Fast-food battles continue as restaurant chains position themselves to bring in more customers.
McDonald’s has long been credited with inventing the chicken, but that simply isn’t true. A professor at Cornell University was the first to come up with the idea of the chicken nugget decades before it made it to any menu.
The chicken nugget invention came from a need after World War II. During the war, red meat was scarce, and in order to feed the masses, chicken was the mainstay. After the war though, there was too much chicken! At the time, most chickens were prepared to serve as a whole chicken, which sometimes was not enough food for a growing family, but it was too much food for one or two people.
What to do with the overage of chickens was a problem that needed to be solved. Food Science Professor Robert C. Baker thought up bite size chicken that could be battered and fried or frozen for later consumption, his work was unpatented.
Fast Food Takes on the Nugget
McDonald’s (MCD) brought the chicken nugget to the masses when it started selling the McNugget in 1981 as its alternative to red meat. McDonald’s wanted to sell the McNugget like it sold its fries, as a side. As a worldwide leader in fast-food, it makes sense why so many equate McDonald's with the first chicken nugget.
The popularity of the chicken nugget was obvious and competitor Burger King (QSR) jumped on the bite size bandwagon in 1985 and launched its version of the McNugget, as Chicken Tenders. Burger King boasted that its chicken tender was not made of processed meats, but it was made of real chicken breast filet. Burger King now offers its chicken as nuggets rather than tenders.
Blazing Good News
Burger King offers a variety of ways to enjoy its chicken nuggets. Customers can choose from six different dipping sauces, barbecue, buffalo, honey mustard, ranch, zesty and sweet chili. Chicagoarea Burger King customers have seen something else on the menu Fiery Chicken Nuggets.
This blazin’ hot nugget is in testing phases in the Chicago area, so it's not available to taste test all over, but hopefully it will pass the taste test to make its national roll out. The nugget is made with Burger King’s classic white meat and then it is fried with its homestyle breading to give it a crispy taste, then the nuggets are doused in a blazin’ sauce, a spicy triple pepper glaze.
The nuggets are being sold at $2.49 for an eight-count order. Jonathan (The Fat Hipster) a YouTube food reviewer told Chew Boom that these nuggets are the “best tasting reformed chicken nugget variation I’ve ever had.”
Not the First
This isn’t the first time Burger King has offered nuggets more on the spicy side, it did offer Ghost Pepper Nuggets back in 2021. These nuggets were also made with BK’s signature white chicken meat.
McDonald’s recently brought back its Spicy Chicken Nuggets, originally brought to the menu in 2020. The Spicy Chicken Nuggets were only brought back to about 6,900 of its locations and only for a limited time.
Wendy’s (WEN) first introduced its version of the spicy chicken nuggets back in 2009. However, in 2017, Wendy’s pulled the spicy chicken nuggets from the menu, and some fans were heartbroken. Wendy’s claimed poor sales on the removal of the spicy fan favorite. Those same fans were excited to see its return back on menus.
