Review: KFC Chicken Little

Earlier this month, Kentucky Fried Chicken released another miniature chicken sandwich – the Chicken Little.

Basically, you take the title character from the 2005 Disney film of the same name, fry him up, add a dollop of mayo, a coupla pickle chips, put it on a bun, boom, Chicken Little. Mmmmm, nothing is more satisfying than a nerdy, animated-chicken Zach Braff sandwich. Nerdy, animated-chicken Zach Braff is fantastically delicious.

Other than the name, the sandwich and movie have one thing in common: people hate them. No one likes the movie because it’s a story about a young rooster who says the sky is falling but no one believes him. Then aliens invade the town. And that’s it. The sandwich has a more interesting story than the movie, which is not saying much because, let’s be honest, I’m pretty sure Disney employed a 6-year-old to concoct that plot.

The thing is, KFC used to have a sandwich back in the day, which was a Wednesday, called the Chicken Little. It featured a thin, square, gray, breaded chicken patty on a roll with mayo, and cost a measly 39 cents. For whatever reason, people loved that shit, but it was discontinued years ago. I think it was available in the 80s and 90s, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, people miss the original Chicken Littles. A Facebook page called “HELP BRING BACK KFC’S CHICKEN LITTLE SANDWICH” has garnered over 2,000 likes. People on message boards say things like “omg i use to love these things my daddy would by like 50 of them for $5 dollars and bring them home omg so good,” and “i just had the new chicken littles, so dissapointing, these new sandwiches are a disgrace to the chicken litles of my childhood, kfc please bring back the originals!”

So when rumors began to surface last year that KFC was testing a ‘new and improved’ Chicken Little, fans of the original got excited. Then they realized it wasn’t the same as the old one and now they’re angry because, “HOW COULD THEY DO THIS!!!” and “Et tu, Colonel?”

Since I was born in 1991, I have no recollection of Chicken Littles. My experience with mini KFC sandwiches is limited to the stale, overpriced Snacker. So I was interested to see what this animated-poultry Zach Braff sandwich had to offer.

The sandwich consists of an Extra Crispy chicken strip, pickles, and mayo, on what seems to be a tiny hot dog bun. It goes for $1.29 a la carte, or you can get 2 of them with a side and drink for 5 simoleons. If you’re thinking that’s way too much for a tiny sandwich, you’d be right. Especially considering the king of value chicken sandwiches, the McChicken, is just a buck, and probably at least double the size. But was it delicious enough to offset the price?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: the chicken strip was nice and crispy, and pretty flavorful, albeit a little dry. The generous slathering of mayo offset that somewhat, but there was definitely too much of the white stuff. It was almost cloying at times. The bun was meh; they claim it’s a sweet bun but I thought it was bland. It was very soft, I’ll give them that. On the other hand, the pickles were fantastic. Normally, I’m indifferent when it comes to pickles. But these were crunchy, moist, and most importantly, not sour. Sour pickles turn me off, but these had a smooth flavor and cut right through the overabundant mayo. Despite the wonderful pickled cucumbers, I can give this sandwich no more than 5.5/10.

Overall, the Chicken Little is a decent little sandwich, but it missed the mark. I think it would be better served by replacing the mayo with sweet, smoky Colonel’s sauce, and bumping the price down to $1. Unless KFC makes some improvements, I doubt this sandwich will last long. After all, no KFC menu is big enough for TWO  diminutive chicken sandwiches.