Business
10 Things That Make Popeyes Chicken So Delicious
The fast-food market may well appear saturated when it comes to fried chicken, especially with so many famous chains battling it out to become top dog. While the likes of KFC have been at the top of the chicken food chain for many years, Popeyes is here to take the crown. With its spin on a chicken classic, plus plenty of southern flair, Popeyes has seen a massive rise in popularity over the last few years. But with all their tasty products, what is it that makes Popeyes food so tasty? That is what we plan to find out as we look at 10 Things That Make Popeyes Chicken So Delicious.
10. The Crispier The Better
There are many restaurants and fast-food chains that serve fried chicken, and a lot of them are tasty and enjoyed by millions. If we were to ask the fried chicken fans what is one of the most important things that every good fried chicken needs, most of them would say that crispiness is the number one thing they need. while many fried chicken places fall down on this aspect, Popeyes makes each and every chicken piece as crispy as possible. This is all down to the batter that Popeyes coat their chicken in. Dipping the chicken in an egg and flour batter before frying is apparently key to getting crunch into the chicken. Not only that but Popeyes actually uses more batter than most chicken restaurants, which gives the chicken that extra crunch and crack that we all love. As well as having perfectly crispy chicken, Popeyes chicken also has the best breading. The breading covers all the important bits of the chicken and most importantly, it doesn’t suffer from soggy breading or worse still, taking one bite and having all the coating fall off the chicken. The outside of Popeyes chicken is one of the best out there and is the perfect ‘first bite’ you could hope to have.
9. It’s All In The Preparation
Popeye’s chicken is packed to the last bite with flavor and spice and one reason for this is the marinade they use before cooking. A lot of people who cook chicken a lot will tell you that marinading a chicken properly is essential to having a great-tasting chicken dish. No one knows this more than Popeyes and they take great pride in how they treat their chickens before they cook them. According to their website, Popeyes marinades them in their own recipe for at least twelve hours before frying, the chickens get plenty of time to soak up all that spice and flavor. We all know this to be the case as the marinade that Popeyes uses is a reddish-orange, which you can see when you bite into their beloved chicken and the marinade goes all the way through. The finished product ends up being more infused by the marinade, rather than just sitting in it. This is one big reason that Popeyes chicken is so delicious and tender.
8. Fresh, Unhealthy And Proud of It
In today’s culture, healthy food is at the top of most people’s list. While a lot of people seek out a healthy choice for their lunch, Popeye is proud of the fact that it is good old fashioned comfort food. You won’t find many low calory options on this menu and that’s exactly why we love Popeyes so much. Rather than trying to fit into the health-conscious minds of people, Popeyes would rather be that choice when you want to skip the healthy diet and have a ‘cheat day.’ Where better to splurge on those days than Popeyes and it’s great chicken. As well as being health-conscious the customers of today’s fast-food restaurants are looking for their food to be fresh. This is one area that Popeyes excels at. Even though Popeyes is a vast fast-food chain, serving a ton of chicken on a daily basis, it still has time to source fresh ingredients rather than frozen. Popeyes bone-in chicken, in particular, is brought into the store raw and fresh each day and then prepared, battered and fried on the premises. It’s good to know that Popeyes takes its ingredients seriously and doesn’t just heat up frozen meat in the microwave.
7. Cajun Spice
As many people may be aware, Popeyes didn’t start out selling fried chicken. It did, in fact, start out as a donut stand outside New Orleans. The donut stand didn’t do great business, so when Popeyes founder Al Copeland noticed his neighbor doing much better selling fried chicken, Copeland switched from donuts to chicken. Infusing his chicken with the all-important New Orleans spices, Copeland’s chicken venture took off. Through many name changes and directions for the restaurant, the spices never changed and Copeland kept them a much-guarded secret. Even when the restaurant chain was sold, Copeland kept hold of the recipe and licensed it back to the chain. Eventually, the recipe was sold for a whopping $43 million! Needless to say that the cajun spices that coat their chicken, as well as their awe-inspiring cajun fries, was a big reason for the success of Popeyes. They have kept that cajun core from the very beginning. It also should be noted that it’s not just the famous cajun spices that have people coming back for more, it’s also the way they salt their food. The simple use of salt can make or break a dish and many people, including top-class chefs, rave about the level of salt Popeyes uses. According to them, Popeye’s use just enough salt that the food doesn’t become overpowering. There is a fine line when using salt and strong spices between tasty and disgusting, and Popeyes seems to have found the perfect spot.
6. Frying To Perfection
There are many reasons why we love fast food restaurants; they are cheaper than fancier restaurants, they taste great and it’s fast, obviously. However, probably the main reason we go to our favorite fast food joint is consistency. No matter which branch or in which state of the fast-food chain we go to, we know that we are going to get the same meal and it will taste the same. Popeyes is one of the best restaurants in the game to give its food consistency. Popeyes has truly mastered the art of frying chicken, which is a lot harder than it sounds. While other popular fast food items, such as burgers and hotdogs, are easier to cook. After all, it doesn’t matter so much if a burger is under or overcooked, except for personal taste that is. However, chicken needs many precise things in order for it to be perfectly cooked, or at least not give everyone food poisoning. The temperature, timing and cooking surfaces all must be carefully monitored at all times to be able to produce mouth-watering chicken. Popeyes has a strict chicken rule that everyone follows which ensures that each meal, in every location is consistently good. Not only are the staff trained in cooking chicken but Popeyes also uses state of the art fryers to ensure their ingredients get the best possible cook. These fancy fryers have oil temperature detectors so they know when the chickens go into the fryer for a better cook. Also, they come with multiple settings to make it easier for the fryers to be cleaned and for the oil to be changed regularly. Popeyes takes its chicken frying seriously and we are all thankful for that.
5. MSG
On our list of reasons why Popeyes chicken is so delicious, we have mentioned their famous cajun spice. While it’s true that the cajun taste is on almost all of their products, there is one ingredient that they don’t advertise as much and that’s MSG. MSG, or Monosodium Glutamate to give it its full name, is a flavor enhancer that many companies and restaurants use to make their food taste better. Over the years the use of MSG has gotten a lot of bad press as some organizations claim that it can have bad health effects on people and can even be addictive. While there may be some strong arguments to support that case, the use of MSG isn’t illegal or considered bad by governing bodies such as the FDA. Most people eat MSG on a regular basis as it is found in most Chinese foods, canned foods, and processed meats. Glutamic acid, which MSG comes from, can also be found naturally in foods such as cheese, mushrooms, and tomatoes. While the jury is still out on whether MSG is ok to put in foods as a flavor enhancer, its fair to say that not all companies like to brag about using it in their foods. Allegedly, MSG is one of the top-secret ingredients that Popeyes uses in its spice blend to enhance that chicken flavor. However, this won’t stop many people, us included, from going to our local Popeyes for some chicken. All though, it could go a long way into explaining just how their food is so tasty.
4. The Sides
Over the years Popeyes has had many rebrands and name changers. Starting out as Chicken on the Run, it soon moved to Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits, Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken and Biscuits to what it’s called today; Popeyes Louisianna Kitchen. With all these name changes, there is one thing that has always been clear and that is Popeyes does great chicken. However, these days people like variety and Popeyes is always happy to help with what people want. The menus have expanded to selling more than chicken, but it is the side dishes that people have really grow to love. Whether it’s their coleslaw, mashed potatoes and gravy or their extremely popular red beans and rice, there is a side dish for all occasions and needs. Then, of course, there is Popeyes legendary Biscuits. These buttermilk beauties are buttery, flaky, crumbly, soft and delicious. The biscuits alone deserve an entry, or even full article, to fully appreciate them. As much as we all love Popeyes chicken, the biscuits, and other side dishes are what keep us coming back for more. The fact is that a lot of people that go to Popeyes actually only go there for their side dishes and we can’t blame them for that.
3. Everyone Is Singing Their Praises
If there is one thing that stamps a seal of approval on any product then it’s a celebrity endorsement. Our TVs and magazines are filled with well-known faces enjoying products that companies want us to buy. Celebrities attaching themselves to things may make us want to buy the product but what’s even better is when a celebrity enjoys the product without being paid for it. Popeyes chicken certainly has an army of famous fans that are all chomping at the bit to get their hands on Popeyes tasty goodies. When the chicken sandwich came back to Popeyes restaurants, Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson was one of the first in line. Not only was he glad to get his hands on the elusive burger but he actually credited Popeyes food with healing his eye injury. Other famous faces that have shown their love of Popeyes are the Kardashian clan who have been seen posting images on social media as they all tuck into some of that tasty cajun chicken. America’s top model Isis King, rapper Cardi B, and Jimmy Kimmel and his family are all noted fans of Popeyes. It just goes to show how good and delicious Popeyes food is when the rich and famous are lining up for it too.
2. Chicken Wars
The world of fast-food fried chicken is a very competitive one. While there are many restaurants around the world that will make a decent fried chicken, the top three chains that are ahead of the pack; are KFC, Chic-Fil-A, and Popeyes. Each of them is triumphing in the fried chicken markets and have a right to claim the crown for best-fried chicken. Not only does each of them have their individual merits, but none of them are afraid to challenge the other in great tasting food. Chick-Fil-A and Popeyes have famously gone head to head over the years. Most recently when Popeyes released their infamous chicken sandwich. However, it’s the battle between KFC and Popeyes that was the most interesting. While KFC is seen as one of the biggest fast-food brands around the world, Popeyes has certainly gathered a huge following on home soil and this showed with a taste test. In 2010 KFC’s famous spices went up against Popeyes cajun chicken in a national taste test and Popeyes came out on top by quite some way. It just goes to show that while some fast-food chains go out of their way to try and make themselves look the best, Popeyes just focuses on creating great tasting food and is happy for anyone to put them to the test. This can only be a good thing for adoring Popeyes fans.
1. And Now, The Chicken Sandwich
We couldn’t have a list of just how delicious Popeyes food is without mentioning the most famous burger in the world. In the summer of 2019 Popeyes nearly broke the internet when it released its new chicken sandwich. What was meant to be a month-long promotion for this new sandwich, turned out to be a scene from a disaster movie as all Popeyes restaurants ran out of the sandwich within two weeks. Such a need for people to get their hands on the chicken sandwich, many of them took to social media and began to plead and beg with Popeyes to get more chicken. Unfortunately, Popeyes couldn’t get any more of these desirable sandwichs but rather than give up completely, Popeyes tried to come up with inventive ways to please the demanding masses. Taking to their own social media pages, Popeyes suggested a BYOB (bring your own bun) program in which customers were advised to bring a bun into the restaurant and order some chicken tenders. That is the same, right? Of course, it wasn’t and the BYOB scheme didn’t go down too well with people. Luckily there was a silver lining as Popeyes listened to the fans and brought this sandwich back to its stores on November 3rd, 2019. Everyone rejoiced. Well, everyone except Chick-Fil-A that is. Popeyes chicken rivels are famously closed on Sundays and November 3rd was, you guessed it, a Sunday. One last dig from Popeyes to their rivals we don’t doubt. Needless to say that it has been many years, if ever, that a fast food product has swept the nation as much as Popeyes chicken sandwich did. It just goes to show how popular this southern chicken restaurant really is.