7 Quick-Meals Chains That Use Actual Rooster for Their Tenders —Not That Thriller Meat – The product suggestions on this submit are suggestions by the author and/or knowledgeable(s) interviewed and don’t include affiliate hyperlinks. That means: For those who use these hyperlinks to purchase one thing, we won’t earn a fee.
Tenders, nuggets, fingers, strips. In the case of the fast-food fried rooster scene, there are numerous choices to think about, however they’re not all created the identical.
For example, there are menu objects like McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets, that are made with a mix of floor rooster tenderloin, breast, and rib meat. Then, you’ve bought the fast-food chains that solely use one minimize of meat—and preserve it in that kind. Rooster tenders can fall into this class.
Technically, this type of rooster is created from the pectoralis minor, which is a small piece of meat discovered beneath the rooster breast. Rooster fingers will be made with this, too, as famous by Simply Recipes. Nonetheless, some eating places will use breast meat and name their product “tenders.” In the meantime, others aren’t as forthcoming about revealing what’s of their rooster.
Though fast-food chains are recognized for his or her processed menu objects, there are a number of locations that take extra measures to boost the standard of their meals. Listed here are seven fast-food spots that serve up rooster tenders made with actual, entire items of rooster.
Simply because “burger” is a part of the title doesn’t imply prospects can’t fulfill their rooster tender repair at this quick meals chain. Elevation Burger affords a number of menu objects made with rooster tenders, such because the Elevation Rooster Sandwich, BBQ Cheddar Rooster Sandwich, and the Sriracha Rooster Sandwich. These sandwiches include a alternative of crispy or grilled natural rooster tenders, that are made with cage-free rooster.
Inside Elevation Burger’s nutritional information, you possibly can see that the rooster tenders are made with 5 elements: natural rooster tenders, natural canola oil, natural corn starch, salt, and natural white pepper. The tenders are then coated in a gluten-free flour mix (made with garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, white sorghum flour, and fava bean flour), salt, chilies, baking powder, and spices.
Whereas this chain is famously recognized for its burgers and shakes, it additionally at present has three rooster choices: the Rooster Shack, the Avocado Bacon Rooster, and the Rooster Bites. Though it’s specified that the primary two objects include rooster breast meat relatively than tenderloin meat, all three of them function entire chicken rooster that’s “hand-breaded and crisp-fried to order in cholesterol-free soy oil,” in line with Shake Shack’s website.
So, are any of those technically tenders? No. However, are they made with entire meat? Sure.
Typically related to its well-known root beer model, this restaurant chain serves burgers, fries, and sure, rooster tenders. The chain’s web site homes a Menu Ingredient Assertion from July 2018, which discloses the recipe of its hand-breaded rooster tenders. The doc lists rooster tenderloins as the primary ingredient, adopted by the marinade and breading elements.
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It’s not shocking {that a} fast-food chain that’s all about rooster makes use of entire items of rooster meat. In line with Chick-fil-A’s web site, the corporate “sources 100% actual entire boneless breast of rooster that has by no means been floor or separated, and that comprises no fillers or added steroids or hormones.” The chain has additionally been sourcing antibiotic-free meat since Might 2019.
Take the chain’s Chick-n-Strips, for instance. These are made with boneless, skinless rooster breast tenderloins which can be seasoned, breaded, and pressure-cooked in 100% peanut oil, which the corporate says “enhances the flavour of the rooster.”
Whether or not Popeyes’ rooster tenders ought to truly be known as “tenders” is debatable. A 2022 class-action lawsuit alleged that the chain falsely marketed the menu merchandise as a result of it’s truly created from rooster breast meat versus the tenderloin. So, whereas these might not be true “tenders,” the commercial referenced within the lawsuit states that the rooster is made with “100% entire breast meat.”
Popeyes’ rooster tenders are marinated within the chain’s Louisiana herbs and seasonings, hand-battered in a crunchy southern coating, and fried till golden brown.
Elevating Cane’s superfans—aka Caniacs—can take consolation in figuring out that the chain is dedicated to the way it prepares its rooster fingers. The restaurant chain notes that it makes use of premium, contemporary, never-frozen rooster breast tenderloins that marinate for a full day earlier than being hand-dipped and fried to order.
The menu at Church’s Rooster is about so simple as it will get: there’s a rooster sandwich, there’s bone-in rooster, and there are rooster tenders. Every thing will be made right into a combo, and ordered within the unique or spicy selection. The sandwich is created from breast meat, the combo meals include a alternative of legs, thighs, and tenders, and the tenders are entire cuts of chicken. Easy, certain, however it’s been working since 1952.
