KFC UNFried: New Kentucky Grilled Chicken Review

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurants offered customers a free piece of chicken on April 27, 2009, to introduce their newest item on the menu: Kentucky Grilled Chicken. The KFC website and commercials asked us to "UNTHINK: Taste the UNFried Side of KFC." So, I unthought (?) and stopped by KFC on "UNFry Day" on the way home from work to pick up my free piece of new Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

I expected a long line so I was surprised when there wasn't one. I drove to the drive-up and asked if this restaurant was participating in the promotion. They were, so I ordered my free piece, plus a bucket and an extra mashed potatoes and gravy. At the pay window, I told the clerk I had expected a crowd and a wait. She said that they had been very busy all day and I happened by during a lull. They had plenty of grilled chicken left although a number of restaurants in the area had sold out.

Kentucky Grilled Chicken is a departure from KFC's usual fare because it is not fried. The chicken is marinated and seasoned with spices and herbs - yes, it's another "secret recipe" - and then grilled, or "unfried." KFC President Roger Eaton says that KFC wants to stay current with customers' changing tastes and requests. Kentucky Grilled Chicken is one way KFC is trying to "think outside of the bucket." I like knowing that KFC is listening to its customers and making menu changes.

KFC sees Kentucky Grilled Chicken as not just a new item, but a new brand in itself. You can celebrate the new brand on the UNThinkFC website where you can watch people do the chicken dance and upload your own chicken dance video. Or, you can play the KFC Grilled Chicken Dance Game, see outtakes from commercials, or watch chicken dance uncut videos.

Price

The free piece of chicken was a thigh and according to the receipt, it was worth $1.85. The clerk told me that the free piece offer was only for dark meat, not white meat. We prefer white to dark, so I purchased a small bucket of six chicken breasts, which came with three biscuits and a large mashed potato and gravy for $16.99. I also bought an extra mashed potato and gravy for $2.99. With tax, my order came to $20.98.

During dinner, we ate two pieces of chicken, one mashed potatoes and gravy, and two biscuits. There was plenty left over for about another meal and a half. I estimate that a two-person meal of chicken, biscuits, and mashed potatoes cost us about $8.00. This is reasonable for a take-out/pick-up meal in our area.

Nutrition

Kentucky Grilled Chicken has fewer calories, sodium and fat grams than its Kentucky Fried cousin. According to the KFC website, a Kentucky Grilled Chicken breast has 180 calories, 35 calories from fat, 4 fat grams, 110 mgs cholesterol, and 440 grams of sodium. This sounds like quite a bit until you compare it to Original Recipe. An Original Recipe chicken breast has a whopping 370 calories, 190 calories from fat, 21 fat grams, 120 mgs cholesterol, and 1,050 grams of sodium.

Taste and Quality

Kentucky Grilled Chicken's taste is very similar to KFC Original Recipe. The secret blend of herbs and spices is familiar with a slightly different grilled flavor. Each piece had grill marks like homemade grilled chicken. Some people love the skin part of the chicken but I am not a fan, so it was nice when I discovered that the chicken breast pieces had just a little bit of chicken skin. KFC always puts paper in the bucket and the paper was greasy, but not near as greasy as it is with Original Recipe.

The chicken was very moist and tender with no hard, overcooked edges. Gone were the clumps of breading and crunchy parts. It was clearly not as salty as Original Recipe, yet with 440 grams of sodium, it certainly had plenty. In my opinion, KFC can reduce the salt even more and still retain the taste. Every bite had lots of flavor and the two of us ate every bit of our chicken pieces.

Overall, we thought Kentucky Grilled Chicken was good, although it was greasier and stickier than I normally expect grilled chicken to be. It seems that most of the chicken at KFC is has this messy quality. I was surprised that it tasted so much like KFC fried chicken because I was expecting a new flavor. Kentucky Grilled Chicken is not a better dollar value than KFC's other offerings, but it does stand head-and-shoulders above KFC Fried Chicken's nutritional value.

I will buy Kentucky Grilled Chicken in the future, probably replacing occasions when I would have bought Original Recipe. Even though Kentucky Grilled Chicken is tasty, it's not fantastic enough to make me buy fast food chicken any more frequently than I currently do. I'm not sure if I "unthought" what I think about KFC and chicken or not, but "unfrying" is certainly a plus for this consumer.

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References:

KFC News Release: http://www.kfc.com/about/newsroom/041409.asp
KFC Grilled Chicken Nutritionals: http://www.kfc.com/nutrition/grilled.asp
KFC Nutrition Guide: http://www.kfc.com/nutrition/pdf/kfc_nutrition_april09.pdf
UNThink What You Thought About KFC: http://www.unthinkfc.com/