Our Review Of The New Popeyes Golden BBQ Chicken Sandwich

Popeyes doesn’t need to do anything else to be the king of fried chicken sandwiches. Since 2019, the chain has been the place to go if you want the best chicken sandwich in all of fast food. There have been some worthy competitors, to be sure — Dave’s Hot Chicken and Shake Shack’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich come to mind — but nothing hits quite like the GOAT.

So anytime Popeyes does decide to make a change, we treat it like a big deal.

In the five years since its release, we’ve seen a sweet and spicy celebrity-backed version of the classic Popeyes spicy chicken sandwich, an iteration with Havarti cheese and bacon, and last year, an unbreaded Blackened version. All three were still amongst the best in all of fast food, but what surprised it most was the Blackened version. That’s right, Popeyes can skip the breading — the very thing that gives chicken sandwiches their pleasing crunch — and still make one of the best chicken sandwiches in the game.

With all that success, we were fired up to taste the Golden BBQ Chicken Sandwich. It’s currently available now at participating Popeyes locations nationwide and, as far as we can tell, this is a permanent menu fixture. So how does the new sandwich measure up to the rest of the Popeyes chicken sando menu?

Here are our thoughts.

Golden BBQ Chicken Sandwich Taste Test

Thoughts & Tasting Notes

Thick and luxurious. That’s how I’d describe Popeyes Golden BBQ. The sauce is much sweeter than typical BBQ sauce with some floral cracked pepper notes and a mellow tang in place of smokiness.

The sweet and tangy sauce elevates the flavor of the Popeyes chicken breading, which features a mix of garlic and onion powder, black pepper, and the slightest hint of cayenne.

I already think Popeyes’ chicken breading leans on the sweet and buttery side (compared to KFC’s more herbal breading) and this sauce helped to accentuate the savory and indulgent quality of the fried chicken filet. Overall, I think the Golden BBQ is a nice — albeit, non-essential — remix of the typical Popeyes Fried Chicken sandwich.

The Bottom Line:

If you like your BBQ sauce tangy and sweet rather than smokey, the Golden BBQ Chicken Sandwich is worth a pick-up. But it’s not a significant change, so if our tasting notes aren’t appetizing you, you’re probably not missing out on anything by sticking with whatever your preferred chicken sando build is.