Burger King Is Debuting Three Chicken Sandwiches—Here’s What We Know
Updated: May 31, 2023
After much chicken drama, Burger King is trying again with a trio of "international" chicken sandwiches. Here's what we think of 'em.
There’s been a lot of chicken drama at Burger King over the past couple of years. In 2021, the fast-food chain launched its hand-breaded Ch’King sandwich to great fanfare. The Ch’King quickly became a beloved food item to BK customers. Then, a little over a year later, the chain took the Ch’King off its menu, replacing it with the Royal Crispy Chicken sandwich. Ch’King fans, outraged, took to social media to denounce the new offering.
Now, only a few months later, there are new Burger King chicken sandwiches again, despite the chain’s insistence that they were focusing on the Whopper. This time, it launched three new “international” sandwiches: the American Original Chicken Sandwich, the Mexican Original Chicken Sandwich and the Italian Original Chicken Sandwich.
Prefer to make your own? These are our favorite chicken sandwich recipes.
Why Did Burger King Discontinue Its Ch’King?
The Ch’King “was a great product that was difficult or challenging for teams to execute on,” said Tom Curtis, President of Burger King North America, to CNN Business in September.
Jose Cil, the CEO of Restaurant Brands International (owner of Burger King) told CNN Business that the Ch’King “complicated things” and that the product “created a ton of bottlenecks operationally.”
In response, one angry person on Reddit said: “The Ch’King was my go-to. They dropped that sandwich, I dropped BK.” Another outraged commenter said: “Ch’King was the only reason I started going back to BK.”
What Are Burger King’s New Sandwiches?
Burger King’s latest entries in the so-called “fast-food chicken sandwich wars” are the American, Mexican and Italian Original Chicken Sandwiches. All of the new sandwiches will feature a lightly-breaded chicken breast on a long sesame seed bun. The American has lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and mayonnaise—a classic, as one would expect. The Mexican has ghost pepper cheese and crispy fried jalapenos, while the Italian features mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce.
Both the Italian and the American are throwbacks to menu items from the late 1980s, at which time there was also a French chicken sandwich, with mayo, ham and Swiss cheese. The Mexican replaces the French in the lineup in 2023. Learn how to make your favorite crispy chicken sandwich at home.
So What’s the Verdict on the Burger King Chicken Sandwiches?
I tasted all three sandwiches on the first day they were available. I’m old enough to remember the Italian version from the late 1980s, and I hadn’t been a fan in high school. This time around, though, it was better than I remembered. The mozzarella cheese was a little rubbery, but the marinara sauce was solid. The American was fine, though the chicken itself was a little dry.
Both of those, however, were merely the preamble to the main event: the Mexican chicken sandwich, which was unique and pretty darn tasty. With a gooey cheese infused with ghost peppers and a heaping handful of crispy fried jalapenos, the Mexican delivered on flavor and spice. And if you like spice (as I do) this may be one of the spiciest fast-food sandwiches I’ve ever tasted.
Will any of the three sandwiches replace the Ch’King? For some who believe it to be the GOAT chicken sandwich, no. But for the rest of us, these Burger King chicken sandwiches should satisfy any cravings just fine.
