I tried chicken nuggets from 6 fast-food chains and ranked them from worst to best

Cost: $7.49 — excluding tax and tip — for a 10-piece serving at a Wendy’s in New York City.

All prices listed here may vary in different markets.

Like Burger King and McDonald’s, Wendy’s is primarily a burger chain. So, it should come as no surprise that its chicken nuggets are pretty unremarkable, in my opinion.

They were decently seasoned, and the breading had a lot of flavor, but they were also pretty small. Wendy’s nuggets definitely act more as a side dish than a reason to go to the chain.

Cost: $7.31 — excluding tax and tip — for a 10-piece serving at a KFC in New York City.

They were a little bland, but I thought the chicken itself tasted higher quality than the nuggets from Wendy’s, Burger King, and McDonald’s. It was more shreddable and paired well with the chain’s comeback sauce, but I would have liked more breading to give it that crunch.

I’d probably recommend the chain’s chicken tenders or fried chicken over its nuggets.

Cost: $2.39 — excluding tax and tip — for a four-piece serving at a McDonald’s in New York City, or $5.79 for a 10-piece serving.

McDonald’s chicken nuggets are the stuff of legend. They’ve been around since the early ’80s, and there’s something about the tempura-style fried chicken nuggets that keeps me coming back for more.

They’re always crispy, always salty, and always consistent — I know what to expect with a McDonald’s nugget. That being said, I thought they were a touch too salty.

Cost: $5.19 — excluding tax and tip — for a 10-piece at a Burger King in New York City.

Released September 1, the new chicken nuggets are crispier than the original nuggets, and were updated to include a more flavorful marinade and new packaging, Burger King said.

I thought the nuggets had just the right amount of crunch and flavor, and held their own as a stand-alone entrée on the Burger King menu.

While they were very similar to McDonald’s nuggets, they were slightly cheaper, giving them the edge.

Cost: $9.19 — excluding tax and tip — for an eight-piece serving at a local Chick-fil-A in New York City.

While some of the other nuggets leaned on the drier side, these nuggets were moist and would likely pair well with practically any dipping sauce.

Each nugget was on the smaller side — despite being the most expensive of the ones I tried — but packed a lot of flavor into a small bite.

Cost: $3.99 — excluding tax and tip — for a five-piece order and one dipping sauce. However, I was invited to taste the chicken nuggets at an early preview hosted by Taco Bell in New York City in December 2025, and I received complimentary samples.

These chicken nuggets, coated in a blend of breadcrumbs and crunchy tortilla chips, stood out from the competition with their well-balanced flavor.

They were salty, with a subtle corn taste from the tortilla-chip breading. They reminded me more of a boneless wing than a chicken nugget.

Paired with the chain’s Hidden Valley fire ranch sauce, a standard creamy ranch sauce with a slight hint of heat, and jalapeño honey mustard, an unusual combination of tangy mustard and strong yet balanced jalapeño flavor, these nuggets blew me away.

The nuggets were initially rolled out as a limited-time offering, but Taco Bell continued to bring them back in 2025 and 2026 as it expanded its crispy-chicken menu.

Here’s hoping they’ll be back again soon.