McDonald’s is testing two new chicken sandwiches

If you thought the chicken sandwich wars were dying down, think again. McDonald’s has thrown another fillet in the fryer!

On Dec. 1, the fast-food chain teased a new crispy chicken sandwich being tested in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Houston, Texas starting Dec. 2.

McDonald’s official U.S. Twitter account shared an image of a foil bag and a reference to “no beef” on the lunch menu.

It then responded to a Twitter user with specifics about not one but two versions of a new chicken sandwich: “The Crispy Sandwich is simply topped with butter and crinkle cut dill pickles while the Deluxe is topped with tomatoes, lettuce, and mayo,” the post reads. “Both served on a tasty buttery potato roll.”

These new McDonald’s menu offerings seem to be responding to the growing popularity of Chick-fil-A, which is known for its crispy chicken menu items, and the release of Popeye’s incredibly popular crispy chicken sandwich, which debuted this summer and quickly sold out.

Back in July, the board of the National Owners Association, an organization of McDonald’s franchise owners, put out a call for a new crispy chicken sandwich to compete with Chick-fil-A. The chain seems to have heard that request.

Nation’s Restaurant News has already gotten its hands on the new sandwich in Houston, as seen below in a posting from @FastFoodMaven, a senior editor there.

“When closely examined, the filet was heavily breaded with parts of the chicken protruding outside the bun,” NRN reported. It also appears that it’s being served at this particular McDonald’s in a regular burger box and not a foil bag as teased on Twitter.

The prices in Houston are $6.39 for the regular sandwich as a meal and $6.99 for the deluxe version as a meal. The solo sandwich is $4.09.

There’s an emphasis on butter for the McDonald’s crispy chicken sandwich, which uses a buttered potato roll and butter topping along with crinkle cut dill pickles to complement its oversized fillet.

Twitter user and NRN senior editor Ron Ruggless posted this description of the sandwich:

A McDonald’s spokesperson told Food & Wine that the sandwich will be tried out in Knoxville and Houston until Jan. 26, 2020, with further expansion to be decided.

“Houston and Knoxville are getting a sneak peek, everyone else should stay tuned for what’s to come in 2020,” the spokesperson’s statement said.

The chicken sandwiches currently on McDonald’s menus include the McChicken and the Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Sandwich, which has a different fillet along with an artisan roll, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.

Also trying to keep up in the fried chicken race are Taco Bell with new crispy tortilla chicken tenders and KFC with a donut fried chicken sandwich. 2020 could be a very interesting year when it comes to fast food fried chicken!

Here’s hoping the rest of the country gets to test out this new entry in the chicken sandwich wars for themselves soon.