Burger King Is Finally Releasing Its New Chicken Sandwich, the Ch'King, Nationwide

Some wars have two clear-cut sides: The Revolutionary War was the Americans against the British. Simple. But the Chicken Sandwich Wars… It's been more like World War I. Popeyes fired the first shot (the proverbial assassination of Chick-fil-A's Franz Ferdinand, if you will) and then all hell broke loose. McDonald's has fought battles on multiple fronts. KFC changed its allegiances to reinvent its own chicken sandwich. Taco Bell unleashed a secret weapon: a chicken sandwich taco thing. I think the Ottoman Empire was involved somehow. Slowly, seemingly every fast food chain has joined this fight and neutrality is not an option.

Burger King, meanwhile, has been biding its time—working on its own hand-breaded chicken sandwich since 2019, testing it since last September, and waiting for the perfect moment to strike (which, apparently, was after dealing with a pickle shortage). But on June 3, the time comes: Burger King will officially be releasing their new chicken sandwich nationwide, named the Ch'King.

"We committed to not half a**ing our sandwich, and we meant it," BK writes in the announcement. "We've mastered the process, ensuring that every freshly hand-breaded chicken filet has a bite that's crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Served on a toasty, potato bun with crisp pickles and a savory signature sauce, the Ch'King was worth the wait."

As has been the norm during the Chicken Sandwich Wars, the Ch'King will come in two varieties: a regular version and a Spicy Ch'King, the latter of which coats the chicken in a spicy glaze. Additionally, either sandwich can be served Deluxe style which replaces the pickles with lettuce and a slice of tomato.

"Our guests said it best, our hand-breaded Ch'King sandwich is our greatest yet," Ellie Doty, chief marketing officer for Burger King North America, states in the announcement. "We said we would create a delicious hand-breaded chicken sandwich that was worth the wait, we just didn't anticipate that it would turn out quite this good."

In fact, Burger King believes that the Ch'King is even better than their signature Whopper, and to help drive that point home, BK will be tossing in a free Whopper with any Ch'King order placed on the BK app or website until June 20—an intriguing new gambit indeed.

So, as the name implies, will the Ch'King be the powerful ruler that finally brings these chicken conflicts to a close? Well, they say history repeats itself… and we all know how World War I ended, right? Right? Ok, maybe we need to stop eating chicken sandwiches and go back to history class.