Review: Popeyes New Signature Sauce And Chicken Dippers Make For A Dynamic And Snackable Duo

Any fast food chicken chain that wants to get people in the door is going to place a high emphasis on not only its birds, but the sauces and dips that go along with those tenders, breasts, or wings. Popeyes in this regard is no different and keeping up with the competition. Throughout the years, the Louisiana brand has introduced chicken tenders, boneless wings, bone-in wings, and other encrusted chicken shapes to easily fit into a dip cup, including Wicked Chicken in 2010, and Rip'n Chicken and Dip'n Chick'n a year later. This year, Popeyes is introducing a new form of dippable chicken, but keeping the apostrophes at bay with Chicken Dippers. The Dippers are a mere vessel to soak up what the chain is hopping is its next great condiment — the Signature Sauce.

Chicken Dippers are here for the summer of 2025, and the mysteriously-named Signature Sauce is here to stay. So, should consumers stay away from these newbies, or get their dip on STAT? The Takeout took out a box of Dippers and dunked them into the new sauces to see if this Signature had delicious penmanship, or was a scribbly mess. The truth can now be told in this chew and review.

Recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

For July 2025, Popeyes is introducing a limited time, snackable, set of thin chicken strips called Chicken Dippers, as well as a new accompanying dip that's here for the long haul called Signature Sauce. This new sauce should not be confused with the already existing wing sauce called Signature Hot Wing Sauce. The Dippers are all-white breast meat and are hand-battered in Popeyes signature Louisiana garlic and spice blend, and then fried. The Dippers actually debuted in a test run that started in the fall of 2025, in markets like Baltimore, Maryland.

The chain describes its new Signature Sauce as combining "the bold flavors of the Louisiana 'holy trinity'; bell pepper, celery, and onion, along with garlic and a dash of hot sauce for just the right amount of heat." While Popeyes sauces come in rectangular cups, the new Signature Sauce comes in a round one. Chef Amy Alarcon, VP of Culinary Innovation at Popeyes noted in a statement, "Popeyes Signature Sauce is one of a kind with its creamy, irresistible flavor designed to be the perfect companion to every Popeyes menu item. We took our time developing it over the last five years, ensuring we landed on something undeniably Popeyes."

Starting July 14, Popeyes is introducing Chicken Dippers and Signature Sauce at participating U.S. and Canadian locations. The sauce is a permanent addition to menus, while the Chicken Dippers will be available for an unspecified limited time basis only.

An order of the Chicken Dippers sells of the suggested retail price of $4.99, and includes a side sauce, which can be the Signature Sauce or another one of your choosing. Like all other dipping sauces in the Popeyes portfolio, the Signature Sauce can be ordered à la carte, in multiple denominations, at an additional cost. The Chicken Dippers can be ordered as a meal combo, where a "Regular" size one includes a regular drink and one regular side and retails for $9.99, and a "Large," upgrades to large drink and two regular sides for $2 more. 

Popeyes is also offering a special Summer Bundle, which includes an order of the Chicken Dippers, one Chicken Wrap, a premium lemonade, and a sauce dip cup. There's also a Build Your Own Bundle, which is only available through the Popeyes app and website, where customers can choose three menu proteins and two sides for only $20. Prices and availability may vary by location. These items, like any on Popeyes' extensive menu, are available to order anytime the restaurant is open for business, while supplies last. 

The Chicken Dippers are made with thin strips of all-white breast meat and are hand-battered in Popeyes signature Louisiana garlic and spice blend, and then fried. A single order nets an eater 430 calories, 24 grams of fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 110 milligrams of cholesterol, 1,620 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, zero grams of sugar, and 33 grams of protein.

The Signature Sauce finds its signature in the following list of headline ingredients: soybean oil, water, red bell pepper, distilled vinegar. sugar, egg yolks, salt, aged red cayenne pepper, and contains less than 2% of onion juice, garlic, spices, molasses, dehydrated garlic, celery seed, dehydrated onion, natural flavors, paprika, and tamarind concentrate. It contains the allergen egg. It is suggested to keep this sauce refrigerated. A single serving of The Signature Sauce nets 110 calories, 2 grams of saturated fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 330 milligrams of sodium, 3 grams of carbohydrates, and 2 grams of sugar.

The Chicken Dippers were housed in a cool aqua blue, open-top box. I had three orders of the Dippers at my disposal, and the total amount of pieces inside each varied from 8-10. All were like snowflakes — no two Dippers were alike, some looking like long Greek isles that measured at 3.5 inches, while others had twists and curls, as if it was a larger take on Popeyes own Shrimp Popcorn. Outwardly, these small strips demonstrated the usual excellent standard one unaccustomed to with Popeyes other fried products — incredibly golden and crusty, slightly greasy to the touch, and a nice aroma of fried chicken.

The crust was the standard one that comes with regular chicken, and not the Cajun-fied spicy ones the chain also sells. Not sure there's any actual skin in this game, as the crust seemed pretty well meshed with the chicken meat inside. Space was tight on the interior, but there was a decent amount of tender white chicken wedged in between. The star here is by far the exterior encrusted coating, which gives the chicken a textured crunch, but also for something for the sauce to glom onto. Even when the Dippers succumbed to room temperature, it still retained a solid crunch, and the chicken delivered tender vittle-ness.

By appearances, Popeyes new Signature Sauce certainly stands out in a lineup of chicken nugget dipping sauces. First and foremost, it's contained within a circular cup holder, as opposed to the rectangular tub that holds all the other of the company's sauces. Also, it's non-descriptive name for spelled out in a curvy cursive font, as opposed to the straightforward typeface used for its older brothers.

The label is easily pulled off from the bottom, where the larger tab resides. Inside lay a sauce color that seemed close in relation to Popeyes Bayou Buffalo sauce, although the orange here was a little less fiery, and more desert-like hues. Like other sauces in Popeyes canon, it was bespeckled with plenty of colorful seasonings, with black and red flakes decorating the scenery. The sauce was more fluid than some of the thicker Popeyes ones, but not as runny as its Sweet Heat sauce. A quick whiff passed off notes of pepper, vinegar, and comforting aioli.

Before using it as an actual dip, I wanted to taste it as is, with the help of my trusty spoon. I was first taken by the sauce's yummy creaminess. Next, the confluence of flavors packed within the sauce started to unpack and unravel its magic in my mouth. The vinegar and garlic made immediate zings to my palate, and when the texture of seasoning landed on my tongue, a very lean pinch of spice of the red cayenne pepper added a nice finishing pep. Spoonful after spoonful delivered similar tasty results, and for the time being, I enjoyed it free of anything dipped in it.

I'm already dismayed to learn that the Chicken Dippers are here on Earth for only a limited time only, as these dunkable beauties are just as worthy a place on the Popeyes menu as its tenders, wings, and Popcorn Shrimp. While lean on chicken, the crust is a very friendly reminder of what makes Popeyes' chicken taste so good.

While great to eat on its own, the Chicken Dippers obviously excel with a little help from its saucy friends. The Dippers may not have even come into this world had it not been for the birth of the Signature Sauce. How better to highlight this new sauce's deliciously complex nature than to have something simple to dip into it and deliver a lovely combination to an eater's mouth. While I'm not sure this sauce is a "signature" to best exemplify the wonders of Popeyes, I believe it was hard to give this layered sauce a more familiar name that its user could identify with and so Signature Sauce sounded good to them as it sounds ambiguous to me.

I happened to have an extra cup of McDonald's newish Creamy Chili McCrispy Strip Sauce at hand and decided to compare the two. They eerily shared so much in common, from color, texture, aroma, and all around excellent taste. I'm not ready to declare a winner between the two, but am happy both exist. Forget about chicken sandwich and wrap wars, I'm here for the sauce wars, which shows no signs of slowing down, and the winner remains the consumer. What's next, fellas?

On the first day of their release, the fine folks over at Popeyes sent over the new Chicken Dippers and Signature Sauce to taste test. These items were delivered to my door and tasted shortly after arrival. The items were eaten by myself and a second person, but the final results of the taste test are based on my personal tastes and opinions, as well as past experiences with Popeyes chicken and sauces, and present experience with the new Dippers and Signature Sauce.

The ultimate criteria considered for my final conclusion included: flavor, appearance, texture, aroma, value, uniqueness, dippability, sauciness, and likelihood I would order these items again. The short answer is ... get your dip on! Although I'd love to see a future edition of Chicken Dippers, but with the seasonings of Popeyes Spicy Fried Chicken in tow.