Wendy’s is back at it with two new chicken sandwiches, just in time for Valentine’s Day, which were released on Feb. 8. The “Hot Honey Chicken Biscuit” is only available during breakfast hours (before 10:30 a.m.), and neither of us were willing to wake up that early for it. That left us with only the “Hot Honey Chicken Sandwich” to try, which is available with regular, spicy or grilled chicken. The sandwich is “a juicy chicken breast marinated and breaded in our unique, fiery blend of peppers and spices topped with pepper jack cheese, Applewood smoked bacon, crunchy dill chips and a drizzle of habanero hot honey sauce all on a toasted bun. For fire-eaters with a sweet tooth,” according to Wendy’s website. The sandwich will cost you $5.99 plus tax. 

Sasha 

Let me just start by saying that I definitely identify as a “fire-eater with a sweet tooth.” Honestly now when anyone asks me about myself, this is what I will tell them. But even I had some reservations before trying this sandwich; when I go for a chicken sandwich, as much as I love sweets, I don’t know how much I want sweet on it. I also cannot stomach the smell/taste of honey, so I was really not excited for this sandwich. Onto the sandwich itself, I must say it was very odd. Firstly, I don’t like bacon, so next time I would definitely get it without bacon. I also don’t know how I feel about the chips on the sandwich, though honestly whoever invented this concept is one troubled person. Personally, I was not a fan of them at all. The cheese, well I didn’t notice that this is a different kind of cheese than what they usually use. But you know what this sandwich needs? Like this entire country, some vegetables. The sandwich was just so dry and hard to consume. The sauce, believe it or not, was actually quite good!! I wish there was more of it, I barely got a taste of it because there was so little (and this made the sandwich even drier). Overall, not too impressed, but I think if I make my modifications to it, it has the potential to be good. I would rate it seven out of 10: wouldn’t get it again in its current form. 

John 

Going into this sandwich, I had extraordinarily high expectations. The latest premium chicken sandwich that we tried from Wendy’s was the jalapeño popper chicken sandwich, and if you’re one of our followers, you know that it’s one of the best fast food sandwiches that we have tried. So when Wendy’s announced that they were going to be releasing a new premium chicken sandwich, I was ecstatic. 

I have to say, this sandwich is certainly unique, and to my knowledge, there are no other fast food chains out there that have added crunchy dill chips and a honey glaze to their chicken sandwiches. So in terms of uniqueness, I have to give this sandwich an extra point just because the flavor profile is unlike anything I have ever tried before. The dill chips were a very unique replacement for pickles in a traditional chicken sandwich, and the honey sauce also added a sweetness to the sandwich.

However, with that being said, I did not enjoy the sandwich all that much. Like always, the chicken itself was juicy and is a solid addition to the sandwich. However, while unique, the dill chips were not a great replacement for regular pickles in my opinion, as they really lacked the acidity that complements the fried chicken so well. Instead, it was more of just something else that was crunchy on the sandwich, adding more texture heterogeneity, which was definitely not unwelcome but I feel that it could have added a bit more.

I feel a very similar way about the bacon that they added. It was a nice and crunchy texture that contrasted with the softer fried chicken and bun, but its flavor was mostly overpowered by the honey glaze sauce itself.

Now, to the star of the show: the honey glaze sauce. This sauce comprised a vast majority of the flavor within the sandwich and in my eyes was certainly a bit overpowering. Perhaps this is because I am personally not the biggest fan of honey (especially in a savory context), but the sandwich was just this strange aggregation of flavors that did not mix incredibly well, though they were pretty good individually. I would give this sandwich a seven out of 10 as well. A significant downgrade from our previous premium chicken sandwich from Wendy’s but certainly not terrible.