I Tried 4 Raising Cane's Walmart Dupes — Here's How They Stack Up Against The Real Thing

America loves its fried chicken, and, overall, chicken is the most consumed meat in the country. It's estimated that the average American consumes 93 pounds of chicken per year, and given the saturation in the chain restaurant market, it's safe to assume a good portion of that comes in crispy, breaded form. You have your classics like KFC, Church's, and even Popeyes, which sell their fried chicken by the bucketful. Then, there are joints like Raising Cane's that have shaken up the industry with a fresh approach. This is where our "One Love" for fried chicken meets sides that are almost as popular on an oversimplified menu. And whether it's the quality, taste, convenience, or all three, the Cane's formula is a successful one.

We simply can't get enough of those box combos packed with chicken, crinkle-cut fries, Cane's sauce, and Texas toast; all washed down with a cold glass of sweet tea. With this kind of popularity, it was only a matter of time before copycat recipes started popping up, especially at the grocery store. Did you know you could build your own Cane's meal from various Great Value products at Walmart? From the chicken fingers to the dipping sauce, the brand has everything you need to DIY that deliciousness. But the real question is how it compares to the real thing. I recently picked up four of these Great Value lookalike items and compared them to a true Cane's 3 Finger Combo to find out. I tried them all side by side and then judged them based on texture, flavor, and overall quality.

Let's be real. Raising Cane's chicken fingers are some of the best in the game, and there are clear reasons why. It really comes down to the finer details, like using quality chicken and the right part of the chicken — tenderloins rather than breast or cut strips. Of course, the careful process of soaking each tender in brining solution and battering each by hand is equally important.

It's hard to compete with that, especially when we're talking about a frozen product baked in the oven. And some of the differences between Cane's and the Great Value Famous Chicken Fingers were obvious from the get-go. Both are white meat chicken tenders, but Great Value's are smaller featuring a crumblier kind of breading compared to the light and crispy breading of Cane's chicken fingers. The store brand also lacks when it comes to juiciness — perhaps a consequence of the smaller size.

The flavor is where the playing field levels a bit. If you ever take a second to eat Cane's chicken finger sans any sauce, you'll realize the taste is heavily reliant on the chicken itself. I wouldn't say it's bland, but it's certainly not seasoning-heavy. Great Value comes to the table with a little more salt and what feels like a heavier dose of MSG for an extra hit of umami. Honestly, without the comparison, they're still pretty good chicken tenders, considering they're a budget frozen option.

I'm sorry to say it, but I think the crinkle-cut fries may be my least favorite part of any Cane's combo. Compared to the rest, they've never seemed as flashy or unique. More of a filler than a centerpiece, and oftentimes the only thing left standing in the box after I finish a meal. After trying them again for a fresh perspective, I can confirm that I still feel the same way. They're good, just not cult-status good like the chain's chicken tenders or Cane's sauce. This presents a grand opportunity for Walmart's Great Value brand to swoop in and take over this category.

Great Value's fries – which I baked in the oven — are more yellow and thicker-cut than Cane's fries. This means that they have a more potato-forward flavor, which could be a positive or negative depending on your own personal spud preferences. The store fries additionally lean less salty, less greasy (despite the inclusion of multiple seed oils), and less crispy. Cane's fries have a light crunch to them when they're fresh. Before they succumb to the condensation of the Styrofoam box, that is.

Personally, I don't mind the trade-off here. I like the natural flavor of Great Value's fries and don't mind the softer bite. You could swap these into my next Cane's combo, and I would be perfectly content. But I wouldn't go so far as to call these an exact one-to-one dupe.

Like many people who frequent the Cane's drive-thru, I use the chain's specialty sauce on everything. Each and every chicken finger obviously gets a hefty dunk. But the fries are not excluded from the dipping ritual, and neither is the slice of Texas toast. If I ever ordered the coleslaw instead of trading it away for an extra slice of toast, I'd probably dip that in sauce too.

There's just something about Cane's sauce, and Great Value's own Chicken Finger Dipping Sauce has the same star qualities. It's one of the best and closest fast-food dupes I've ever come across. It has that same creamy consistency paired with a flavor that's full of umami, tang, and a bit of pepper. I was going dip for dip with both sauces and could hardly tell the difference, aside from perhaps a heightened punchiness in the Cane's version.

This is a quality find and great news for any Cane's sauce lover who's tired of spending $0.40 for each extra cup (the entire Great Value bottle is only $2.38). Plus, with such a similar taste, the Great Value ingredient list could even give us some valuable insight into that top-secret recipe. The Great Value bottle is primarily made up of tomato paste, soybean oil, Worcestershire sauce concentrate, garlic, onion, MSG, and other spices. It also does, in fact, include anchovies — the only confirmed ingredient in Cane's sauce.

I knew immediately that this matchup would yield the largest discrepancy. I've never had anything quite like Cane's thick Texas toast, and Great Value's five-cheese version of the specialty bread unfortunately does not rise to the occasion. I guess the search for a suitable copycat continues.

Walmart's Texas toast is in a completely different ballpark and feels like a completely different product, despite the name association. Instead of being soft and fluffy with lightly toasted sides, as Cane's is, it develops a crunchy crust all around the edges that you have to fight through before you get to the more forgiving center. It also relies heavily on garlic to carry the flavor, whereas a heavy slather of butter on both sides is all the Cane's toast needs to shine (there is supposedly garlic in the chain's recipe, too, although I've never found it to be very strong). In addition, when it comes to the Great Value toast, I think this is the one time when the addition of cheese didn't elevate the taste.

This is a fine product. But its flavor profile makes it feel out of place when it's buddied up next to a meal of chicken tenders and fries. It would be much more at home paired with a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, where it can be used as a mop to scoop up the marinara sauce that was left behind.

After picking up these four Cane's dupes at Walmart, I cooked the chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries, and Texas toast in the oven according to instructions. I then tried all four, including the sauce, side by side with their restaurant counterpart. I compared quality, textures, ingredients, and overall taste. What I found is that this assemblage of Great Value foods makes for a solid meal. But aside from the chicken-finger dipping sauce, none of it bears that strong a resemblance to Cane's own offerings.

There is still something to be said about frozen chicken fingers that offer pure white meat and a decently crisp, savory breading — even if they're not a 100% match to Cane's hand-breaded juicy tenders. Less crispy and more spud-like, the Great Value French fries are also respectable in their own right. Together, these two products will satisfy your cravings for a fried chicken meal. Plus, by the time you dunk it all in that spot-on sauce, it becomes more difficult to recognize the differences anyway.

The five-cheese Texas toast is the easiest component to skip, with its conflicting flavors. But as for the Great Value dipping sauce, that's an absolute must-buy. Don't walk. Run to go get it, but be careful when you do. Make sure to grab the Chicken Finger Dipping Sauce, and not the Chicken Dipping Sauce, which is an entirely different product. I almost made this mistake.