New Product Review: Kentucky Grilled Chicken

In the aftermath of my post about KFC’s new Kentucky Grilled Chicken, you asked me to try it. Since I crave your adulation and acceptance, over the weekend I scooped up the Bean and headed to see the Colonel in order to score us a bucket. Thus begins my very first reader request post. You asked for it...here we go:

Here’s how KFC tells you it looks:



And here’s how it actually looked:


Nutrition-wise, I have to admit that I’m impressed. Each piece of KGC has nearly half the calories of their fried counterparts and considerably less fat and saturated fat (we’re talking Original Recipe. You don’t even want to know how bad the Extra Crispy is for you). In fact, a breast of KFC’s grilled chicken is only slightly worse for you than a regular piece of grilled chicken you’d make at home.

But it doesn’t matter how healthy it is if it doesn’t taste good. Rice cakes are nutritionally sound, but I’ve had the same bag sitting untouched on the top of my fridge for over a year and a half. This is where KGC loses it’s edge. The taste is fine, though nothing spectacular. It doesn't have nearly the flavor of those fabled 11 herbs and spices that compose the fried variety (though truthfully I've really only ever been able to detect two--salt and pepper). I was glad it wasn't overly salty. WW™ thought it had a decent smoky flavor. The Bean couldn’t have cared less, but he’s a borderline vegetarian. Not surprisingly, Sprout, who we have dubbed “the human garbage disposal”, gobbled it up. While the chicken was fine in the taste department it was dry, which was a killer for the breasts and an utter catastrophe for the wings, whose meat was so crunchy they were practically inedible. As a huge fan of the chicken wing, this was a collosal disappointment.

I give KFC kudos for actually delivering a fast food product that holds up its end of the bargain health-wise. But at the end of the day, if I’m eating KFC and having to suffer through soupy mashed potatoes and day-glo mac and cheese, I’m having the fried stuff. My life is not devoid of tasty, healthy chicken (thank you Zankou), so I see no future need to fork over my cash for these birds. Kentucky Grilled Chicken has nothing on the rotisserie chicken from Costco.

Incidentally, if you want to try it for yourself, KFC is giving away free pieces of KGC today only. If you have some, tell me what you think.