4 Ordering Tips To Get The Best Chicken Fingers At Raising Cane's

Though there are a few changes we wish Raising Cane's would make, it's hard to deny the restaurant has been successful with its formula of drilling down on one specific specialty — in this case, breaded chicken fingers — and building an entire brand around that specialty. If you want a wide variety of menu items to pick from, Raising Cane's probably isn't for you. But if you want consistent, high-quality chicken fingers with an excellent dipping sauce and some basic sides, well ... you know where we're going with this.

All that being said, just because Raising Cane's is narrowly focused on its chicken fingers doesn't mean those chicken fingers don't have room for improvement. There are ways to order, dress, and otherwise tweak Raising Cane's mainstay to elevate them into something a bit more special.

We get it: The people who love Raising Cane's love it because of its simplicity. But if you were okay settling for the default chicken fingers and scoff at the idea of changing them in any way, you probably wouldn't have clicked this article in the first place. So, if you're here, you're either someone who likes Raising Cane's and is open to hear how it can be better or you're someone who actually isn't a fan but is open to becoming one by learning ways to make the chicken fingers more to your liking.

Just like you can do with McDonald's chicken nuggets (sometimes), you can request the chicken fingers from Raising Cane's be prepared extra crispy. The most common reason to order them this way is to ensure you get a fresh batch rather than something that was sitting under the warmer until you arrived. Cane's isn't known to have an underwhelming texture or crunch in its breading even without this trick, but nothing beats breaded chicken that is fresh from the fryer.

While you're at it, go ahead and ask for the fries to be extra crispy as well. You'll already need to wait a little longer for this special order so you might as well have both the chicken fingers and the fries come out piping hot and as satisfyingly crunchy as possible. Of course, not everyone wants that much crisp on their fries, so it's up to you whether you want to go that route. 

One hidden benefit of ordering the chicken fingers extra crispy is best seen when ordering through the drive thru. Many customers report a higher chance of the chicken (and the fries) being soggy by the time you get home when ordering to-go since the food is wrapped up while everything is still steaming hot and the steam gets trapped in the packaging. Ordering the chicken extra crispy gives it a sturdier defense against the steam turning it soft, but Raising Cane's pros also know to crack open the container to let the steam escape while they're driving.

One of the undeniable truths about Raising Cane's is its lack of sauce and condiment options, something that rubs a lot of people the wrong way given that chicken fingers live or die by what you dip them in. The chain assumes you will love its Cane's Sauce and be content with that as the only advertised option for dipping the chicken fingers in, and fans of the restaurant tend to be cool with that. If you don't love Cane's Sauce and wish there were other options, you should know there actually are — they just aren't on the menu.

Raising Cane's not only offers a honey mustard dipping sauce, apparently it's even made in-house just like Cane's Sauce. It's also incredibly delicious and makes for a perfect dip for the chicken fingers. We know Raising Cane's wants everyone to love its titular sauce, but that doesn't explain or justify why the honey mustard is relegated to secret menu status; especially if the company is having its employees go through the trouble of making the sauce in the restaurant.

The only main course you can order from Raising Cane's besides the chicken fingers is the chicken sandwich, which is just three chicken fingers placed between two pieces of bread with some lettuce and Cane's Sauce. You can build a better Raising Cane's chicken sandwich yourself by instead ordering one of the chicken finger combos and making one additional request, which will give you all the components you'll need for a superior sandwich.  

Whether to choose the Box Combo or the Caniac Combo comes down to whether you want four or six chicken fingers. Either way, it's more than the three that come on the sandwich, which is the first reason why this is the better route. The next step is to either swap the coleslaw for an extra piece of Texas toast or simply add a side of Texas toast to the order. Which you choose depends entirely on whether you want slaw on your sandwich or not (we recommend it, but that's your call).

To put it all together, add Cane's Sauce (or the honey mustard you now know is an option) to the toast and put the chicken fingers between the two slices. You now have a more delicious version of a Cane's chicken sandwich than the actual chicken sandwich. All it lacks is the obligatory lettuce that's on the default sandwich, but to be honest are you really missing much there?

A key factor that makes Raising Cane's chicken so good is its use of high quality chicken breast tenderloins, which ensure the perfect flavor, texture, and juiciness. You can put that to the test by requesting your next order of Raising Cane's chicken fingers "naked" — that is, fried without the signature breading. Just to be clear, the chicken is still dropped in the fryer so it still has a crispy, golden layer around it; this isn't a grilled or otherwise completely non-fried chicken finger. 

Ordering it naked has a few perks beyond just helping to show off how good Raising Cane's chicken tastes even when it's unbreaded. The most common reason people choose to order naked chicken fingers is they are measurably healthier this way. A regular Cane's chicken finger has 130 calories, 6 grams of fat, and 5 grams of carbs; versus 90 calories, 4 grams of fat, and zero carbs in a naked chicken finger. There is only a slight drop in protein, meaning you're still getting all the protein benefits of chicken but with far less fat and calories.

There is one other possible upside to ordering naked chicken fingers. Some social media users have reported consistently getting a bonus finger any time they order their chicken fingers naked. Maybe you'll be so lucky, maybe you won't, but it's worth testing out.