I Tried Every Wendy's Chicken Item And Ranked Them Worst To Best

When I'm in the mood for a savory meal, nothing hits the spot quite like a crispy chicken sandwich. Personally, I think the poultry-forward menu item deserves more love than beefy burgers, but I feel like I'm in the minority on that. I'm okay with going against the flow, though, and whether I'm at a sit-down spot or going through a drive-thru, there's a good chance I'll order something with chicken in it.

Given my own affinity for the genre, I figured I was a fitting subject for a taste test of every chicken item on Wendy's menu. It's pertinent to note that if I had to pick a fast food chain, Wendy's would be toward the top of my list (only surpassed by Chick-fil-A and Popeyes). Despite being a burger-centric spot, Wendy's actually has a wealth of chicken items available — 15, to be exact. So I took on the laborious task of ordering, tasting, and ranking all of them, to hopefully reduce your decision fatigue the next time you're in the drive-thru. Let's see how they did!

I was, unfortunately, wholly unimpressed by Wendy's Crispy Chicken Sandwich. As a chicken sandwich aficionado, I'll admit to having high standards, but I appreciate anything with a crunchy exterior and meaty interior slapped between two buns. I didn't really get that here, though.

First, the sandwich was incredibly small — like, a four-biter — and that was instantly off-putting. I don't think it would make for a filling lunch. Second, the chicken itself wasn't very crispy or flavorful. I can give the lack of crisp a pass because this sandwich was sitting in its wrapper for a minute, but I know Wendy's can do a better job of flavoring its crispy chicken (as evidenced by some of the higher-ranking picks). There was virtually no textural variety here, and, on the whole, it was a pretty boring entry that easily took last place. 

Had this wrap used crispy chicken (like McDonald's snack wraps do), it likely would have scored at least a few spots higher on this list. And before you call me a grilled chicken hater, I'm not — in this context, it just didn't do the wrap any favors, and I found this to be another boring, bottom-of-the-barrel entry.

Again, there was virtually no textural interest here, and the chicken in the wrap was pretty nondescript. I ranked it higher than the previous chicken sandwich because there's more flavor here due to the cheese and ranch dressing. Still, I wasn't at all impressed, and I think you'd do better to buy the following Wendy's items. If you're really in the mood for a chicken wrap, you should head to McDonald's, IMO.

Wendy's chicken nuggets took the No. 4 spot in my overall ranking of fast food chicken nuggets, and I'll stand by that opinion — when compared to the other options in the sphere, they certainly pull their weight. However, when pitted against the own store's other chicken options, they fall flat. 

I gave them a higher ranking than the aforementioned chicken wrap because I did get some textural interest here (which is just a fancy way of saying that the exterior was crispy). However, their flavor didn't impress. Compared to some of the upcoming crispy chicken options, I know it can inject some flavor into the batter, but that wasn't present here. I like how meaty the nuggets are, but that only takes them so far, and I ultimately couldn't justify giving them a higher place than 13th in this ranking. 

Only slightly better than Wendy's Crispy Chicken Nuggets was its spicy version of the same. I still wasn't wholly impressed with these (or, to be honest, Wendy's spicy chicken in general, which you'll see as we move further down this list). But they were a decided improvement over the last, and therefore deserved 12th place. 

The only reason I ranked these higher than the previous is because they were more flavorful. Indeed, I can call them "spicy," — but the spice did take a while to hit, and I doubted whether they had any spice to them at all at the beginning of the bite. The nuggets were pretty dry and chewy, but I decided not to fault them for that and to chalk it up to being a bad batch. These wouldn't be the worst chicken item to get from Wendy's, but you'd be better off getting spicy chicken nuggets from Trader Joe's.

I love a crispy chicken sandwich, and I love a BLT — it stands to reason, then, that a combo of the two would be a shoo-in for one of the top spots on this list. Alas, I was decidedly (and surprisingly) disappointed with this sandwich, and I didn't want to take more than the bite required for taste-testing purposes. 

Even with the additional ingredients on this sandwich, I wasn't impressed. The tomato was rather mealy, I still couldn't distinguish the chicken from the rest of the sandwich, and the bacon and cheese did absolutely no heavy lifting. I probably would have ranked it higher if the chicken and bacon had been crispier, and there had been a fresher tomato on the sandwich; unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I can't call this the worst chicken sandwich on Wendy's menu, but it was far from the best and, as such, was relegated to 11th place. 

Only available on Wendy's breakfast menu is its Maple Bacon Chicken Croissant, which I actually liked more than I expected. I can be picky about my sweet-savory combos — while sweet flavors can provide a nice foil to savory ones, some menu items overdo it and throw the whole thing off-balance. Fortunately, that wasn't the case here. 

Now, I wasn't wholly impressed — both the chicken and the bacon were a little chewy, and the "croissant" really doesn't deserve its name, in my opinion — but I was impressed by the sweet-savory balance in this offering. Maple offered a nice accent to the chicken, and I got a lot of that sweet-and-salty appeal that I look for in such menu items. While I wasn't at all floored by the maple bacon chicken croissant, I did like it more than I anticipated and was able to give it the 10th spot in this ranking. 

I don't know that I've ever ordered a salad from a fast food restaurant. I go through a drive-thru because I'm craving a burger and fries or a crispy chicken sandwich, not to get my daily serving of veggies in. That might change, though — of the three salads on Wendy's menu, two of them got top spots. The Apple Pecan salad was the least impressive of the bunch, but it still did enough to make it into the top nine here.

I liked the cornerstones of this salad — namely, the apples and the pecans — but I was less impressed with the chicken (which had no texture or flavor), and since this is a chicken item ranking, I felt I couldn't place it any higher. If you like sweet salads, you may enjoy this. The pomegranate vinaigrette was definitely on the sweeter side, and it played nicely with the chicken and pecans. As a whole, though, this wasn't a standout chicken offering. 

Another chicken item from Wendy's that's only available during breakfast hours is its aptly-named Honey Buddy Chicken Biscuit, which I also liked more than I expected. Admittedly, I'm a sucker for pretty much anything on a fast-food biscuit, so I wasn't that surprised to be fairly endeared to this one, but I certainly didn't think it would take the eighth spot.

Once again, I thought the sweet-savory balance was on point. The honey accented the chicken biscuit without being overwhelming. I wasn't floored by the chicken, but it did what it needed to — it provided some hearty protein that would leave me feeling pretty satisfied for the rest of the morning. The biscuit itself was buttery and flavorful, and the two made for a pretty decent pairing. I obviously can't call this my favorite menu item, but it was a decent one that I'd have again. 

Now, this is what I call crispy chicken! Wendy's Chicken Tenders pull out all the stops in terms of both flavor and texture, as you can probably tell from the above picture. Yes, they were as crispy as they looked, and yes, I gave them quite a lot of credit for that.

In addition to having an enviably crispy exterior, the chicken tenders were also flavorful, and this is part of the reason why the chicken nuggets ranked so low — their flavor didn't hold a candle to the chicken tenders. I really enjoyed these (and, unlike any other menu item here, I actually finished them), which may have you wondering why they didn't earn the honor of being placed first. Well, all of the following still had more flavor because they included more ingredients, and I had to be objective enough not to tout the tenders too much. But if you, like me, are a tenders lover, these are a good buy. 

I definitely didn't dislike Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich, but it didn't do enough to be wholly satisfying. It was far more substantial than the Crispy Chicken Sandwich and the Spicy Chicken Sandwich, which gave it a definite leg up in this taste test. I liked that it included some more toppings, but I still can't praise it too highly. 

I would have given the spicy chicken a spot or two higher if the sandwich itself needed more flavor, but it didn't; I'd even say that the spicy chicken was a bit overbearing here, and it made it so that I couldn't really taste the other ingredients on the sandwich. In other words, the balance was off, and I didn't enjoy this one as much as the following. Still, it wasn't bad, and if you have to have spicy chicken, you may be more endeared to this than I was. 

Wendy's Spicy Asiago Ranch Club, while interesting (or, at least, more interesting than the last), suffered much of the same shortcomings as the former. I'll preface this by saying that Wendy's Asiago Ranch Club has long been my sandwich of choice from the spot, so I already have an affinity for it, but this was a decided step down from the OG.

I didn't get any asiago or bacon flavors here because the spice from the chicken overwhelmed the rest of the sandwich. That's not the most glaring flaw in the world (after all, this sandwich still made it into the top five), but it did put this sandwich below the following. This isn't a bad buy if you're really after spicy chicken, but don't expect the other ingredients to pull their weight.

Now we've arrived at a non-spicy option, where all ingredients had room to shine on their own. Coming in with a solid fourth-place spot is Wendy's Classic Chicken Sandwich, which I far preferred to any of the other sandwiches I've highlighted on this list thus far. You can kind of tell why I liked it just from the visual appeal. See that crispy, massive chicken patty? 

The chicken here was great — very crispy and very hearty. It surpassed all the aforementioned chicken patties and was also super flavorful, like the chain's chicken tenders. Because the patty was so tasty, I didn't think it needed to be spicy, which is why this (and the chicken sandwich that made the top three) ranked higher than their spicy counterparts. There's no need to mess with a good thing, and I thought the classic chicken did plenty of heavy lifting on its own. 

While I have pretty high praise for Wendy's salads, I probably wouldn't seek out the chain just to get one. I may buy one if I find myself in the drive-thru on a whim. Its Parmesan Caesar Salad in particular was a standout, though I won't pretend it's because the chicken did anything special — rather, the chicken was a decent component on a pretty flavorful salad.

I'm a sucker for Caesar salads any day, so I wasn't surprised that I particularly liked this one. I appreciated that the salad had shaved Parmesan — it gave the dish a little bit of elevated flair. The chicken wasn't super noticeable, but it was more noticeable than in the last salad I mentioned, and I could tell I was getting some protein in while I was eating this. And, of course, the dressing slapped. If you want a serving of veggies and protein next time you're traversing the drive-thru, you wouldn't be disappointed with this one. 

It was pretty obvious that Wendy's Asiago Ranch Club was going to get one of the highest spots on this list — after all, I've already talked about my longtime affection for the sandwich. I was honestly surprised that it didn't take the top spot, but the following surprised me in more ways than one, and I couldn't justify putting this at No. 1 while the next menu item was an option.

Still, I really like the Asiago Chicken Club because the chicken patty wasn't spicy, and it was easy to distinguish all of the elements of the sandwich. The asiago itself brought a welcome sharp component, and the bacon added some heartiness; obviously, the ranch was a good addition, even if only because I adore the condiment. This will probably still be my choice order in the future; that is, when I don't decide to go with the following ...

Yes, I was as surprised as you are that Wendy's Cobb Salad ended up in the first-place spot here. I was even a little wary of trying it at first — the idea of fast-food boiled eggs and tomatoes on a salad didn't wholly appeal to me, and my expectations for this offering were decidedly low. I was humbled when I found myself taking bite after bite. 

This salad was an explosion of flavor, and chicken was only a small (yet crucial) piece of the puzzle. Ranch dressing shone, obviously, and the bacon provided a nice salty element while the cheese shreds were thick enough to be discernible in every bite. I didn't even shy away from the tomato or the egg — both gave some heart to the salad, so I was endeared to them. This was a very flavorful offering that I didn't think was missing anything, and I could easily order it again. 

To rank Wendy's chicken items, I judged each menu item both on the chicken itself and the item as a whole. That's part of why the Cobb salad earned the top spot — even though the chicken wasn't the focal point of the salad, all of the elements together made for a hearty and flavorful offering, and the salad wouldn't have had the same appeal if the chicken weren't present. My bottom-ranked items featured chicken that didn't live up to what it should have been (i.e., the non-crispy "Crispy Chicken Sandwich") or were just boring.