The Texas Roadhouse Recipe Change That Customers Started A Petition Over

When a restaurant chain discontinues a particular dish, customers can get pretty surly. In the case of Texas Roadhouse, the restaurant chain changed the recipe for one of its more popular items back in 2017, which likewise got some guests pretty upset. That would be the formula for its "Chicken Critters," which is their name for battered chicken tenders.

In 2018, one particular customer got so ornery about it they started a Change.org petition to have Texas Roadhouse reverse its decision. The petition said, "A few months ago Texas Roadhouse decided to give the middle finger to its loyal customers and change the recipe to their chicken critters. They replaced the crunchy and tasteful chicken with new, bland, grease soaked crud. Lets get the votes and show them that people aren't happy with this decision."

That ultimately didn't work out, unfortunately, as people are still in search of the original recipe today to make at home. One thread on Reddit from earlier this year includes a plea for someone to provide the original recipe. The user posting the thread said, "I am ISO [in search of] the recipe for the chicken critters from Texas Roadhouse. Specifically before they changed the chicken in 2017. It was by far the best chicken tender I have ever had and have not been able to recreate it." None of the responders could provide that information, though, so it looks like the old version of the Chicken Critters may be lost to the sands of time.

Chili's had a situation like this in the past (with a similar product, even), though this happened a little more recently. In 2022 the chain dropped its original recipe for its version of chicken tenders, called Chicken Crispers. That version was something like a tempura-coated chicken with a puffy crust, which was distinctly different than chicken tenders at other chain restaurants at the time. It kept the alternate crispy version of the Crispers, which are still around today. Those have a decidedly more craggly crust, like Popeye's or KFC-style extra crispy fried chicken, and the chain had justified removing the original ones in an effort to streamline its old menu.

In terms of online chatter, the noise around the original Texas Roadhouse recipe for the Chicken Critters has died down quite a bit, as you don't often hear of people complaining about it now. But the memory of the old Chicken Critters still lives on in fans' hearts and stomachs. For now, they'll have to look at the past through grease-tinted glasses and reminisce about the fingers that once were.