While I'd love to compare the "new" Chicken Littles from KFC to the Chicken Littles of years past, I have no memory of the originals. What I've gathered through the last year or so via reader comments is that nothing beats the original Chicken Littles and the latest reinvention is a pathetic excuse for the Chicken Littles name. I'll go into this review with only the KFC Snackers as my memory of a mini chicken sandwich at KFC.
KFC describes the new Chicken Littles like this:
Chicken Littles feature a freshly-breaded Extra Crispy Strip sandwiched in a sweet bun topped with pickle slices and KFC's signature Colonel's Mayo. The soft, sweet bun complements the savory 100 percent all-white breast meat chicken.
Chicken Littles haven't been sold in more than 20 years so like mentioned, I don't remember them that vividly. Enough begging and pleading from KFC fans have pushed the Colonel to bring them back, but apparently they are just not the same. Coming in with a clean slate, I'll just admit that I'm a fan of mini food and I think a product like Chicken Littles works best in a fast food setting. At $1.29 each, Chicken Littles are a mediocre value and that's with my mind just now getting used to the idea that it's getting harder and harder to find a great bargain in the under-$1.00 range in fast food.
Chicken Littles come equipped with a mini hotdog-shaped bun that seemed perfectly fit for the size of the crispy chicken strip. The bun had a very mild tinge of sweetness and was slightly reminiscent of a hybrid between a denser potato roll and muted Hawaiian bread (a la the KFC Doublicious). Over the years I've developed a growing aversion for KFC's Original Recipe taste and I was relieved that Extra Crispy Strip chicken used in Chicken Littles. The chicken was surprisingly meaty and had a respectable crunch, while not overwhelming me with the 11 herbs and spices. Two nickel-sized sliced pickles add a little something to contrast the flavors with a mild sour kick and a little Colonel's Mayo provides moisture to the mini package. Personally, I'd take a little regular mayo over Colonel's Mayo any day, but the normally off-putting taste wasn't bad at all this time around. Normally, I can't stand Colonel's Mayo. Also I must add that I was pleased that KFC stopped there with just four ingredients.
With just four ingredients, I'll also put in my 2-cents and formally state that I think KFC dropped the ball on Chicken Littles by not having any interesting sauce options. With something this simple, I'm sure you could draw in customers with more choices and it all comes down to an array of sauces that can be made available. We recently saw that Popeyes now has 3 new dipping sauces and 6 total choices to fit many personal preferences. Chicken Littles are a bit boring without versions of Buffalo, BBQ, Ranch etc. That will surely be left for another day when something we're familiar with can be advertised as "new" again just by adding a sauce that we can do right now ourselves. Colonel's Mayo as the only option seemed lazy to me.
KFC Chicken Littles are average, but still do a decent job of putting together just four ingredients that don't fail individually. These mini chicken sandwiches don't suffer from adding too much to something too little. For $1.29, they won't be viewed as a good value to most, but for me I felt they were an adequate enough buy for a possible add-on. While I found the new KFC Chicken Littles to be just OK, I'm certain the harsh critics will still cry out for the return of the original.