Remember McDonald’s Chicken Selects? I’ll confess that I don’t. But for years, fans of the Golden Arches have been asking to bring back these chicken strips. The Chicken Selects were the same chicken used in McDonald’s discontinued Snack Wrap, which I have a vague memory of eating. But both of those menu items have been off the menu for 12 years.
12 years in fast food feels impossibly long, so the fact that so many people are itching for the return of the Chicken Selects fascinates me. How do ya’ll remember? Are you sure what you tasted was as good as what your hazy, nostalgia-filled memory purports it to be?
This same conversation is playing out in a different key over on the McDonald’s Reddit board, where McDonald’s fans are already complaining that the brand’s new McCrispy Strips (the first new permanent McDonald’s menu item in four years) aren’t nearly as good as the old Chicken Selects.
I have no allegiance to the Chicken Select, but consider me intrigued. I love chicken strips, they are inarguably one of fast food’s most popular foods currently, so I welcome any new strip, tender — or whatever the hell a Burger King Chicken Fry is supposed to be — with open arms. Here is my verdict!
McCrispy Strips
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
If you were worried that the McCrispy Strips were going to be some elongated form of the McNugget, it is thankfully not that. This is real chicken breast meat, heavily breaded, coated, and fried to a perfect golden brown.
When I bit into this strip, I was greeted by a pleasing, audible crunch, so points to McDonald’s on the texture here. These are crispy, crunchy, and the breading, which is heavily seasoned with black pepper, soaks up the savory and tangy flavor of McDonald’s new Creamy Chili Dip perfectly.
Unfortunately, that’s about the only nice thing I can say about the McCrispy Strips. Outside of the texture, I’m just not getting a lot here. The chicken meat isn’t tender or succulent like Raising Cane’s or Chick-fil-A; instead, the meat flakes in this weird and unappetizing way. It’s not dry by any means, but it’s not juicy either. It tastes a lot like — unsurprisingly — McDonald’s McCrispy sandwich, just cut into more bite-sized pieces.
We wouldn’t go as far as saying the McCrispy Strips are bad; they’re fine, but this is the first permanent menu item to hit the menu in four years. Shouldn’t they be better?
The Bottom Line:
The McCrispy Strips are clearly designed to be a staple order — the idea here isn’t to replace your McNuggets (which work way better as a side than a main meal) but rather, serve as an alternate option to a Quarter Pounder, Big Mac, or McCrispy Chicken sandwich. They aren’t good enough to compete with the burger lineup, but we’d take these over a McCrispy Chicken sandwich any day, if only because they are way easier to dip.