The #1 Fast Food Fried Chicken You Can Order Now

We’ve ranked fried chicken thighs from popular chains for the worst option of your life.

Fast food fried chicken is never going to be the healthiest food choice, but some options are less healthy than others; based on the nutrition labels provided by the restaurants themselves. For the purpose of this article, I chose to focus on fried chicken thighs from chains like KFC and Popeyes, to compare factors such as calorie count, sodium, fat, and more. The results surprised me a bit—some of the chicken options I thought would be terrible weren’t so bad after all. Here’s a list, ranked from worst to #1 unhealthiest fast food chicken you can order right now.

Bojangles Chicken Thighs

The regular Chicken Thigh from Bojangles is very low in calories and completely saturated fat. The sodium and carb counts are also moderate, so the chain comes in at number 8 on this list. Protein is very good, too.

Jollibee Chickenjoy pumpkin

Jollibee’s regular Chickenjoy pumpkin is much lower in sodium compared to other options, which is a plus. It has more calories and saturated fat, but less bread with 5 g of carbohydrates.

Original Chicken Thigh of the Week

Original Chicken Thigh of the Week

Church’s is middle-of-the-road when it comes to calories, fat, and sodium. Yes, you can do better, but you can also do worse with nutrition.

Delicious Chicken Thigh of the Week

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Delicious Chicken Thigh of the Week

Sunday’s spicy chicken thigh has more sodium than the original, which is the result. Otherwise it’s not bad, and the calories are actually lower than regular pumpkin.

Jollibee Chickenjoy Pumpkin (Sweet)

Jollibee’s Spicy Chickenjoy pumpkin has more carbs and more sodium than regular Chickenjoy pumpkin, so it is considered unhealthy overall. Protein is very good.

The calories in KFC Extra Crispy Pumpkin are slightly higher than the Original Recipe, but the sodium is better. Protein is also low, and saturated fat is high, so this one comes in at number 3.

KFC Original Recipe Chicken Thigh

KFC’s Original Recipe is, in my opinion, the best tasting fried chicken, but sodium is a huge factor—1190 mg per serving a lot. On the other hand, protein is great.

Popeyes Chicken Thigh: Very Unhealthy

Popeyes Chicken Thigh

Popeyes has the most sodium, the most saturated fat, and the highest carbohydrates on the board. The number of calories is very high, and decent protein cannot cancel everything else. Based on food, Popeyes comes in at number 1.