Tristan Wheeler holding a Chicken Big Mac. Right: The Chicken Big Mac.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
McDonald's Canada introduced a new menu item this week and it's a big win for fans of chicken sandwiches.
The Chicken Big Mac was launched on March 7 at McDonald's locations across Canada, so I decided to give it a try.
To begin with, the sandwich is exactly what it sounds like — a classic Big Mac sandwich but with chicken patties instead of beef.
This menu item was two years in the making and features all the classics — lettuce, cheddar cheese, pickles and the Big Mac sauce, which is now being sold by itself.
According to the menu, the sandwich has all that with "Canadian-raised seasoned chicken breast in a crispy, light-tasting coating" and a sesame seed bun.
So how did it fare?
To begin with, I should mention that my order was a bit flawed as it seemed to have a middle bun in place of a bottom bun. Strange!
Taking a look at the chicken patties, they sort of looked and tasted like, a bigger, thinner chicken McNugget.
The bottom burger. Tristan Wheeler | Narcity
Taking a bite of the burger, I was really surprised at how good it was. The chicken was crispy and the tangy sauce and the lettuce do a lot to tie it all together.
One thing I was really surprised by was how hearty it was. Maybe this is normal for the Big Mac, but I found the double patty, double bun experience really started to fill me up after just a few bites.
Another thing I noticed was there there wasn't as much sauce as you get with some of the other new menu items from McDonald's, like the recent BBQ burger they had.
One thing I did really notice was that the chicken patties themselves didn't really have much in the way of flavour or spices.
Which, is usually fine because you'd typically dip a McNugget into a dipping sauce. But with a burger, you're really relying on the person making it to ensure it has the correct amount of sauce.
All this being said, ultimately I really liked this sandwich and could see myself ordering it again.
Unfortunately, I can't say with complete confidence how it stacks up to its beefy cousin because, well, I've actually never had a Big Mac in my life.
I know, this is hard to believe given that it's one of the most popular burgers of all time, but here we are.
Granted, with how good the Chicken Big Mac is, I can't see myself, or other McDonald's fans for that matter, going back to beef any time soon.
Score: 4 / 5
If you're wondering what else is great at McDonald's, I taste-tested some of the best fast-food coffees and breakfast sandwiches and there were some interesting insights.
