Trigger Warning - Thrillist Names Raising Cane's the US's Best Chicken Tenders; Popeyes #2

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2. Popeyes
Lack of apostrophe aside, Popeyes is an unabashed fried chicken behemoth. Not only is the chicken impressive for fast food, it’s impressive for chicken. That was true before the arrival of its game-changing chicken sandwich.
The cajun flavors benefit the flaky batter in a big way, and the chicken itself was full of flavor. It truly reminds you of a soul food restaurant in the best possible way; you’ll be heavily rewarded with the addition of some Louisiana hot sauce (and it’s of course complemented by all of the unique sides Popeyes offers, like jambalaya and red beans & rice). When you pull the tender apart with your hands, it actually breaks in half easily, as opposed to most other tenders where you just end up sliding the entire chicken out from the plastic-y breading. Plain, spicy, you name it, the chain is nailing it all across the board. A phenomenal tender. Popeyes is death from above.

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1. Raising Cane’s
Like Popeyes, Raising Cane’s started in Louisiana with the intent of giving the finger to nuggets (see what we did there?). It's succeeded in a huge way, busting out of the South to almost 500 locations nationwide. And while Cane's is lagging behind its Louisiana fried-chicken cousin in outposts, the chain has managed to do the unthinkable: make a better chicken finger than Popeyes. We were just as surprised as you are.
Raising Cane's uses straight-up tenderloins for its fingers, which is the only thing on the menu that isn’t a crinkle-cut fry. That means each bite is impossibly tender, dripping clear, non-grease juices immediately after you crunch through the breading, which texturally lands somewhere in the middle ground between Church’s and Popeyes’ flaky exterior and the more batter-style thickness of Chick-fil-A. There’s not a ton of seasoning here, just a kick of salt and pepper. That's kind of the point. When the chicken is this fresh-tasting, juicy, and tender, the batter serves as a complement rather than a star or, worse, something covering up a lesser product. The chicken here is king. And among fast-food tenders, so too is Raising Cane’s.

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