McCrispy Strips end the McDonald’s chicken strip drought

When you think of McDonald’s, you probably think of the Big Mac. Or the Filet-O-Fish. Or maybe a bunch of McNuggets. (Definitely fries.) For some people, though, their ideal version of McDonald’s has been missing a key item for the past few years: Chicken strips.

McDonald’s is ready to bring those people back into the fold.

Chicken strips are back on the McDonald’s menu in the form of McCrispy Strips, an item set to officially debut on May 5 but might already be available at your local McDonald’s location. (Check the app. McCrispy Strips were showing up for me on Thursday.) Even if you have to wait until Monday, people are excited about McCrispy Strips.

“Since stepping into my new role as a leader of the U.S. business this year, I’ve been excited for fans to get to experience our additional chicken offerings,” Alyssa Buetikofer, chief marketing and customer experience officer at McDonald’s, said in a statement. “The demand for chicken strips has been remarkable to see across the industry, so we knew we had to deliver something so craveable that it was worth the wait. We took our time, listened to our fans and created a product we knew they would crave. And the best part is we're just getting started.”

“McDonald’s will regain me as a customer for the first time in a long time,” one of my brothers texted back when I shared the news that chicken strips were returning.

Chicken is a big deal for the fast food industry right now. Taco Bell just brought back its chicken nuggets last month after they originally debuted in December. McDonald’s has long been in the chicken game, between the classic Chicken McNuggets, the McChicken sandwich and the McCrispy Chicken Sandwich that it introduced to combat the rise of Popeye’s Classic Chicken Sandwich.

Do McCrispy Strips live up to the hype? Are they a worthy successor to Chicken Selects? And what about that Creamy Chili dipping sauce?

Where I found it

Please don’t trust McCrispy Strips that come from anywhere but McDonald’s.

What they cost

You can get a three-piece McCrispy Strips for $5.19 and a four-piece McCrispy Strips for $6.29.

My thoughts

I think I may have gotten Chicken Selects once back when they were available. My go-to McDonald’s order is usually a Filet-O-Fish, a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese (which I’ll argue is the superior McDonald’s burger, sorry, Big Mac) or a 10-piece McNuggets, so I don’t have the connection to the various varieties of chicken tenders from McDonald’s that a lot of people do.

But I was excited to try McCrispy Strips. The Chicken Big Mac, another recent chicken innovation from McDonald’s, won me over in a big way, and I was ready to dive into these chicken tenders when they arrived at my house.

I was immediately struck by how visible the seasoning is in McCrispy Strips. McDonald’s boasts that these strips are “coated with crispy golden-brown breading and bursting with a bold, new black pepper flavor” — and you can absolutely see that black pepper.

You can taste it too, with this flavor being instantly recognizable on the first bite. The breading on McCrispy Strips has a slight crunch while being more juicy than I expected from fast-food chicken strips.

I often eat my McNuggets without sauce (I was raised in a honey home, and that dipping option unfairly goes out of style when you hit your teenage years), but the release of McCrispy Strips came paired with the introduction of Creamy Chili Dip.

I was curious if this new dipping sauce would pack the same heat as the Nether Flame Sauce from McDonald’s promotion of A Minecraft Movie, but it’s a smoother offering. (Nether Flame Sauce boasted “crushed red pepper and flaming cayenne, balanced with hints of garlic and sweetness” while Creamy Chili Dip promises to be “savory, slightly tangy, sweet with a hint of chili pepper heat and a nutty toasted sesame finish.”) There’s the tiniest hint of heat to Creamy Chili Dip, but it’s nothing that will scare away the most casual of dippers.

The Creamy Chili Dip is a great pairing for McCrispy Strips, but I probably ate more than half of my four-piece without sauce.

Final verdict: BUY

As I mentioned before, I can’t speak to how any previous version of McDonald’s chicken strips changed my life or how I’ve pined for them since they disappeared from the menu. What I can tell you, though, is McCrispy Strips should satisfy your craving for chicken strips from the fast-food chain. (I’ll also need to convince my daughter to give them a shot over McNuggets next time we’re at McDonald’s.) My one suggestion would be to pick them up in person from McDonald’s to guarantee that they’re super McCrispy — sorry, crispy.

Oh, and if you’ve been waiting for McDonald’s to bring back the beloved Snack Wrap, I think you might be in luck. Here’s the final line of the chain’s press release announcing McCrispy Strips: “And that’s a wrap ... at least for now!”

McCrispy Strips were provided to Snackology for this independent review.