The BK classic at home: a ground chicken patty, lightly breaded and fried, with mayo and lettuce. It’s salt, pepper, and fat in the right proportions, and nothing else. It’s the build that taught me a mediocre patty can still make a great sandwich.
Picks
Salt, pepper, and fat, with cold lettuce.
- Chicken sandwich patties: Ground chicken, salted, with a pinch of baking soda
- Breading and frying chicken patties: Double coat or light breading, pan-fried
- Assembling chicken sandwiches: Shredded lettuce, on a toasted bun
- Chicken sandwich sauces: Mayo on both buns
Where it comes from
Burger King’s Chicken Specialty Sandwich (now the Original Chicken Sandwich) came out in 1979, a breaded white-meat patty on a long sesame bun with lettuce and mayo (Wikipedia). I ate a lot of them working at BK in the late 80s; the story is in The impossible quest for the perfect chicken burger.
Why these picks
- Ground, not whole. An even, round patty, juicy from the baking soda, that eats like the fast-food original.
- Lots of mayo. The patty is lean; the mayo is the sandwich’s fat, and it soaks into the crust as it sits.
- Pepper-forward. Black pepper in the dredgeDredgeCoat food in a dry layer, usually seasoned flour, before frying or searing. does most of the seasoning.
How it fails
- Dry: too little mayo.
- Bland: under-salted patty, or no pepper in the dredge.
Variations
- Deluxe: add tomato, pickles, and mustard. My order, Whopper style.
- Long bun: the BK shape. Form the patty oval to match.