Better Than Takeout: Southern-style Chicken Showdown

BETTER THAN TAKEOUT: SOUTHERN-STYLE CHICKEN SHOWDOWN

When it comes to comfort food, is there anything more delicious than crunchy and tender southern-style chicken? For many, the mere mention of fried chicken sends them on autopilot to one drive-thru in particular: KFC. We wanted to challenge that thinking; skip the takeout and make an amazing chicken dinner at home. We are pitting KFC’s Original Recipe chicken against our Southern Baked Chicken. Let’s see who does chicken right.  

Let’s meet the competitors.

KFC’s 2 Piece Chicken Combo

We ordered KFC’s 2 Piece Chicken Combo. It comes with 2 pieces of deep-fried chicken, fries, and a soft drink. We opted to swap the soft drink with water for a more accurate comparison. Unfortunately, we had to pay an extra dollar for that swap.

vs.

Epicure

Southern Baked Popcorn Chicken Dinner with mashed potatoes.

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ROUND 1: LET’S TALK INGREDIENTS & NUTRITION 

CLAIM TO FAME

  • KFC

    • Original Recipe of 11-herbs-and spices

  • Epicure

    • Baked southern-style chicken with all the flavour of fried

MADE WITH

  • KFC

    • Fresh chicken

    • Breaded in:  wheat flour, salt, monosodium glutamate, spices, dehydrated garlic, modified milk ingredients, dried egg white (egg white, baker's yeast, citric acid) 

    • Cooked in: canola oil (dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent), TBHQ)

  • Epicure

    • Fresh chicken

    • Coated in: Chia, psyllium husk, onion, garlic, spices, sea salt, herbs, black pepper

    • Baked with a bit of oil (to help the coating stick)

NUTRITION

  • KFC

    • 44 g fat 

    • 950 mg sodium 

  • Epicure

    • 9 g fat 

    • 430 mg sodium  

COOKING METHOD

  • KFC

    • Fried

  • Epicure

    • Baked

KFC’s chicken meal contains ingredients like MSG, an ingredient you will never find in Epicure products (check out Our Never Ever List). Epicure’s is coated with functional ingredients like chia and psyllium husk, bringing the added nutritional benefit of fibre and omega-3 fatty acids. 

Those with allergies and sensitivities might be out of luck—KFC’s chicken meal also contains eggs, dairy, and gluten.  

And, not so shockingly, KFC’s chicken has almost 5X more fat and 2X more sodium than our Southern Baked Popcorn Chicken Dinner.  

We ordered our KFC meal through a food delivery company and while we were waiting, we got started on our popcorn chicken. The full recipe details are here. 

We finished our chicken and mashed potatoes and were still waiting on the delivery, so we decided to make Savoury Herb Gravy in the microwave using the 4-Cup Prep Bowl. 

Three minutes later we had gravy! And our takeout arrived.  

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ROUND 2: LET’S COMPARE SPEED & COST

TIME

  • KFC

    • 30 minutes

  • Epicure

    • 20 minutes

COST

  • KFC

    • $16.83, includes, tax, delivery fee, and courier tip 

  • Epicure

    • $3.47/serving , includes cost of ingredients 

Clearly, it’s faster and more affordable to make it at home.  

ROUND 3: LET’S EAT 

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While KFC has perfected the fried chicken crunch, Epicure is holding its own with a Southern Baked Gluten Free Crumb Mix coating that makes a delicious, better-for-you chicken dinner that won’t leave you with greasy hands.  

For us, there is a clear winner here, though we may be a little biased 😉. Sure, takeout fried chicken hits the spot when the hunger beast emerges, but for a healthier, more affordable, and delicious option, use Epicure’s Southern Baked Gluten Free Crumb Mix to make it at home. It’s #BetterThanTakeout. 

Next time you’re craving a little southern-style chicken, skip the Colonel Sanders and make this classic comfort food at home.  

 🍗

Editor's Picks, Good FoodAmelia Warren