Hot take: The chicken sandwich wars are far from over. Sure, it may look different in 2025 than it did at its 2019 inception (as in chicken wraps are the new contested category), but peoples’ feelings about battered poultry are bigger than ever. Earlier this year, I ranked 12 classic fast food chicken sandwiches from major chains across the country, and as a drive-thru regular, the results surprised even me.

That said, I’ve also been a *spicy* chicken lover all my life, so I knew I had to make the rounds again—this time, for hot handhelds only. I visited eight different chains in and around Philadelphia to bring you my honest ranking of the best fast food spicy chicken sandwiches. You’ll find thorough reviews, original photos and my top (and bottom) picks below.

^{(Note: Prices and availability may vary based on location or region. The prices below are rounded to the nearest dollar. Please also note that there were limitations in what I was able to taste, since some fast food chicken chains don’t have locations in the Northeast, and some popular chicken chains, like Raising Cane’s, don’t carry spicy chicken sandwiches, specifically.)}

The Best Fast Food Fish Sandwiches, Taste Tested & Ranked

How I Ranked the Spicy Chicken Sandwiches

The McDonald’s, Jollibee and KFC sandwiches were purchased in person. The rest of the list I ordered for delivery via Uber Eats, thanks to vouchers from our generous friends at Yelp, who partially funded this taste test. (Yelp also has its own ranking of the best chicken sandwich chains, partially based on user reviews.) The sandwiches were photographed and tasted immediately.

For fairness, I only tried crispy, spicy chicken sandwiches (as opposed to grilled) that were permanent menu items. I also avoided fast-casual chains that are a notch above traditional fast food, such as Dave’s Hot Chicken. Finally, I evaluated and ranked each sandwich based on taste, texture, presentation/appearance and cost, factoring in the quality and size to determine if it was fairly priced.

Each item received a star rating out of five as well. Here’s a breakdown of what each rating means:

• 1 star: bad, no redeeming qualities
• 2 stars: fine, but nothing noteworthy
• 3 stars: decent, but could be improved
• 4 stars: good, minimal improvements could be made
• 5 stars: excellent, next to no improvements could be made