the Popeyes fried chicken sandwich takes the point here. I
also realized the Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich was more flavorful than the Popeyes
fried chicken sandwich, and because I like flavor, the Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich
takes the point. The buns, however, were quite similar in flavor. The preference comes
down to whether or not you like more bread on your fried chicken sandwich. My
preference is more bread, so the fluffy Chick-fil-A bun takes the point.
After my observations of the tongue, I finally determined which fried chicken
sandwich I enjoyed the more. Because of the consistently good, flavorful fried chicken,
the fluffy bun, and appetizing look, the Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich takes the cake
for me. While the Popeyes fried chicken sandwich was good, it just didn’t have that
flavor or consistency of quality that the Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich had. I would
recommend the Chick-fil-A fried chicken sandwich over the Popeyes fried chicken
sandwich every day of the week (except on Fridays during Lent when meat is prohibited
and Sundays when Chick-fil-A is closed). After four years of debate, the winner of the
best chicken sandwich has been declared.