Hello to our darling Her Campus Kenyon readers, and welcome back to another review article. We’re Cassady and Maggie, two former college roomies and current friends, who happen to love trying the various cuisine that Mount Vernon, Ohio has to offer us. This week we decided to take on the daunting task of reviewing the chicken nugget selection in Mount Vernon and see how each one stacked up against the others.
Our rankings are out of 5 chickens for 5 categories—seasoning/salt ratio, golden brownness/ overall texture, authentic chicken flavor, greasiness, and presentation. At the end, we’ll total up our ratings and present you with our overall winner!
#1: The Reigning Champ, McDonald’s ($1.75/ 4 nuggets)
Maggie: Okay, after our last article, it should be clear that I really enjoy the occasional McDonald’s run. You already know that I love their hash browns, but what you don’t know is that I also love their nuggets. They’re perfectly crispy, and even though there is not a super authentic chicken flavor, the taste is still good. These are some of the only nuggets on our list that I actually enjoy eating without dipping sauce, so I will give them an almost perfect score of 4.5/5
Cassady: You guys already know that when it comes to McDonald’s, I’m always game for their cheap food that usually slaps. I’ve eaten their nuggets since I was a child, but I was excited to try them with a more skeptical eye. Honestly, I wasn’t disappointed. They were perfectly golden brown and had little to no grease. My only qualm with these nuggets was they had a bit of a weird texture inside, but they were still pretty delightful. I rate these nuggets 4.5/5 as well!
#2: The Fan Favorite, Wendy’s ($1.29/ 4 spicy or regular nuggets)
Maggie: I am no stranger to Wendy’s chicken nuggets, and I will say that they are mostly okay. They don’t have great chicken flavor, and both flavors are a bit dry. The regular had little flavor, and I wouldn’t enjoy eating it without barbecue sauce. The spicy nuggets were much more flavorful, and also a bit crisper, so for me, the spicy nuggets get a 3.5/5, and then the regular Wendy’s nuggets get a 3/5.
Cassady: I’m gonna be real here. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a Wendy’s chicken nugget. If I’m gonna grab nuggets I’m way more likely to head to McDonald’s, so I was very excited to try these out! Honestly, I was disappointed with these bad boys. They didn’t have much chicken flavor at all, were very lightly seasoned to the point of no flavor, and were very chewy. I liked the spicy nuggets better because they had more flavor, but they were still pretty similar to the normal nuggs. They also were packaged the exact same way, so it was difficult at first to tell the difference between the two. I would score the normal nuggets 2.5/5 and the spicy nuggets 3/5.
#3: Kentucky Fried Chicken, But Make it Nuggets ($3.99/ about 30 bite-size pieces)
Maggie: Were these nuggets true chicken nuggets in the traditional sense of the word? No. But are they called nuggets on the menu? Heck yes, so we are reviewing them. They had a nice peppery breading that had good flavor and a nice crunch. In fact, these nuggets had the best chicken taste out of any that we tried, and they were crisp and tasty without any sauce. For that, I will rank them a very solid 4/5 chickens.
Cassady: I must admit, I love KFC and they very rarely disappoint me when I’m feeling like chowing down on some chicken. I found them to have really good flavor and a lovely crunch! However, because they were bite-size nuggets, there was the occasional piece that was only breading with no meat. However, I really enjoyed these—they had the most genuine chicken flavor we tried—and Maggie and I scarfed down all of the large box! I would rate these 4/5 chickens.
#4: The Burger (Nugget?) King ($1.29/ 4 nuggets)
Maggie: I did not love these. They kind of tasted like school lunchroom chicken nuggets, and they really did not taste good without dipping sauce. They had a weird chemical aftertaste and didn’t have great chicken flavor. They were about on par with the plain Wendy’s nuggets, which makes sense since they cost the exact same and had a similar flavor. Overall, I’d give them a solidly mediocre 3/5 score.
Cassady: Burger King and I have shared some great memories together, so I went in with high hopes for some nuggets that tasted as good as I felt about the place. However, I was pretty solidly let down. These were definitely the worst nuggets that we tasted (in my opinion). They tasted like they had been frozen or under a heat lamp for too long. They had a weird aftertaste that I can only imagine weed killer tastes like, and they were, like, insanely flat. I would score these 2/5 chickens because I was able to get through them with enough BBQ sauce.
With 9/10 chickens, the winner is McDonald’s! They are a bit more pricey in comparison to Wendy’s and Burger King, but we think that extra 45 cents are more than worth it. However, we will say, if you’re looking for an outside of the box nugget then Wendy’s spicy nuggets or KFC’s popcorn nuggets might be your ideal snack to share with friends. No matter what nugget you choose, always remember: any nuggets are better than no nuggets at all.
Image Credits: Authors