12 KFC Items Customers Suggest You Avoid, According To Reviews

Every fast-food chain comes with its own universe of fans. Some even have a cult-like following, complete with secret menu items and hacks traded on sites like Reddit. One thing to know about fast food is that people are not shy to share their brutally honest reviews publicly, both the good and bad. Another is that people don't like it when you mess with original recipes they are attached to.

Reddit, Yelp, and Google, as well as countless social media pages, are filled with some harsh truths about fast-food restaurants across the country, including KFC. In fact, KFC is a repeat offender and is rated one of the worst fast-food chains worldwide. One of the top consumer review sites has more than 6,000 bad reviews, with the majority being only one out of five stars.

Though food opinions are certainly subjective, most of these reviewers come prepared with receipts and receive validation from others in the comments who share similar experiences. When the same menu items are constantly torn to shreds, you start to pay attention to a bigger pattern, because usually where there is smoke, there is fire. Colonel Sanders probably never saw this coming, but here are the items from KFC that fast-food fans suggest crossing off your list. The items on the list were collected by culling through actual customer reviews posted on a number of public sites and comment threads.

People are probably not flocking to KFC for the vegetable selection. Many of the meals do come with sides, though, and some are better than others, according to customer feedback. Over the years, the veggie options have dwindled significantly, leaving only two left standing. Most KFC locations just offer corn and coleslaw as vegetable sides, and neither gets rave reviews.

Even though corn isn't the most nutritionally dense vegetable, it's still ordered by customers in an attempt to create a well-balanced meal ... as much as you can balance fast food, of course. Scour the internet for KFC corn fodder and you will see the same criticisms on repeat, as strangers form camaraderie over terrible corn. No flavor, no spices, it's waterlogged, and boring overall. That's the legacy left by KFC's corn, which tastes like it was either frozen or served straight from a can. KFC's green beans received the same hate and were eventually discontinued by the chain. Coleslaw technically counts as a veggie side too, but the lore is so bad that it deserves its own section.

Chicken tenders should be their own food group, considering their tremendous rise in popularity. Everywhere you look, there are billboards from chicken chains showing off their respective tendies to lure people into their restaurants. Unfortunately, KFC does not deliver fresh and crispy tenders. What should be a solid staple at a chicken-forward restaurant has received a mass of customer complaints.

There is an arsenal of pictures floating around where customers showcase their pathetic-looking tenders next to small items like a lighter or a battery to show them at scale. Other customers claim KFC's tenders have less meat than wings and are dry, overcooked, and way too tough to eat. The chicken tenders do not land well with many customers, and some also complain that they are overpriced for what you get.

If you are going to earn respect and street cred as a chicken joint, tenders are a mandatory slam dunk and need to be flawless. KFC's tenders are the opposite, according to the disappointed tendie lovers commiserating online, with some calling them the worst they've ever eaten. Oof, that type of chatter does not bode well if your whole business is based on selling chicken. 

It seems like a given that a restaurant with chicken in its name should be slaying the chicken sandwich market. Right? Shockingly or maybe not, based on the unhinged amount of negative customer reviews, KFC is doing a disservice to its chicken sandwich. No restaurant ever wants to see someone use the words soggy bottoms and burnt buns when telling the tale of their sandwich fails. The world is filled with challenges, but getting a somewhat decent chicken sando at KFC shouldn't be one of them. Is that really too much to ask? 

Yet, the hits keep coming for this depressing chicken sandwich. Not even the Colonel's legendary 11 herbs and spices could offer redemption. Even worse, customers report getting one of those weird bites of chicken that could easily turn someone into a vegetarian. There is nothing redeemable about biting into your chicken sandwich and having it ruin your whole meal immediately, due to the presence of chewy tendons. Add raw chicken and cold food to the running list of complaints spanning different locations and even countries. It all points to a huge drop in the quality of KFC's chicken sandwich, among other disenchantments with various menu items.

This minimalist recipe seems hard to screw up, yet it keeps happening. People in comment threads everywhere are lamenting the departure of the old recipe, while suffering through the current KFC coleslaw. The shreds of cabbage fight for their life submerged in a soupy mayo that is overwhelmed with sugar. Customers also complain about it being prepackaged and dumped out of a plastic bag, instead of being made in-house like the good old days.

Someone should really contact the coleslaw police, because in addition to the egregious sweetness, customers call out other flavors that are way too pungent to get past. Some locations are slinging discolored coleslaw that tastes off putting. Amidst the slew of coleslaw hate, there are still customers who can't shake the obsession. It's a masterclass in being a glutton for punishment and going back for more, even after suffering food poisoning from the slaw. 

While some KFC customers gravitate toward the coleslaw, believing it's a healthier option compared to other sides on the menu, someone should probably hold their hand while they burst their bubble. Beyond the numerous issues, KFC's coleslaw is already doomed to fail in terms of nutrition, considering the copious amounts of mayo and sugar.

If you don't think it's possible to mess up a biscuit, KFC is here to prove you wrong. The once flaky, buttery accompaniment used to be put on a fast-food pedestal, but not anymore. The most common opinions in online reviews claim the biscuits are stale, burnt, way too hard, and not worthy of sopping up anything on the menu. Customers do not hold back when dishing on the biscuits and liken them to rocks or hockey pucks. Whatever the analogy, nobody steps up to a KFC wanting an overly dried-out biscuit.

You know what else nobody wants? An undercooked biscuit that's far too doughy for its own good. Where's the happy medium? Regardless of which side of the KFC biscuit spectrum you land on, it's not great. People banter about how devastated the Colonel would be at the obvious demise of his biscuits, and how he might intervene if he were still with us today. Hopefully, the biscuits are still fluffy and delicious in the afterlife at his KFC in the sky. Unfortunately for KFC and its customers earthside, that's just the way the biscuit crumbles.

Customers had high hopes for KFC's chicken pot pie. What was supposed to be a savory meal with a perfectly buttery and flaky crust did not pan out the way customers hoped. Instead of a tender, delicious filling of chicken and veggies, KFC serves up mushy mysterious looking insides with the occasional bone fragments included.

Knocking the chicken pot pie down even further is its often burnt, hard crust that's way too dry. Previous KFC employees like to enter the chat to add some context to the bevy of customer complaints and reviews. One even claimed that the chicken used in the pot pies (essentially scraps) is sometimes frozen for months before ending up in the dish. It also needs to be mentioned that some customers have been unable to locate a single piece of chicken in their chicken pot pie.

If you can deal with the bone fragments, just know that customers also report finding cartilage in their pot pie. Instead of a comforting, piping hot chicken pot pie made with fresh ingredients, it appears that KFC is serving disappointment topped with a poorly executed pastry.

Mashed potatoes were once the golden child of KFC sides. They could do no wrong and always hit exactly the way customers wanted. Somewhere along the line, they fell from grace and had the opposite of a glow-up. Instead of enjoying hot, pillowy, and flavorful potatoes, customers call them bland and claim they are served lukewarm at best. The ones who don't call them bland say they are akin to a pot of potatoes someone dropped an open saltshaker into.

What used to be a celebrated KFC superstar is now just a sad bag of instant mashed potatoes, leaving very much to the imagination. Customers say the flavor is overshadowed by flour and is void of potato. The sticky, paste-like potato concoction also happens to be a sodium bomb if you top your portion with gravy. So, if you prefer your mashed potatoes to be lacking any true potato characteristics and instead taste like a synthetic powder mix, then KFC is your place.

To drop the ball on mac and cheese is an insult to those seeking comfort food. KFC's mac and cheese has overstayed its welcome, according to many cutting reviews. When ordering the dish, the typical expectation is a smooth, creamy, extra cheesy finish, but that is not what the fast-food chicken chain brings to the table. Buckle up for another KFC frequent fail.

A flavorless mac and cheese is probably one of the worst insults you can throw out. Unfortunately, KFC's version of the popular comfort food is overcooked and no better than a store-bought boxed variety. How bad is it? It's been called disgusting and tastes so atrocious that it must be spoiled. 

Other customers have a lot to say about the overcooked noodles and watery cheese sauce. Since those are the two main ingredients in mac and cheese, you would think KFC would have it down by now. If you don't get subpar cheese and noodles, you might just get an aggressively crusty version instead. To make it even weirder, there are the wild reviews claiming it tastes like bananas.

There was a time when KFC deviated from its typical menu by adding some Italian flair with the Chizza. Don't get too excited — it was a limited time menu item and didn't make a lasting impression on the hearts or taste buds of frequent KFC patrons. This bizarre version of chicken parm fell flat. The Chizza did not deliver on flavor and had an evolving list of valid gripes from customers. 

The oddly sweet flavor profile was the most common grievance. Others thought it was too spicy and that the dish was all over the place. Is it chicken parm? Or a pizza? Make it make sense. A number of KFC fans pointed out that the Colonel's secret spice blend was not meant to be used in this way and didn't mesh with the intended flavors. That's not all. KFC skimped on toppings, and the Chizza regularly hit the counter smothered with a blanket of barely melted cheese. Some KFC fans were so offended by this foray into pizza-adjacent territory that they shut it down immediately.

Overall, the Chizza from KFC was a huge let-down, with most of the reviews depicting it as barely close to mediocre. It had its 15 minutes of fame and was eventually removed from the menu. Sometimes it's best to stick with what you know and lean into perfecting your chicken dynasty.

What could possibly go wrong with tossing a bunch of KFC menu items into a bowl and dousing it with gravy? According to the customers eating the bowls, a lot. This menu item offers a tough lesson. Just because it works outside the confines of the bowl does not mean you can throw all the components together and expect a culinary win. Especially not at almost 2,500 mg of sodium per serving. KFC's bowls are often described as overly salty and as one of the worst items on the KFC menu. 

Meanwhile, former KFC employees weigh in about the bowl and note that the chicken comes from the inventory that didn't sell. The bowls are often bashed because they consist of a combination of mushy ingredients, all with different textures, flavors, and temperatures. In theory it sounds pretty great. Ultimately, it's not the reality. Complaints about the bowls range from KFC being stingy with the ingredients to food being served cold. It's another miss for KFC, with the bowls frequently compared to something you would expect from a school cafeteria or gas station.

It's bite-sized, adorable, and hard to turn down. Popcorn chicken can be downright addictive thanks to that perfect and satisfying crunch from the breading. It seems like a simple enough menu item to execute; however, KFC still can't deliver on a tried-and-true chicken staple. For most of the KFC chicken items, there is chatter about the lack of meat, including in the popcorn chicken. Similar to the tenders, the pieces are inconsistent, with some being way too hard and others being so soft that it's off-putting.

The breading is supposed to be just the right amount of crispy, but customers constantly call out the popcorn chicken for having too much of it and not in a good way. That, coupled with a sparse amount of meat, is the opposite of what great popcorn chicken is meant to be. Customers share pictures and stories about the popcorn chicken having a hairy or spongy texture, with some pieces even sporting visible mold. It has been called some of the worst chicken to come out of KFC's kitchen. All signs point to KFC's popcorn chicken needing a complete makeover.

In typical KFC fashion, the mini chicken sandwiches, also called Chicken Littles, don't garner positivity from customers around the globe. Stale buns and flavorless chicken are just not it. Before taking a bite, customers already express disappointment, saying the chicken looks awful and is a huge let-down. There's a lot of reminiscing about nostalgic menu items that didn't make the cut, and the days when KFC used to be consistently good. 

Chicken Littles, the OG mini chicken sandwiches, are one of the throwbacks frequently brought up. Real KFC enthusiasts pine for the little chicken sandwiches that were originally made with cherished chicken patties. Over the years, they have been replaced with a single chicken strip on a bun. Just the one. Now pair the underwhelmingly meager portion with customers calling the chicken out for looking and tasting like chunks of fat, and what do you get? Regret. 

Perhaps employees are part of the problem, since KFC staff, past and present, tell tales of dipping into the Chicken Littles throughout the day and therefore leaving less for the customers. Some KFC patrons didn't even get the lonesome tender and instead received a nothing sandwich that lacked any signs of chicken whatsoever. When customers call a menu item an abomination, it's probably time to drive some change to help reclaim your chicken street cred.

In order to determine the specific KFC items that belong on this list, we collected customer reviews from a number of sites to justify their inclusion. Platforms like Yelp, Reddit, Trustpilot, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok were used, as well as mainstream news sources, such as Fast Company and local news sites. Additionally, some personal blogs provided applicable information to validate the selections. Finally, the Consumer Affairs and KFC websites were referenced as well. Taking information from this diverse mix of sources ensured a comprehensive view of consumer feedback for each of the KFC items included.