Review: Wendy's New Chicken Tenders Wrap And Cheesy Burger Are Worth The Bite

It has only been a short time, but Wendy's chicken Tendys already seem right at home on the menu, and in our mouths. When The Takeout tried them for the last time this past fall, we praised them as "a better product than any other Wendy's chicken offering, and it sets a new standard for the quick-serve tender." The chain already had a Grilled Chicken Wrap filled with cheese and ranch sauce for sale, and it seemed like the next logical step with the fried tenders to dress them up just the same. Welcome to this world Chicken Tenders Ranch Wrap.

Introducing one new item is fun, but two is even more fun, right? Along for the ride is the new Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger, which on paper seems like its standard bacon cheeseburger with an extra dose of cheese in the form of a sauce. Perhaps there's more than meets the eye with this one?

The Takeout was invited to take in these two new items before their nationwide debut. So, is this Tender Wrap a handy new item worth putting your hands all over, or should you keep your hands by your side? And what of the Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger — is it a gooey cheese-pleaser, or does it deserve a boo-y? The truth can now be told and revealed in this exclusive chew & review!

The Takeout was invited to a Manhattan location of Wendy's to try an advance taste test of these two new menu items: The Chicken Tenders Ranch Wrap, and The Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger. The items were prepared on site, introduced by Emily Kessler, Wendy's Manager of Culinary & Innovation, and then and consumed soon after they were handed off to me.

This review is a summation of my own personal tastes and opinions. It also takes into account my previous experiences with Wendy's, its burgers, chicken products and chicken tenders, wraps, and its burgers in general. The ultimate criteria considered for this chew and review were flavor, appearance, presentation, smell, texture, temperature, familiarity, originality, uniqueness, and overall, whether these are items worthy for me to try again — and for you to try at least once.

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

Wendy's two new items are The Chicken Tenders Ranch Wrap, and The Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger. The wrap features two of Wendy's Tenders surrounded by chopped lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, and ranch sauce. It's all wrapped up in a soft flour tortilla. Emily Kessler, Wendy's Manager of Culinary & Innovation, noted the company wants to meet the customers where they're at, and this provides the perfect "on the go option, more like center of the plate, entree opportunity."

The Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger centers around a ¼ pound of the usual never frozen beef patty. The burger is topped on the top and the bottom with American cheese, then three strips of Applewood-smoked bacon, and finished off with a cheddar sauce. It's all sandwiched between a premium toasted bun. Kessler said, "It's really for those customers that love the combination of beef, bacon, cheese, and that ooey-gooeyness that happens with the cheese sauce."

The Chicken Tenders Ranch Wrap and Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger will be available at participating nationwide locations of Wendy's, starting February 16, 2026. These are limited time only items, and they will be available while supplies last, for an unspecified amount of time.

These items will be available after Wendy's breakfast hours come to end, which varies depending on the location. They can be ordered in-store at the front counter, a kiosk, or drive-thru where available. Advanced ordering for dine-in, pick-up, or delivery is available through Wendy's app. Like most items at Wendy's, the items are completely customizable to add or remove ingredients. Additional costs may apply, and prices in general will also vary per location.

Wendy's Chicken Tenders are made of many ingredients, but the ones you've actually heard of include chicken, water, salt, chicken broth, chicken fat, garlic powder, onion powder, spices, wheat flour, rice flour, wheat, vegetable oil, soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, celery, turmeric, and paprika. Two pieces contain 280 calories, 15 grams of total fat, 2 ½ grams of saturated fat, 55 milligrams of cholesterol, almost 700 milligrams of sodium, and 15 grams of total carbohydrates, with ½ gram of dietary fiber, and 22 grams of protein.

The Tenders are wrapped in a tortilla that consists of wheat flour, water, soybean oil, cottonseed oil, salt, sugar, and dressed with a ranch sauce made-up of soybean oil, buttermilk, water, vinegar, egg yolk, sugar, salt, garlic, onion, and spices. 

The wrap contains the common food allergens wheat, egg, and milk, while the cheddar cheese sauce on the burger contains milk and soy. For up to date lists of ingredients and nutritional values, please consult Wendy's app or website.

Unwrapping the foil to get to the actual Chicken Tenders Ranch Wrap did not really produce an a-ha moment. What lay within looked like a standard wrap, a sea of beige-y white, which could pass for birch tree bark. As a whole, this wrap looked rather large — more burrito than simple wrap. Lifting it up confirmed its girthiness, and it could pass as a light arm workout before even taking a chomp.

I unwrapped the wrap to see what we were dealing with. There were indeed two super encrusted Wendy's Tendys in there, with their beautiful fried brown hues drawing the eyes directly to them. Below the tenders were a mishmash where the sloshy chopped lettuce was embedded in paste that included the shredded cheese and promised ranch dressing. I actually thought they would be even more ranched-up than they were.

Since most of the secondary elements were hanging out closer to the bottom of the wrap's pocket, the first bite was filled with nothing but the chicken tender. I had never had the pleasure of having one of Wendy's tenders before, and it was love at first bite. A fantastic crunch, punctuated with a salty and peppered seasoning, and delectable tender chicken within its shell. A bite that contained both the tender's robust skin and soft tortilla added up to a lovely one. The cheese, lettuce, and ranch sauce didn't really add too much to the affair — basically invisible non-window dressing. Nonetheless, this was a handy wrap that I enjoyed as a delivery mechanism for these winning tenders.

With a name like Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger, I expected this sandwich to literally be swimming in cheese, or perhaps a pseudo-French dip, with the au jus as a cup of nacho cheese. Well, it looked nothing like that. It actually looked like a tiny burger, showing a rare flash of a melty slice of cheese and an edge of bacon just below the surface of the nice and buttery, shiny set of buns. 

I pried the breading apart to see what was under the hood. The top bun had a small smattering of the cheese sauce — its dark yellow complexion was practically camouflaged by the slightly darker bun it rested on. The rest of the sandwich carried the bulk of the burger, which had a slice of cheese covering both sides. The top slice played host to three thin but ample-looking strips of bacon.

Normally, I'd spend time tasting the cheesy sauce first on its own, but for some reason I just felt compelled to taste all the flavors of this burger all together. The first bite didn't seem anything extraordinary, just the usual solid bunned burger you'd expect to come from the kitchen of any Wendy's. However, as I continued to munch on, the two types of cheese, in melty and gooey forms, united with the lightly crunchy bacon and formed an all around mighty taste combo. The Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger had an excellent salty savoriness to it, and I ended up savoring up every bite until it was all sadly gone.

There are so many great chicken tenders available in the fast food world right now. This is a good problem to have for any hungry consumer. Wendy's may be late to the game, but its entry into the fray goes finger to finger with any of them. After their introduction, it was only a matter of time for Wendy's to take those Tendys and wrap them up, just like everything single one of its rivals have done before them. The results are pretty much as expected — a handy way to eat great tenders, with the added textual bonus of a soft tortilla adding a new wrinkle to its taste. Its strongest selling point is its size. This is no snack wrap, it's a meal wrap, and one you should lend your hand to.

The wrap actually seemed to dwarf the size of the Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger, but that unassuming looking sandwich proved to be rather filling on its own. Overall, it's nothing revelatory, nor unique. What it is is just an excellent burger with a full flavor that made my mouth water while it was simultaneously filling it. I tried this as only a single burger patty, but I'd love to try it with everything doubled — the patties, the bacon, as well as as many extra dollops of the cheese sauce Wendy's will allow.

These are very solid everyday items that deserve a longer stay beyond their supposedly limited time on earth. And if they're not meant to be for the long haul, how about switching things up for an encore? How about using that burger's cheesy sauce to drape the tenders in a wrap, or something a bit nuttier, like serving up a cheesy bacon cheeseburger wrap. Just think of that wrap party! I'll be the first to RSVP.