Burger King's New Chicken Nuggets Just Stole The Crown From McDonald's

Burger King has long been known as the Home of the Whopper, with the famous flame-grilled burger holding royal court since 1957. However, there are several other menu items that never seem to find a permanent home or even singular recipe at the chain. This has been especially true when it's come to its handheld, breaded bits of fried chicken. Burger King has had several such items over time, including Chicken Fries (introduced in 2005), and several  variations of tenders and nuggets.

Today, the company has seen a lot of change, with president Tom Curtis spearheading a renewed focus on service and quality, along with Amy Alarcon moving over from Popeyes to spice things up as head chef. Taking fan feedback to heart has resulted in the debut of a revamped Whopper, and next up in the retooling department is chicken nuggets. Yep, here we go again. The chain describes these new creations as "featuring 100% white meat chicken, crispier golden breading, [and] an enhanced marinade for a juicier bite."

So are Burger King's new chicken nuggets worthy of a long reign, or should they be banished from the King-dom? Tasting Table pulled up a seat at Burger King's table to have a nibble to find out the truth. Now all can be revealed in this breaded chew and review.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

I visited the headquarters and test kitchen of Burger King in Miami, Florida this past spring, and was given a sneak peek taste test of the new Chicken Nuggets prior to the national rollout. The culinary team introduced the nuggets, which I consumed on site with the team present. In addition to the new nuggets, I asked to taste some of the old nuggets for a true taste test comparison.

This chew and review is a summary of my own personal tastes and opinions. I also factored in my previous experiences with Burger King, its nuggets and other chicken products, other fast food chains' nuggets, and my overall impressions of this new menu item. The deciding criteria considered for this review were flavor, presentation, taste, texture, familiarity, originality, uniqueness, and, ultimately, whether this is something worth your time and dime.

My nuggets arrived in a small paper bag piping hot, and I laid them out in front of me, ogling them for a minute. While nuggets often take the form of various shapes and sizes, the ones before me looked very uniform from one to the next. The breading had an appealing appearance to them, with a light golden brown hue and beautifully crisped edges. Overall, they looked like a cleaner, brighter, and plumper version of McDonald's McNuggets.

Visuals aside, taste had to be king here (that's the whole point of these reformulated nuggets, right?). One bite confirmed that they didn't just look pretty — they were pretty darn good. The nuggets' skin was softer to chomp down on than expected, but they had a nice touch of flakiness and crispiness to them, too. The white meat was juicy, and while it had a similar squishy texture to the chicken meat wedged into the lesser Chicken Fry product, it had much more breadth here. The more I chomped on these nuggets, the more I warmed up and was ready to crown them a winner.

Along with the new nuggets comes a new dipping condiment called special savory sauce. This limited time offering blends together spice with hints of BBQ seasoning, ketchup, garlic, onion, and black pepper, and it tasted almost like a creamy cocktail sauce to me. It was interesting, but I'd personally suggest trying the newly refined nuggets with the existing sauces, and in this order of preference: sweet & sour, honey mustard, and Buffalo.

I was wondering how the new nuggets stacked up against the old ones Burger King was slinging, and the test kitchen obliged my request to compare them. Having the two menu items sit next to each other, you could tell the nuggets had undergone a huge overhaul. For one thing, the older ones looked like the kind you heat up from your freezer, while the new ones radiated a freshness.

More than that, a taste comparison ended up being no real comparison at all. The old nuggets were dense, overly crusty, and way too salty and peppery to enjoy. They also brought into focus the new nuggets' strengths — they had an airiness to them, a lovely balance of flavor, and delivered a bigger nugget overall that was simply delicious.

To be honest, I never thought much of Burger King's nuggets or tenders over the years. It's not that I was dissatisfied with them, but rather they're just not something I ever really ordered at Burger King. Now, as a parent, I've been gnawing away at endless McDonald's McNuggets for years, but these new Burger King nugs have me thinking that perhaps the Golden Arches shouldn't be my only destination to keep my kid happy on the go. These nuggets not only had a look more appealing than McDonald's perhaps shrinking ones, but they were far superior in taste, too.

Burger King's new Chicken Nuggets are a permanent addition and should be available at locations nationwide. While some items are offered all day from the chain, the nuggets will likely be available to order when breakfast ends at BK and the lunch/dinner menu begins.

The nuggets are offered in four sizes: a 4-piece, 6-piece, 10-piece, and 20-piece. Prices will vary by location and how you order. The 4- and 6-piece options are also available to order for kids meals, and the 10- and 20-piece are offered as combos, which includes a side and drink. A sauce is included with each order, and multiple sauces are included with 10-piece and 20-piece orders.

The nuggets contain boneless chicken breast with rib meat, and a seasoning that includes sugar, salt, chicken broth, garlic powder, onion powder, chicken fat, and celery seed. A 10-piece order contains 520 calories, 80 milligrams of cholesterol, 32 grams of fat, 11 grams of fiber, 26 grams of protein, 910 milligrams of sodium, and 1 gram of sugar.