From exclusive items to portion sizes, we explored the differences between chicken nuggets in the US and the UK. This is "Food Wars."
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00:00We're ranking all the fast-food chicken nuggets
00:02to find the best for taste and value.
00:04Let's begin with the chain
00:04that started it all, McDonald's.
00:06In 1983, they were the first fast-food chain
00:08to sell chicken nuggets, also known as McNuggets.
00:11I feel like this, we're looking at
00:13a very iconic nugget right now.
00:16This is it.
00:16At a U.S. McDonald's, you can get
00:18their iconic McNuggets in five sizes.
00:20We've got four-piece, six-piece, 10-piece,
00:2520-piece, or 40-piece.
00:27McNuggets in the U.K. come in three sizes,
00:29a six-piece, nine-piece, and a 20-piece share box,
00:32which is not always shared.
00:34You can technically get a four-piece,
00:35but only as part of a Happy Meal.
00:37Let's weigh them to see which gives us
00:38the best bang for our buck.
00:39We're going off of cost per 100 grams.
00:42We're gonna start with our four-piece.
00:46That comes out to 54 grams.
00:48Six-piece.
00:50Our six-piece came out to 84 grams.
00:53The nine-piece.
00:54Moving on to our 10-piece McNugget.
00:59Next up, we have our 20-piece.
01:03Our 40-piece McNugget comes out to 582 grams.
01:07If you stuck a little birthday candle in this,
01:09I would be literally over the moon.
01:11So happy.
01:11This is beautiful.
01:13Here's how much they cost by 100 grams.
01:16Now I'm interested to see how many nuggets
01:19gets us to 100 grams.
01:21So let's see how close to 100 I can get.
01:23So the magic number that gets us to 100 grams of nuggets
01:27is actually seven.
01:28So in our case,
01:29six nuggets was pretty much equal to 100 grams.
01:31Nuggets like the ones found at McDonald's
01:33are made using something called the ground meat method.
01:35That means the chicken meat has been ground up,
01:37formed into a nugget shape before being battered and fried.
01:40You may have noticed that McDonald's nuggets
01:41come in four consistent shapes.
01:43We have the boot,
01:44you have the ball,
01:46the bell,
01:47and the tail.
01:48So if you're wondering what the tail looks like,
01:50the bell and the bone.
01:52The shape varies slightly,
01:53but they are all pretty much the same size.
01:55This is actually deliberate to ensure
01:56that they all cook at the same speed.
01:58Speaking of the shapes,
01:59do you guys have a favorite?
02:00I think I'm probably team boot for the ease of dipping.
02:02Little dipping handle right there, you know?
02:04I am 100% team boot.
02:06I just like how that little boot part
02:08gets into the corners of the dipping sauce cup.
02:10The other method though of making chicken nuggets
02:13is just using the whole meat method,
02:15which is when the chicken is cut up into bite-sized pieces,
02:19it's battered or breaded,
02:20and then it's fried,
02:21like the ones from KFC or the ones from Shake Shack.
02:23That's why those kinds of nuggets
02:25look much more irregular
02:26than the ones made with the ground meat method.
02:28In many ways, the McDonald's McNugget
02:29is kind of the archetypal fast food nugget.
02:31The consistency of the shapes,
02:33the little bit of crunch from the batter,
02:34they're just a good nugget.
02:37I really remember not liking
02:38the American McNuggets on Foreign Exchange.
02:40The batter is certainly different out there,
02:42and it really formed this almost kind of tough,
02:44leathery exterior that I personally did not like.
02:46Let's move on to KFC.
02:47I think their nuggets look very similar to popcorn chicken,
02:51which they don't have anymore.
02:53This chicken, though, looks much larger.
02:55We still have popcorn chicken at UK KFCs.
02:57I was conflicted about this,
02:58but I do think it is just about fair to compare the two.
03:01I mean, does this look drastically different to a nugget?
03:03At KFC, you can get nuggets in four sizes,
03:05five-piece, eight-piece, 12-piece, and a 36-piece.
03:10I believe that there is also a 50-piece,
03:12but we couldn't get that today.
03:14Popcorn chicken in the UK comes in three sizes,
03:16small, regular, and large.
03:25Here are the costs if we break that down per 100 grams.
03:28So, the small actually represents the best value for money.
03:31See how these pieces are more irregularly shaped?
03:33It's like a bit more of an organic thing
03:36versus McDonald's, which are made into those shapes.
03:40I've been tasting them.
03:41I've been tasting them because they're that good.
03:43I think, logistically, I do think these are fun.
03:46My main issue is that it's kind of tricky
03:47to dunk these and dip.
03:49Definitely more in the flavor department
03:51compared to McDonald's.
03:52Still surprised these are not back on the US menu.
03:54I mean, yeah, the chicken tastes like real chicken.
03:57Tastes totally different than McDonald's.
03:58It's not the same kind of chicken at all.
04:00The freshness of the chicken
04:01makes these a top contender for me.
04:03It's really yummy.
04:04100 grams is pretty much the regular one minus one piece,
04:07so let's count those out.
04:07So, it's roughly 21 pieces of popcorn chicken per 100 grams.
04:11Let's see how many of these KFC nuggets
04:12brings us to 100 grams.
04:14This is gonna be a little harder
04:16because they're all irregularly shaped.
04:18Some are just way bigger than others.
04:20One, two, three, four, five, six pieces
04:22brings us to 98 grams.
04:23I think that's as close as we're gonna get.
04:25Here we have the Burger King nuggets.
04:26I maintain that these tasted better
04:28when they were shaped like crowns.
04:30Now they look like any other regular nugget.
04:32There's nothing special to them.
04:34I personally do not ever remember
04:36seeing crown-shaped nuggets in the UK.
04:37I might have just not eaten enough Burger King
04:39when I was younger.
04:40I will say, looks-wise and kind of smell-wise as well,
04:43these are very close to the McNuggets.
04:45In the UK, Burger King nuggets come in three sizes,
04:47the six-piece, nine-piece, and 20-piece.
04:50Let's weigh out the portions.
04:53You can get nuggets in two sizes,
04:55an eight-piece or a 16-piece.
04:58Let's start with our eight-piece,
05:00which comes out to 114 grams.
05:04The 16-piece comes out to 224 grams.
05:07So, here are these prices per 100 grams.
05:09So, here the 20-piece was pretty drastically cheaper
05:12compared to the small.
05:13Again, six nuggets was pretty much 100 grams.
05:15Seven chicken nuggets gets us to 98 grams.
05:18If I add another, it would go over.
05:21And of course, the taste.
05:23They are pretty similar to the McDonald's McNuggets,
05:26but arguably have even less flavor to them.
05:28This reminds me of a frozen chicken nugget
05:31that you cook in the oven.
05:32I honestly like the seasoning.
05:34I like the little pepper flakes that you get in there.
05:37There's not that much meat.
05:39It's probably less meat than McDonald's, I think.
05:41Here we have the nuggets from Wendy's.
05:43This is a personal favorite for me.
05:45Their nuggets come in three sizes,
05:47a four-piece, a six-piece, and a 10-piece.
05:50Over here, we have three sizes of nuggets at Wendy's,
05:53a six-piece, a 10-piece, and a 20-piece.
05:56Starting with our four-piece, this comes out to 60 grams.
06:01Moving on to the six-piece, that comes out to 82 grams.
06:06Last but not least, our 10-piece.
06:09And the big boy, 20 nuggets.
06:12So those Wendy's small nuggets per 100 grams
06:14are the most expensive so far.
06:16To get to 100 grams, you need one, two, three,
06:19four, five, six Wendy's chicken nuggets.
06:22And that only brings us to 94 grams, so.
06:24With Wendy's, 100 grams is somewhere
06:26between seven and eight nuggets.
06:28I believe Wendy's does use the same kind
06:30of chicken nugget method that McDonald's uses,
06:32even if the ingredients aren't the same,
06:34but it's not like chopped up bits of chicken.
06:36This is for sure molded into, like, a nugget shape.
06:40In terms of size, these are somewhere
06:42between, like, a regular nugget and popcorn chicken.
06:45They're on the smaller side,
06:46and they also lack that uniformity
06:48that a McNugget or a Burger King nugget has.
06:51Not, like, the strongest flavor from the batter.
06:54One thing I will say is that this actually seems
06:56to be, like, a piece of chicken breast,
06:58compared to most of the other ones so far,
06:59which have been formed.
07:00Obviously, I quite like that.
07:01It makes you feel like you're actually eating chicken
07:03rather than some kind of mystery meat.
07:05I think these actually might be the most, like,
07:06chickeny nuggets that I've had so far as well.
07:09The meat actually does seem to have some flavor to it.
07:11I just think Wendy's nuggets are so good.
07:12Like, they taste good on their own or with sauce,
07:15which is a big factor for me with nuggets.
07:17I like them to taste good separately or dipped.
07:21And these do.
07:22They have really great seasoning.
07:23Even though Wendy's is typically my favorite go-to nugget,
07:27it's very nostalgic.
07:28I've been eating it forever.
07:30I do think that the KFC nuggets
07:32just have an overall better taste.
07:34They taste fresher.
07:36It's definitely tasting like real chicken.
07:38The texture's like real chicken.
07:40Lastly, we have the Shake Shack Chicken Bites.
07:43They come in two sizes, a six-piece and a 10-piece.
07:47These are packaged very beautifully, I will say,
07:49compared to the others we've seen today.
07:51The Chicken Bites also come in two sizes in the UK,
07:53six pieces and 10 pieces.
07:55I will say, kind of got to give them bonus points
07:57because they've actually been generous here.
07:58This is actually seven pieces
08:00and this is actually 11 pieces.
08:01We'll take them off before we weigh them,
08:02but they do get some extra points in my mind.
08:04Let's start with the six-piece.
08:08And the 10.
08:10Break that cost down by 100 grams and you get this.
08:15So if we got one, two, three, four, five, six,
08:17seven pieces of the Chicken Bites,
08:20it comes out to 100 grams.
08:21That's around six nuggets for 100 grams.
08:23Shake Shack is obviously slightly more premium
08:25when compared to the other fast food chains.
08:27Typically, that does put them
08:28at the higher end of the price bracket,
08:29but it's actually not too bad
08:31compared to some of the other things we've already measured.
08:33So this is another one of those
08:34Chicken Bits kind of chicken nuggets.
08:37So they just chop up the chicken into little pieces.
08:40These are interesting.
08:41They're not uniform in shape.
08:42Let's give them a try.
08:45In terms of flavor of the breading,
08:47I'd actually put it kind of close to KFC.
08:49They might even have gone slightly further
08:50in terms of the flavor.
08:51This definitely, again, feels like actual pieces of chicken
08:53rather than form patties, which I do appreciate.
08:56But I think just like I say, with the lack of uniformity,
08:58it's actually kind of costing them
08:59when it comes to cooking these.
09:00I think out of all of them,
09:01this tastes the most fresh
09:04and close to like an organically made chicken nugget,
09:08if that's what you're looking for.
09:09The seasoning isn't super strong.
09:11I like the seasoning of the KFC more, but that's just me.
09:14But it's not bad.
09:15I think that's actually a pretty good piece of chicken.
09:17Let's take a look at some exclusive nugget options
09:19from those chains,
09:20as well as some restaurants unique to each country.
09:22Here are all of the nugget options from the US
09:24that you won't find in the UK.
09:25McDonald's in the US offers a spicy version
09:28of their McNuggets.
09:29They're just the same nuggets, except a little more orange.
09:32Obviously, the more orange colored ones are the spicy ones.
09:36These come in all the same sizes as the regular McNuggets.
09:39Let's weigh the four-piece spicy McNugget.
09:43That means that the cost per 100 grams
09:44comes out to $8.60.
09:47Wendy's debuted these saucy nuggets earlier this year,
09:50and I ran to go try them.
09:52I was so excited.
09:53Unfortunately for me,
09:54these are like not as good as I wanted them to be,
09:56but let's go down the line and talk about the flavors.
09:59Starting off with garlic parmesan,
10:01we have the spicy version,
10:02and the regular version, which looked like that.
10:05I just feel like these all smell better than they taste,
10:07which is unfortunate.
10:09Next, we have honey barbecue, spicy and regular.
10:12This was the flavor that I thought
10:13was probably the best out of all of them.
10:15Also, I don't know if like their intention
10:18was for like me to shake it up or what,
10:21but the sauce distribution is a little disappointing.
10:24Not all of these are sauced evenly.
10:26I feel like the barbecue is really skimping
10:28on the barbecue sauce,
10:29whereas other ones look like they're well-sauced.
10:32Next, we have buffalo, spicy and regular.
10:35And lastly, we have the spicy ghost pepper,
10:39which I actually haven't tried.
10:43Yeah, the problem with this is just like
10:45the sauce isn't really adding anything better
10:48than the nugget on its own, if that makes sense.
10:51I just feel like they're not that good.
10:54It is really spicy.
10:55Now we're gonna weigh our saucy nuggets.
10:57I'm just gonna measure one of them,
10:59the garlic parm spicy version.
11:01That comes out to 92 grams.
11:04KFC in the UK has something called
11:06dipped bites on the menu.
11:07These are interesting because they are not the same
11:09as popcorn chicken.
11:09They are much larger, as you can see.
11:11We have two options.
11:12We have a barbecue version and we have these,
11:13which are the sweet chili dipped bites.
11:15I've moaned about these things a lot already,
11:17and I'm gonna do it again.
11:18These are bad.
11:18Having a nugget, which is supposed to be, you know,
11:21at least a little bit crispy on the outside.
11:23Then you take it, you dip it in sauce,
11:25which is already making it soggy,
11:27and then you put it in a container,
11:28which is airtight, so it steams.
11:30The texture is a nightmare.
11:31I'm really not sure what the game plan was with these.
11:33In this portion today, I think I count four.
11:36Let's weigh them.
11:39A portion of these will cost you £3.99.
11:41So these things came to £1.89 per 100 grams.
11:44US KFCs also have a saucy version of their nuggets.
11:48Here we have honey sriracha.
11:50This is not Nashville hot.
11:52I don't think this is Nashville hot,
11:53because in my brain,
11:54that's supposed to be a lot more red-looking,
11:57but for now, we'll say this is Nashville hot.
12:00Here we have Georgia gold.
12:03Not sure what that means.
12:04Korean barbecue, and the Sticky Chicky Sweet and Sour.
12:09I do like that name.
12:10Let's weigh a portion of the KFC saucy nuggets.
12:14That comes out to 182 grams,
12:16which means that the cost for 100 grams
12:18comes out to this amount.
12:20I have no interest in trying any of these.
12:22Here are Subway's Nacho Chicken Bites.
12:25These things, I don't think I've actually had before.
12:27They're like these perfect triangles of chicken
12:29coated in what I guess are pieces of crushed-up tortilla,
12:32although they kind of look almost more like cornflakes.
12:34These come in sizes of four, six, or nine.
12:36We have the nine piece here.
12:37Let's weigh them.
12:39So our nine piece came to 135 grams.
12:41That makes the Subway Nacho Chicken Bites
12:43this much per 100 grams.
12:44I think the hotter these things are,
12:45the better they would be.
12:46At this point, the nachos on the outside
12:48have gone quite soggy,
12:49so it's a weird textural experience,
12:51but I feel like there is merit
12:52to having a little chickeny bite
12:54with some crispy bits on the outside.
12:56Next up, we have a chain exclusive to the UK,
12:57which is Gregg's.
12:58The beloved British bakery chain
13:00sells these spicy barbecue chicken bites.
13:02First of all, credit to Gregg's for the packaging.
13:04Very smart.
13:05KFC, take note.
13:06When you have crispy breaded products,
13:08you want these little air vents in them.
13:10You want that steam to escape
13:11so that they do not go soggy.
13:13Also, you then just tear straight up
13:15and you have a little bowl of nugs.
13:16In terms of size,
13:17these are maybe closer to the popcorn chicken from KFC.
13:19Definitely on the smaller side,
13:21as far as nuggets are concerned.
13:22I think I counted six of these in the order today.
13:24I'm gonna see how much they weigh.
13:25So our order today came to 85 grams.
13:28That's a price of £2.29 per 100 grams.
13:30Surprisingly, not the best in terms of value.
13:32We've had much cheaper options today.
13:33It's a good chicken nugget.
13:35I would say it's heavier on the breading, for sure.
13:37You get a pretty pronounced barbecue flavor
13:38from the breading, which I like.
13:40Chick-fil-A offers two versions of their nuggets.
13:42You can get them breaded or grilled.
13:44Obviously, we went for the breaded today.
13:46You can get these in a five-piece,
13:48eight-piece, 12-piece, or a 30-piece.
13:52Let's weigh the eight-piece.
13:53That comes out to 104 grams,
13:55making the total value per 100 grams this.
13:59This is another one of those chicken bit types of nuggets.
14:04Bland.
14:06They're not bad nuggets,
14:08it's just they don't have a lot of seasoning.
14:10Chick-fil-A is so lucky that they have really good sauces,
14:12and that's all I'll say on that.
14:14Because we're filming this in London,
14:15we have to give a shout-out to Chicken Shops.
14:17Morley's is probably the best-known name,
14:19but we also have a few others, including Chicken Cottage
14:21and some hilarious individual rip-off names.
14:23These include places like Fantastic Morley Fried Chicken
14:26or BFC, which is Best Fried Chicken.
14:29To put Chicken Shops' popularity in context in London,
14:31we have around 8,000 of them here,
14:33whereas McDonald's has just 200 locations.
14:35The type of chicken they sell varies.
14:37Generally, it will cover a bit of everything.
14:39Chicken wings and chips is a pretty common pairing.
14:41Chicken fillet burgers are popular,
14:42but they will often just sell
14:43regular fried chicken on the bone.
14:45Luckily for us, they also sell chicken nuggets.
14:47Here is a 20-piece of chicken nuggets from Morley's.
14:50This costs £6.99,
14:51which is actually more expensive than I was expecting.
14:53One thing I have to immediately point out
14:55is how similar these look to McNuggets.
14:57Here's a side-by-side for comparison.
14:59McNugget here, Morley's nugget here.
15:01So our Morley's 20-piece weighed 295 grams.
15:04Per 100 grams, that's a price of £2.37.
15:06Morley's, and I guess Chicken Shops on the whole,
15:08are thought of as a much cheaper food option.
15:10So if they're actually costing more
15:11than McDonald's on average, then that's pretty shocking.
15:13Of course, taste is a factor,
15:15so we'll give them a try.
15:17Overall, they are remarkably similar to McNuggets.
15:21The chicken, pretty similar.
15:23It doesn't have a ton of flavor going on.
15:24They haven't seasoned it too aggressively.
15:26I think given the price difference as well,
15:28if I was looking for 20 nuggets,
15:30I do think McDonald's is a pretty clear winner.
15:32At some point, Popeyes did offer chicken nuggets.
15:35Now they have more of a boneless wing situation going on.
15:38Could be considered nuggets,
15:40depending on where you fall with that.
15:42But here's what we've got.
15:43Classic, sweet and smoky, sweet and spicy,
15:46honey barbecue, garlic Parmesan,
15:49signature hot, and honey lemon pepper.
15:52Let's weigh the classic.
15:54That comes out to 182 grams,
15:56which means that the value per 100 grams comes out to this.
16:00This is definitely more boneless wing territory,
16:02but I could see the case for nuggets being made
16:05when you have a piece that looks like this in comparison.
16:09Mm.
16:11Dry.
16:13Dry as a bone.
16:14Okay, let's taste it.
16:18They're pretty dry.
16:19Not very flavorful, which is interesting,
16:21coming from Popeyes.
16:22I feel like usually it is.
16:23Let's take a look at the results.
16:24First, here's the ranking of all of the US nuggets
16:27by price per 100 grams.
16:29The McDonald's four-piece chicken McNugget
16:31came out to be the worst value.
16:33So that's $9.24 per 100 grams.
16:38Not really a great value.
16:39Then we have the Shake Shack chicken bites,
16:41some more McNuggets, Wendy's, and on to Burger King.
16:45The best value was the Burger King 16 piece
16:48at $3.39 per 100 grams.
16:52I definitely wasn't expecting the McDonald's four-piece
16:54to be the worst value technically,
16:57but I guess it makes sense that the more you buy,
17:00the more you save.
17:01It just doesn't seem correct in my brain.
17:04So here are the UK chicken nuggets
17:05ranked by price per 100 grams.
17:08The cheapest per 100 grams
17:09is the chicken McNuggets share box from McDonald's.
17:11The Burger King share box isn't too far behind.
17:13That's £2.21.
17:14KFC forms a little cluster here in the middle,
17:16although interestingly, the best value
17:18is actually the small.
17:19The way that the KFC values worked out,
17:21you're actually better off getting two small popcorn chickens
17:23than you are getting one regular.
17:25I'm a little surprised to see the Wendy's items
17:27actually filling in the higher end of the price bracket.
17:29The Wendy's 20 piece is actually much worse value
17:31when compared to the McDonald's and Burger King 20 pieces.
17:34And a Wendy's item is actually the worst value thing
17:36we've had today.
17:38The Wendy's six piece was both small and quite expensive.
17:40Per 100 grams, this costs £6.48,
17:42which is more than triple the cost
17:44of the McDonald's 20 share box.
17:46Typically, you do expect to see Shake Shack
17:47at the higher end of the price bracket,
17:49but they are kind of holding their own
17:50alongside Wendy's and some of the Burger King options.
17:52This is my personal preference ranking.
17:56I still think that KFC had the best flavor.
17:59I really liked how actually chickeny it was,
18:02but it's not really like a chicken nugget in my brain.
18:05When I want a chicken nugget,
18:06I'm probably gonna reach for Wendy's.
18:07So that's why she had to be up there.
18:09She's my number two.
18:10McDonald's, iconic, very good, great dipping nugget.
18:13The chicken bites from Shake Shack
18:15were very fresh and delicious.
18:17I just wish that they had a little bit more flavor
18:19the way the KFC ones do.
18:20And the Burger King ones were just a huge disappointment.
18:23Over fried, tasted like the fry oil.
18:25It's not very good.
18:26If I had to create a top five
18:27based on all of the value stats
18:29and also just my personal taste preference,
18:31I think this is what I'd end up with.
18:32Of the ones I tried today,
18:33I think Burger King I was least impressed by.
18:35It lacked a little bit of flavor,
18:37a little bit of texture,
18:39and just reminded me more of like a frozen thing
18:41that you would make for dinner when you were nine years old.
18:43I did enjoy the Shake Shack chicken bites,
18:45but I do think the main issue was the sizing there.
18:47I do like popcorn chicken.
18:48Again, I'm surprised to see it cut from the US menu
18:50because it is iconic.
18:52It's very tasty.
18:53The little bite-sized pieces, easy to eat on the go.
18:55I have Wendy's in my number two spot.
18:57I was shocked to see how low they were
18:59in terms of the value rankings,
19:00but I do think overall,
19:01they may have been my favorite flavored nugget today.
19:04It feels like actual pieces of chicken breast,
19:05which I really enjoyed.
19:06Like I say, they were kind of the most chickeny
19:08chicken nuggets that I had.
19:09I think Shake Shack could actually learn a few things
19:11from Wendy's because while they're both using
19:13actual pieces of chicken,
19:14Wendy's got the kind of cook a lot more consistent.
19:16The pieces are the same size.
19:18They're all nice and juicy and very flavorful.
19:20Overall, I think McNuggets are probably still my favorite.
19:23They're not the most flavorful nugget that I had,
19:24and they do lack that actual kind of real chicken taste
19:27and texture, but for what they are,
19:29they are kind of still the gold standard.
19:30It's a remarkable effort in consistency.
19:33I think you can kind of walk into any McDonald's
19:35in the country or arguably in the world,
19:37and you know exactly what you're gonna get.
19:39Thanks for watching Food Wars.
19:40If you enjoyed, be sure to subscribe, like,
19:42and comment down below with some foods
19:43you'd like us to compare next.