Restaurants Fast food Wendy's
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When it comes to confrontations with fast food burgers,Wendy'sis shown less often thanMcDonald's-Burger King rivaliserenit's almost as old as fast food itself. But it is hidden in the shadowson third largesthamburgerfranchise inseventh largestrestaurant chain in the country. And with more than6,000 locationsin the US and Canada it probably won't be difficult to find oneBaconatorwhen the mood strikes.
Of course you arenot just limitedfor a burger and fries when you're at the Wendy's drive-thru. Like its larger counterparts, Wendy's has a full range of chicken offerings on its menu. The oldest and most iconic are Wendy's famous chicken nuggets, which are amenustaplesto the decade. And many say they match, or even beat, the nuggets of their fast-food competitors (viaThrillist). But how much do you actually know about the gold nuggets you're chewing on? Keep scrolling to discover the untold truth about Wendy's famous chicken nuggets.
Wendy's nuggets may be less than 50% chicken
Wendy's is proud of itinternet kantthat the chicken nuggets are made with "100% white meat chicken, breaded to crispy perfection." While that statement sounds great, it is cleverly misleading. That's because it doesn't really clarify how much chicken is in each nugget, although it does confirm that these nuggets consist of both bread and meat.
While Wendy's doesn't offer the exact methods and rations for making their nuggets, thanks to the internet and some hungry data analysts, we can try to estimate their composition. According to information collected on the data science platform,Kaggle, Wendy's chicken nuggets are only about 37% chicken (as explained byIt starts up on average, who parsed the dataset). The remaining approximately two-thirds of the nugget consists of breadcrumbs and fat.
It's worth noting that Wendy's certainly isnot the only oneThe fast food chain is going to take a closer look at how much chicken is in its chicken nuggets. And that doesn't mean that this reality makes these nuggets any less tasty. But you might as well know what you're eating, which is a lot less chicken than you might think.
You can get Wendy's nuggets at a lower price depending on how you order
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Here's a little secret: If you know how to order properly, you can save money on every Wendy's chicken nugget you ever eat. Let's explain. Wendy's offers customers three different sizes of chicken nuggets, depending on your cravings. But contrary to what you might expect, the price per nugget is indeed if you order in larger quantities. Morelazy customerson Reddit did the math to figure this out. So if you order more nuggets in smaller quantities, you will always save yourself some money.
We also looked at onelocal Wendy's menuto test the theory, and it was true: a four-piece gold nugget costs $0.99, which works out to about $0.25 each. nugget. The ratio remains the same for the six-piece, which costs $1.49. But if you order the 10-piece nuggets for €4.69, the price per piece doubles. nugget almost $0.47. So technically you could get a dozen nuggets (in the form of two six-piece orders) for about $3, which is less money than a single ten-piece order. And if you're really smart, you can get a built-in discount on your 10-piece by ordering a four-piece and a six-piece together for just under $2.50. We're not sure if Wendy's has noticed their pricing problem yet, so keep it a secret.
Wendy's chicken nuggets helped break a record on Twitter
There's no doubt that Wendy's chicken nuggets hold a special place in many people's hearts. Love runs so deep that these nuggets helped break oneAll-time Twitter record. It all started with a man's desire for Wendy's nuggets. But he didn't want to drive through it, he wanted it all.
I 2017, Carter Wilkersontweeted at Wendy's“Yo Wendy's, how many retweets for a year of free chicken nuggets?” The company fired back with a cool “18 million.” So Wilkerson turned to Wendy's lovers online to help him achieve his goal. And while he fell woefully short (we're looking at you, Wendy's), he did manage to break the record for the most retweeted tweet of all time, according toGuinness World Records. And as a reward, Wendy's gave Wilkerson free chicken nuggetsfor a year.
Sadly, Wilkerson lost his record-setting title to a Japanese billionaire in 2019, but his nuggets tweet still ranks as the third most retweeted Twitter post of all time (viaMarket overview).
Wendy's nuggets contain additives
MenWendy's claimsPride in using real, fresh and quality ingredients in all its dishes, there's more than meets the eye when it comes to the label, and Wendy's chicken nuggets are no exception. Take a look atlist of ingredientsshows that Wendy's uses at least one additive in its nuggets, in the form of sodium aluminum phosphate. According toHealthlineThis additive is used in fast food and other processed foods for a variety of purposes, including thickening, leavening, and as a preservative.
While sodium phosphates are “generally recognized as safe” for consumptionby the FDAThat doesn't mean they don't have negative health consequences. ThatAmerican Heart Association(AHA) reported on a study from Southwestern Medical Center in which phosphate additives, like those found in Wendy's nuggets, were linked to reduced physical activity and more sedentary habits. And overtime, thiscan lead toincreased risk of cancer and other diseases and mortality. The AHA also noted that "previous studies have linked higher phosphate intake to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death, especially in people with kidney disease."
Wendy's chicken nuggets are high in fat and calories, but are a good source of protein
We're guessing you won't mind Wendy's much if you're concerned about your waistline, but for the sake of transparency, it's worth knowing what you're eating when you eat Wendy's chicken nuggets. As expected, they are not lacking in fat and calories. A clean oneorder of six pieces of nuggetscontains 270 calories and 17 grams of fat, of which 3.5 gramsSaturated fat. There are also 570 gramsof sodium. Go for itten piecesinstead, and you're looking at 450 calories and almost 30 grams of fat. And this is all before you add your fries, soda, and dip.
But it's not all bad news. Wendy's chicken nuggets are also a big onesource of proteins, with 15 grams in an order of six pieces. The nuggets also give you a little nutritional boost in the form of potassium, iron and vitamin C (viaFooducate).
Wendy's chicken nuggets may be fried in plastic chemicals
We'll preface this by saying that this is very disturbing and probably won't happen everywhere. But apparently there is an opportunity for youWendy's Chicken Nuggetscan be supplied with a chemical plastic coating. AReddit userwhose ex-wife worked at Wendy's, claims that laziness sometimes got in the way of food safety, writing: "When they were going to fry a new batch of chicken nuggets, the other employees would just dip the bottom of the plastic bag into the fryer so it melted and the nuggets fall out." This is a pretty big problem for obvious reasons, but especially because ingesting plastic can cause a number of dangerous health effects ranging from indigestion to chronic illness and cancer (viaEcological Center). And it's certainly worth noting that there's nothing to suggest this was more than an isolated incident.
Some customers claim that Wendy's nuggets taste and look different than they used to
In the decades they've been on the menu, the chicken nugget recipe at Wendy's seemingly hasn't changed. However, some customers claim they've noticed something different about the nuggets in recent years, and thinking about it too much can raise suspicion.
InReddit user saysthey "remember when Wendy's nuggets were different because they were always very tender and juicy," but lamented that lately "the nuggets were hard." An apparent Wendy's employee agreed with the post, writing, "Our nuggets used to be great! Now they taste weird, even fresh." INanother reddit post, one person claimed that Wendy's nuggets are smaller than they used to be, and another added that they are "not as juicy and the breading is thinner." Unfortunately, Wendy's hasn't confirmed these claims, so you'll just have to grab some nuggets and decide for yourself.
Wendy's chicken nuggets are considered by many to be one of the best fast food nuggets you can get
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There are many options when it comes to fast food chicken nuggets. But many say Wendy's nuggets are among the best you can get. The people atEettaste-tested nuggets from nine different popular chains and ranked Wendy's as the best of them all, simply saying that "these are the best chicken nuggets in America."
They're not the only ones praising Wendy's chicken nuggets.Serious eaterranked Wendy's as having the best traditional nuggets around. They reached further into the locationPop sugar(both spicy and neat) for their 'consistent crunch', and according to the world ofReddit, Wendy's nuggets are definitely better than McDonald's chicken McNuggets. AndBusiness Insideragreed. After comparing chicken nuggets at Wendy's, Burger King and McDonald's, they concluded that "chicken nuggets won at Wendy's with their crispy coating, juicy chicken and balanced flavor."
Spicy Wendy's chicken nuggets may not be here to stay
Wendy's introduced a spicy version of their chicken nuggets to the menu in 2010, and they quickly became a hit (viaForbes). So much so that it is questionable whether they are more popular than the classic version. But the thing is, their future on the Wendy's menu isn't certain. Wendy's has taken them from us before. Who knows if they'll do it again?
Wendy's spicy chicken nuggets only disappeared abruptly in 2017. Fans weren't happy, and Wendy's noticed. After two years of desperate pleas and angry tweets from hungry customers, it was a Twitter post from Chance the Rapper that finallyseasoned nuggets lefton the 2019 menu.Wendy respondedby challenging nugget fans on Twitter to like their tweet two million times. What they did. Maybe Wendy has forgotten what they learned fromCarter Wilkerson.
Wendy's Spicy Chicken Nuggets are backon the menuToday. However, some customers have noticed the words "limited time offer" in advertisem*nts and commercials (viaReddit). To be on the safe side, you might as well go get something right away...
Wendy's chicken nuggets are often featured in offers and promotions
Wendy's chicken nuggets won't cost you much, especially if you know how to order them smartly, as we explained earlier on this list. But if you keep your eyes open, you'll likely find an even better deal to save on your nuggets, as Wendy's often seems to feature their chicken nuggets in various promotions and deals.
For example, just like in 2020, Wendy's can sometimes offer free chicken nuggets at the drive-thrus for an entire day (viaBusiness insider). Other times they offer onegratis 10 stif you order something via the app, such as last September and then again in March (viaDelicious). Keep an eye out for the '2 for $5' deal and get double the number of nuggets, or a sandwich to go for just five bucks (viaThrillist). And sometimes Wendy's even lets you spread the love. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wendy's offered a deal where customers could send free nuggets to a friend.
