Every Popeyes Seafood Item, Ranked

Popeyes is known for its chicken items, like the classic chicken sandwich, nuggets, and spicy tenders. I visit Popeyes frequently and have tried quite a lot of things from the chain's menu, but I'm a newer patron, and I haven't really delved much into the seafood. I was especially interested in the fish sandwich, which was deemed the best fast-food fish sandwich in a previous Tasting Table taste test.

At the same time, I was not excited to try the chain's popcorn shrimp, which landed on the list of items to avoid at the poultry-centric eatery. Well, I tried the entire seafood lineup, including all shrimp options (four rubs and one classic breading), the fish sandwich, and the spicy fish sandwich, to give you my honest thoughts. I judged the seafood based on a few factors, but flavor is of utmost importance. After the taste, texture is an important factor, but I also have my personal preferences that come into play. Let's dive into the dishes and discover which one is the most delicious and which is the ultimate dud.

The Shrimp Tackle Box comes with eight pieces of shrimp, a side, and a biscuit, but you can upgrade to get the combo (which comes with a drink) or large combo (drink, plus a second side). You can pick from five rub flavors, and the worst of the batch is the Buffalo, which surprised me since I typically love Buffalo sauce. Butter and hot sauce are two major ingredients in the red sauce, and unfortunately, Popeyes Buffalo rub shrimp doesn't provide either.

The rub is just that, a dry rub — emphasis on the "dry." It tastes like you loaded dry chili powder or cayenne onto cooked shrimp and called it a day. There's so much powdery seasoning, it's the only thing you can taste on the tongue, disguising the crustacean itself. Plus, it needs salt or something to round it out since it's so one-dimensional. On top of that, the rub doesn't give me any type of Buffalo sauce-inspired vibes. There's no buttery richness or dimension that you'd find in a chili-infused hot sauce, securing the last-place position. I would not want to eat this again.

Now that I covered what a Shrimp Tackle Box is, let me talk about the shrimp itself a little more generally. All the shrimp — regardless of the rub or no rub — suffer from a similar issue: They range considerably. Some have tails, some don't. But worse than that, you can't always tell which is which by looking at them. Some are heavily breaded, where I couldn't be sure if it had a tail or not, so I took a bite only to gnaw on that unpleasant, sharp, and papery tail. After that initial experience, I was careful to delicately bite the next shrimp in anticipation of a tail, but it was not there. So, get ready for some hide-and-seek. This is across the board, no matter the flavor, so I won't mention it again — but just keep that in mind.

The Garlic Parm gets second-to-last place because it underdelivers, too, but at least it's slightly more flavorful than the Buffalo. The aroma and taste of Parmesan saturate the shrimp. It's the only thing I can sniff or garner as far as taste. It's cheesy and nutty at the same time, covering up virtually all of the shrimp's actual flavor. Some shrimp are coated in the rub, while others look like they were hidden while getting seasoned with just residual dust. While the flavor is slightly more successful than the Buffalo, I wouldn't recommend the Garlic Parm either.

As we work our way up the ranking, there's a definite improvement in the shrimp rub flavoring and application. The Popeyes' Lemon Pepper delivers on both of its titular ingredients, unlike the Garlic Parm's lack of garlic, to give it a slight lead in the ranking. It's peppery and tangy, but it just needs a hint of salt to make it more palatable. It's astringent because of the lemon flavor and needs the salt to act as a balance and round things out. 

Other than that, it also faces the tail, no tail dilemma, as all of the Shrimp Tackle Boxes I tried do. While the shrimp's texture seems pretty good — delicate without being too rubbery or overcooked — it seems like this might vary by location. Luckily, it doesn't suffer from the same overbreading and overcooked issues as discussed in the previously mentioned list of items to avoid.

The Ghost Pepper Rub Shrimp Tackle Box has the best flavor out of all the rubs. Yes, it's spicy, but not unbearably so, as you might assume from the name. What's interesting is that ghost pepper salt is more tolerable than the pepper itself, so perhaps that's a contributing factor. It definitely has more heat than the Buffalo rub, but it seems more well-rounded in its application. It's also better adhered to the exterior of the shrimp, so it doesn't end up feeling like a powdery seasoning that dislodges as you move the shrimp around. 

The seafood is spicy and tasty; however, the heat coats your tongue, so it takes away from the crustacean's flavor. You can't necessarily taste the oceanic briny notes of the shrimp or their hint of sweetness, but as far as the actual rub flavoring, ghost pepper is Popeyes' best option. Next up, we're finally taking a break from shrimp to try a different type of seafood.

The Spicy Flounder Fish Sandwich is delicious and much better than any of the aforementioned shrimp or shrimp rub options by many leagues. The fish fillet is incredibly flaky, while the brittle breading offers a counterpoint to the fish's otherwise delicate nature. The brioche bun has a buttery taste that further improves the flavor while bringing a soft, pillowy aspect into the mix. 

Then, we have the welcome briny tang and crunch of the pickle. I usually like to get extra pickles, but there's no option for that in the app; only no pickles or light pickles. All of these elements are needed to enhance a fish-based sandwich. The flounder's base flavor is quite neutral, allowing for all the sandwich ingredients to augment the experience.

Better yet, there's a trace of spice from the spicy mayo that pricks the tongue through each bite, but it is not overbearing. You can taste the heat, the fish, and the bun, all in one go. Nothing feels overpowered, which was certainly the case for the Ghost Pepper rub, which totally diverts attention from the shrimp's natural flavors. If you want a sandwich that tastes and looks elevated more than what you'd expect from a fast food restaurant, you sincerely can't go wrong with the Spicy Flounder Fish Sandwich.

The Surf & Turf is the best of both worlds, allowing customers to get a bit of seafood and Popeyes' famous poultry in one dish. Pick from any of the rub flavors or leave it classic, which I chose to do here (I had to try all shrimp options, after all). In this meal, though, you get four pieces of shrimp and two chicken tenders instead of an eight-count of shrimp in the Tackle Box. You can get the classic box, which comes with a side and a biscuit; the combo, which comes with everything plus a drink; and the large combo, which adds one side (in addition to everything in the combo). The fries are deemed the best option according to a previous Tasting Table review on Popeyes' sides, if you're having a hard time deciding.

So, as you might gather, this is the menu item to get when you want both seafood and chicken in one go. Pick from the classic breaded tenders, spicy tenders, or blackened tenders. I've tried enough Popeyes items to know I like the non-breaded blackened tenders, but I think that is purely a matter of personal preference. I find the shrimp is the most successful in their classic breaded form, no rub needed. All the other rubs make it hard to taste the shrimp itself, but here you get the crisp breading and the softer interior shrimp that still has that pleasant oceanic flavor, without being overpowering, unpleasant, or fishy. It's not the best popcorn shrimp, but it's the best that Popeyes offers. 

The plain Classic Flounder Fish Sandwich is the winner among Popeyes' full seafood lineup. Speaking as a food writer and a marketing professional, there's a reason why it's called the classic sandwich, and that's because it's the fish blueprint at Popeyes. Its success is the reason why Popeyes created the spicy offshoot of the classic in 2022. Based on its popularity, the chain made the right decision to branch out from the beloved traditional flavor to make a spicy version, ideal for those who prefer a touch of heat.

But to bring it back to my first-place pick, the non-spicy fish sandwich is the most interesting, most flavorful, and most versatile menu item. You still get the sandwich format that you might be craving when you go to Popeyes, but it's a totally different protein source, rather than the firmer, chewier texture of chicken. This time, instead of spicy mayo on the spicy flounder sandwich, we get the tangy and creamy tartar sauce, which pairs nicely with the pickles. The fillet is buttery and easy to eat, while the exterior breading offers a little bit of juxtaposition. If you have to pick one thing to sample from the seafood selection at Popeyes, you can't go wrong with the classic fish sandwich. It's no fuss, no muss, but everything is perfectly right.

To come up with this order, I based my judgments on the food's flavor, texture, and a bit of my own personal preference. While I think each of the rubs has some issue that makes them objectively not the best seafood item, one might subjectively like one flavor more than the next. Items ranked higher if they had a flavorful, well-rounded bite, which means they weren't over- or under-seasoned.

I think it's also important to note that you have to eat all of these items immediately after picking them up; even waiting a few minutes can negatively impact the overall flavor and texture. For example, I tried a shrimp a few minutes after my initial taste test; the shrimp breading was noticeably softer without as pleasant a crunch to act as a textural contrast.