Review: Popeyes New Wings Dry Rub Adds Great Flavor Without The Mess Of Sauce

On the heels of Popeye's incredible pickle menu, the chain is unleashing the heat on its line of fried wings. In November 2023, Popeyes added chicken wings to its permanent menu, and August 18 brings the release of a whole line of dry rubs for the brand's wings. When you place your order, you'll have the choice to add a sauce or rub to boneless or bone-in chicken wings. The dry rubs come in four flavors: Garlic Parm, Lemon Pepper, Ghost Pepper, and Buffalo. On the side, you can also get some dipping sauces to further enhance those flavors.

To determine if this chicken is tasty enough to become some of your new favorite wings, I ventured out the day Popeyes released the new dry rubs to order and taste them firsthand. I ordered four six-piece wings, each order coated in a different dry rub flavor. When I returned home, my husband and I got to tasting. On a personal note, the timing of this release couldn't have been better as my household typically celebrates a Chicago Bears win with victory chicken, as popularized by Chicago's sports radio 670 The Score. Coming off a preseason 38-0 blowout over the Buffalo Bills, we were ready for that sweet, sweet taste of victory.

I always like to try and find out how long certain items will be on the menu, and in the case of the rubs, it seemed a little up in the air. The team member I spoke to indicated that they might be a limited-time offering, but he also seemed to be under the understanding that if they do well, they could stick around. So, this means that if you are a big fan of these spicy rubs, you will definitely want to order them quickly and frequently to help keep them on the menu.

As far as what you can get the rubs on, these are pretty exclusively for the wings, so you'll not be able to get them on the nuggets or breaded chicken sandwiches. It doesn't cost anything extra to add these rubs instead of the sauces, so it will just come down to your preference.

I am a long-time fan of Garlic Parm flavors, and it's almost always my favorite offering in a range of flavors if it's there (like a Buffalo Wing Wings, for instance). To build spice, it was the first wing I sampled. Visually, I noticed very little dry rub, but the flavor is there, even if it's on the mild side. In general, I found these wings to be a little inconsistently flavored. It felt like the wings needed a few more tosses in the rub to get more thoroughly coated. Since the Garlic Parm had such a mild flavor, some pieces of chicken simply tasted like fried chicken, and I wouldn't have known that a special rub had been added. Even still, these were quite tasty.

One of the things that makes Popeyes taste so good is that delicious, crispy, fried texture, and the Garlic Parm Dry Rub brings a nice flavor to those crispy bits. Heat-wise, these were definitely the least spicy, but there was still some zip. Those wings lovers who want a little spice, but no real challenge, will enjoy this flavor.

I don't typically think of Lemon Pepper as a flavoring for wings because it definitely feels like more of a baked chicken seasoning. Though Garlic Parm is typically my favorite flavor, in this case, the Lemon Pepper Dry Rub may have just surpassed it. I liked the effect of the slightly sweet flavor of the dry rub along with the brightness of the lemon. Like the Garlic Parm, there wasn't a whole lot of spice here, and the pepper was definitely more of a secondary flavor compared to the lemon.

While the Garlic Parm had a very mild addition to the chicken, the Lemon Pepper Dry Rub was definitely more substantial. In fact, it reminded me of something of a Doritos bag situation: Some pieces were obviously more covered with rub than others. In the instances where you got a whole lot of that dry rub flavor, the chicken was especially good. I can imagine this dry rub tasting great on a fried chicken sandwich, and I'd love to see Popeyes extend the use of its dry rub to other parts of the menu. There are definitely people that would enjoy this flavor.

While Garlic Parm and Lemon Pepper were on the more mild range of spice, the Buffalo Dry Rub was a definite step up in spice level. It was noticeably hotter, but I still found it very palatable. I didn't notice as much Buffalo flavor as I typically have had on my Buffalo wings and found that the spice took over more of that flavor landscape than I expected. Looking at the wings, it seemed that they were going to be more heavily flavored, but I think this has more to do with the color of the rub, which obviously has a reddish-orange color to it, similar to Frank's Red Hot sauce. It really stood out on the chicken.

I thought the Buffalo Dry Rub did the most work out of any of the rubs to really create a tasty and crispy flavoring experience with the breading. Though I probably wouldn't order the Buffalo Dry Rub again, I can imagine people who enjoy a more spicy wing definitely liking it. To help compensate for the lack of total Buffalo flavor experience, consider ordering one of the Buffalo dipping sauces.

Predictably, the Ghost Pepper Dry Rub was by far the spiciest of the flavors I tried. In general, like many overly spiced items, I found that there wasn't a whole lot of flavor with this dry rub. Instead, I just tasted a lot of spice. Initially, it seemed rather mild, but I found that it quickly crept up on me and built rapidly, just like a Ghost Pepper. However, that spice did not linger for too long, and my mouth was ablaze for only a few seconds. A few gulps of water quickly took care of it.

For those spice lovers who really want a zesty experience, this is going to be the best option. For more flavor with the spice, get some of those sauces on the side to customize the flavor, just as you want it to be. Although this was my least favorite of the dry rub flavors, I can certainly see how others might enjoy it, but I tend to prefer spicy food that has great flavor and not just fire. Spiciness for the sake of spiciness doesn't typically score many points with me.

I think these dry rub flavors are a great addition to the Popeyes menu. Popeyes already offers very tasty chicken, and the wings are fried to absolute perfection. The crispiness is nearly unmatched across other chicken fast food chains, and it's easy to understand why the chain is beloved. However, unless you are already a Popeyes wings customer, I can't imagine that any of these dry rub flavors are going to pull you into the restaurant if you're not already loyal to it. Those customers who enjoy Popeyes wings on the regular will certainly love the various ways to augment their experience, but it probably won't win any new customers.

While at my Popeyes location, I noticed that the drive-through was especially busy. This isn't necessarily uncommon for a fast food restaurant, but I think the addition of these dry rubs will definitely be great for people who are eating in their car and on the road. It's no secret that chicken wings can be a little difficult to eat. Sauce only makes that even more challenging and messy, but with dry rubs, wings lovers can get all of that flavor without a side order of sticky steering wheel. Although I typically enjoy a lot of sauce with my chicken, I didn't even feel like these wings needed that extra flavor, for the most part. For drive-through and in-car dining customers especially, these dry rub flavors may be the answer to some prayers.