6 Of The Spiciest Fast Food Menu Items And 6 That Aren't As Spicy As They Claim

Hugely popular in certain cuisines, such as Mexican and Thai, spicy dishes have gained popularity around the world. In recent years, our taste for chili-infused dishes has grown significantly — particularly when it comes to hot sauce. It now feels fairly common to find hot sauces from different culinary traditions on the same restaurant table or supermarket shelf.

Fast food chains have taken notice of this gradual shift in customer tastes, capitalizing on the increasing demand for bolder flavors and new culinary adventures. Whether it's a spicy chicken sandwich or extra hot sides, many modern fast food menus feature at least one dish that promises to dial up the heat. That said, not all fast food menu items labeled as spicy live up to the hype, underwhelming diners with surprisingly tame flavors.

Whether you slather everything in hot sauce or enjoy a dish with a mild kick, when it comes to "spicy," there should be no room for surprises. To help you avoid disappointment, we have compiled a roundup of six truly spicy fast food dishes and six that fall flat in the heat department.

Carl's Jr. is known for its charbroiled beef patties. Unlike many competitors that use a flat-top, the chain grills its beef over an open flame. One of Carl's Jr.'s fiery burger offerings is the appropriately-named El Diablo. Carl's Jr.'s El Diablo brings the heat with four elements — each with its own heat level. These include pepper jack cheese, jalapeño poppers, jalapeño coins, and the pièce de résistance, red-hot habanero ranch sauce. Habaneros normally clock in at between roughly 100,000 and 300,000 Scoville heat units (SHU), compared to, say, jalapeños, which are typically under 5,000 SHU.

Diners have said that Carl's Jr.'s El Diablo lives up to its name and spicy promise. This overwhelmingly positive feedback is probably the reason the chain made the once-limited-time menu item permanent in 2024. From a flavor perspective, it also helps that it pairs its spicy kick with the cheese found inside the jalapeño poppers. As one Yelp user put it, "It was spicy all around. If you like spicy food, I recommend getting this burger."

Aside from its classic McChicken sandwich, McDonald's also offers the McCrispy and Spicy McCrispy. The Southern-style handhelds come with a chicken fillet paired with crinkle-cut pickles and encased in toasted potato roll. The only difference between the two menu items is that the spicy version of the sandwich features a pepper sauce. McDonald's also offers the Deluxe McCrispy and the Spicy Deluxe McCrispy, which are versions of the McCrispy that feature additional shredded lettuce and Roma tomatoes.

As it turns out, a mere drizzle of pepper sauce doesn't necessarily make a sandwich spicy, as attested to by diners who have reviewed the Spicy McCrispy online. Reviewers have claimed that the Spicy McCrispy simply doesn't live up to its name, tasting more akin to a normal chicken sandwich. Some have put it down to McDoald's catering to American palates instead of pushing the boundaries in the flavor department. One critical customer even claimed that black pepper is hotter than the Spicy McCrispy. Another Reddit user agreed that the sandwich is spicy in name only, bluntly noting, "Spicy? No. Crispy? No. Chicken? Unlikely."

While many so-called "spicy" fast food menu items get a slight kick from the addition of hot sauce, the Spicy Chicken Nuggets at Wendy's incorporate a hot blend of peppers and spices into its actual chicken meat marinade and breading. The nuggets come with your pick of dipping sauces, such as buttermilk ranch, BBQ, sweet and sour, and honey mustard. Chili heads wishing to kick things up a notch can also slather the chicken nuggets in the chain's fiery ghost pepper ranch sauce.

While Wendy's doesn't specify what peppers and spices go into its Spicy Chicken Nuggets, the menu item delivers enough punch to keep things interesting for chili fans. Customers have noted that while real spice lovers are unlikely to struggle, the nuggets do provide a kick strong enough to require cooling down via a Wendy's Frosty. The Wendy's Spicy Chicken Nuggets have also been favorably compared to those found at McDonald's, with fast food fans praising the fact that they don't require extra sauce in order to make them spicy.

Also known as bhut jolokia, ghost peppers are some of the hottest chili peppers in the world. The ghost pepper packs around 1 million Scoville heat units, making it considerably hotter than a jalapeño. However, the fact that a fast food menu item has the words "ghost pepper" in its name doesn't necessarily make it hot, as demonstrated by Popeyes' Ghost Pepper Chicken Sandwich. The handheld consists of battered chicken breast, barrel-cured pickles, and ghost pepper sauce that has failed to impress spice enthusiasts.

While the Ghost Pepper Chicken Sandwich sounds spookily spicy and does deliver some tingle, it's nothing that would make a spice enthusiast sweat. As explained by one Reddit user. "They're mainstream spicy, meaning my 85 year old mom would find it to be very spicy. For a regular hot sauce user [...], it doesn't pack much of a punch. It's more like a mild afterburn." Some customers have even claimed that, beyond the inclusion of bacon and cheese, it's tough to tell the sandwich apart flavor-wise from the regular chicken sandwich.

Jalapeño Poppers Bites at Carl's Jr. are the exact same poppers that appear in its fiery El Diablo burger. As such, it's probably not surprising that they also have some serious bite. Listed alongside side dishes such as fried zucchini, hash rounds, and French toast dips, the jalapeño poppers are filled with cheddar cheese, breaded, and fried until crispy. The small bites come with a side of buttermilk ranch sauce for those who may need a little cooling from the lingering heat.

Several online reviewers have noted that Carl's Jr.'s jalapeño bites deliver quite a bit of heat. As one Yelp reviewer puts it, the jalapeño poppers are no joke, adding, "It is nice heat that lingers for a minute then subsides. Very yummy poppers. Highly recommended if you are looking for something spicy." Plenty of others agree, with some rating them as the best jalapeño poppers on the fast food scene.

Chick-fil-A offers two types of spicy poultry sandwiches — the Spicy Chicken Sandwich and the Spicy Deluxe Chicken Sandwich (sometimes also available in grilled form). Both handhelds come with a chicken breast infused with a blend of peppers, breaded, and fried in 100% refined peanut oil. What sets the sandwiches apart are the toppings. The Spicy Chicken Sandwich comes with dill pickle chips, while the Spicy Deluxe Sandwich includes dill pickle chips, lettuce, tomato slices, and pepper jack cheese. For those now in the know, pepper jack cheese is a semi-soft cheese with spicy peppers.

According to several online reviewers, it's the pepper jack cheese that distinguishes these two sandwiches, making the Spicy Deluxe Sandwich slightly spicier than the Spicy Chicken Sandwich. Some have noted that the spice level is far less noticeable when eating the Spicy Chicken Sandwich and its American cheese versus its pepper jack-laden counterpart. However, even the addition of pepper jack cheese doesn't make Chick-fil-A's Spicy Deluxe Sandwich all that spicy, with one Reddit user rating it a measly 1.5/10 on the spice scale.

Driven by consumer demand for healthier menu choices, many modern fast food chains have started offering greens. While primarily known for its chicken sandwiches, Chick-fil-A is no exception, offering a lineup of salads for customers seeking lighter, veggie-packed meals. In keeping with Chick-fil-A's poultry theme, all of its salads come with chicken. One of these offerings is the Spicy Southwest Salad, a dish that pairs grilled spicy chicken breast, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses, mixed greens, grape tomatoes, roasted corn, black beans, red bell peppers, and poblano chiles.

While the latter are only mildly spicy, the heat in the Spicy Southwest Salad comes from the chicken itself. It seems that diners are impressed with the menu item's satisfying kick, claiming that the heat level was significantly higher than they expected thanks to the abundance of chicken. Customers have also noted that it pairs particularly well with Chick-fil-A's avocado lime ranch dressing.

The Ched 'R' Peppers are listed alongside Sonic Drive-In's other side dishes and snacks, including chili cheese fries, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, and tater tots. Essentially jalapeño poppers, the Ched 'R' Peppers consist of breaded jalapeño shells loaded with melted cheddar cheese and are deep-fried until crispy. The side dish also comes with a cup of creamy ranch dressing, should diners need to mellow out the bite of the jalapeño peppers.

While the ranch may add flavor to the Ched 'R' Peppers, it's unlikely that most diners will need it to balance the heat of this side. Those who've tried the fast food treat have claimed that they're best left to those who like the taste of jalapeños but don't necessarily like spicy food. While the taste of the jalapeño is definitely there, the small morsels only offer a slight hint of spice. Fans have speculated that either Sonic buys milder jalapeños or the fat from the cheese filling is actually neutralizing their heat. Since jalapeño peppers span a relatively wide range of heat units on the Scoville scale, it's possible that the chain simply uses peppers on the lower end of that scale.

Mexican food can be spicy, often featuring bold ingredients like chili peppers and other flavorful seasonings, such as cumin. While Taco Bell generally serves mild to moderately spicy menu items to appeal to a wide range of diners, some items on its menu can really turn up the heat. One of these is the Spicy Potato Soft Taco with potatoes, cheese, lettuce, and chipotle sauce. Chili enthusiasts can also choose from a range of sinus-clearing add-ons, including jalapeño peppers, spicy ranch sauce, and creamy jalapeño sauce.

Since the heat in Taco Bell's Spicy Potato Soft Taco comes from the chipotle sauce, the menu item's spiciness level depends on how much of it is added during the preparation process. According to one Reddit reviewer, the fast food restaurant doesn't always get the balance right. "The Spicy Potato Taco is the best item when it's fresh, and the worst when the potatoes are hard and they put hardly any sauce," they explain. Nevertheless, other online reviewers have actually said that they have found the menu item overly spicy, with one spice-averse customer claiming that their trick for ordering the taco is to do so without the sauce.

Added to Subway's lineup of handhelds in 2024, the Spicy Nacho Chicken made its debut alongside Honey Mustard BBQ Chicken and Cheesy Garlic Steak Sandwiches, as well as two new toppings, cheddar cheese sauce and the SubKrunch. Served on Italian bread, the sub features rotisserie-style chicken, cheddar cheese sauce, green peppers, red onions, and slices of jalapeños. The sub is topped with creamy sriracha sauce and SubKrunch — seasoned, deep-fried bits of corn that add a crunch to each bite of the menu item.

Subway's Spicy Nacho Chicken is one of those menu items that straddles the line between spicy and not-really-all-that-spicy. While seasoned chili aficionados may only register a pleasant tingle, those not used to heat could possibly find the sub overly spicy. Customers in the former category, however, claimed that it was comparable to a tuna salad sandwich with a Tex-Mex theme. Others reported that while the sandwich offers a bit of a tingle, it shies away from full-blown heat.

Just as the chain's name suggests, Wingstop serves a range of chicken wings, including classic bone-in wings, boneless wings, and crispy tenders. The chain's poultry is deep-fried and either tossed in sauce or coated in a dry rub. Currently, Wingstop offers 15 different wing flavors, ranging from mellow options like garlic parmesan to heat-packed varieties like Cajun and mango habanero. The fieriest sauce in the restaurant's lineup is the Atomic, which is the only topping that scores five on the chain's heat scale.

Wingstop's Atomic Wings live up to their explosive name, packing some serious heat. Customers have described the wings as a fiery experience. Coated in dark-red sauce, the wings deliver the sharpness of classic buffalo sauce, only intensified. This gives way to a strong taste of black pepper and a hint of smokiness. One Reddit reviewer with endless praise for the wings wrote, "Atomic has a good amount of heat. Enough that it's not a joke but still has flavor." Others have added that it nails the perfect level of spiciness without the undesirable side effects, which sounds like the perfect level.

If you think Popeyes' Spicy Chicken Sandwich is going to leave you gasping for a glass of milk, think again. While the sandwich is flavorful, it's definitely not fiery. Other than the sauce, the Spicy Chicken Sandwich at Popeyes differs very little from the chain's Classic Chicken Sandwich. Both come with a deep-fried chicken fillet and pickles, with the only difference between the two menu items being that the Classic Chicken Sandwich comes with regular mayo and the Spicy Chicken Sandwich features spicy mayo. Unfortunately for many, the restaurant's spicy mayo is more tangy than hot.

Online reviewers have called out the Spicy Chicken Sandwich at Popeyes for being overly mild in the heat department. For instance, one TikTok user gave the menu item one out of five on the spice scale, saying, "It is tasty but this is really not that spicy at all. Like, if you go in here hoping to get your mouth incinerated, you're gonna be extremely disappointed. There's like a tiny kick to this." They're not alone in thinking as much, with reviewers across several websites echoing this sentiment, claiming that while it has a slight kick, they had to add extra spicy sauce to their sandwich.