The 15 Best Fast Food Items of 2023

In March, KFC knocked Popcorn Chicken off the menu to make way for the bigger, heftier KFC Nuggets. These are hand-breaded at the restaurant rather than being shipped in premade, and perhaps because of this, they do taste much more flavorful than your average fast food bite-sized chicken product. The KFC Nuggets are so good, in fact, that they barely need any sauce—what other chain can boast that? They’re such an upgrade over the competitors that they deserve recognition as one of the best fast food items of the year. Read our full review here.

Dunkin’ tested two new “Wrapped and Ready To Go” breakfast wraps this summer, and though they didn’t stick around, they put the Wake-Up Wrap (the year-round offering) to shame. Both the Chicken & Roasted Pepper Wrap and the Chorizo & Egg Wrap had a great build, using a lavash rather than a tortilla to create a secure, sturdy little bundle for on-the-go consumption, but the Chorizo & Egg stood out as superior: its mildly spicy sauce and generous amount of protein made for a satisfying weekday breakfast, and its price tag stayed under $5, unlike so many competitors. Read our full review here.

In July, McDonald’s released a limited-time Cheesy Jalapeño Bacon Quarter Pounder, which customers could order as either a single or a double. Though it was pricey ($7-$10, depending on where you live), it was also an absolute stunner of a sandwich. Smoky bacon, zingy pickled jalapeños, and cheese in two forms (slices and sauce) came together to form a perfectly indulgent balance of fat and acid, and McDonald’s wisely chose not to clutter the burger with other bells and whistles, forgoing even basics like tomato and lettuce to allow the existing ingredients to shine. We hope to see this one return to the menu, and soon. Read our full review here.

Panda Express (in collaboration with Hot Ones) took its menu in an interesting direction this November with Blazing Bourbon Chicken, a Cajun-inspired dish that the chain made its own with some creative tweaks. The dish features breaded dark meat chicken and vegetables tossed in a blend of soy sauce, honey, garlic, hot sauce, and a dash of bourbon. It’s a multidimensional flavor experience with enough mouth-numbing Sichuan spice to satisfy heat-seekers, and a great example of what Panda can churn out when it’s feeling creative. Read our full review here.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A fried portobello cap stuffed with muenster and cheddar, topped with real white truffle sauce and shredded lettuce on a toasted potato bun. Oh, you’ve never heard of anything so delicious? Neither had we, until we tried the Shake Shack White Truffle ‘Shroom Burger, a limited-time offering in February 2023. While the ‘Shroom Burger is available regularly as a vegetarian offering, the white truffle sauce lent it a rich, just-this-side-of-bitter taste that played well against the earthy portobello. This is some seriously sophisticated fast food. Read our full review here.

Since McDonald’s is always withholding its beloved Snack Wraps from diehard fans, Burger King had the great idea to swoop in with its own version this August—after all, there’s no patent on a crispy chicken tender tucked into a tortilla with lettuce, tomato, and sauce. The BK Royal Crispy Wraps came in three varieties: Honey Mustard, Classic, and Spicy. The latter impressed us most, because it brought a Nashville hot chicken vibe to the fast food space in a way McDonald’s Snack Wraps never did. Read our full review here.

We were initially confused and concerned by the execution of these Ghost Pepper Fries, released in May: Rather than being dusted with a seasoning, the fries were coated in a spicy sauce administered from a squirt bottle. Wouldn’t that just result in a pile of soggy potato? Nope, Wendy’s thought of that, having reformulated the fry recipe in 2021 to retain crispness in transit. And the flavor was fire, too, starting slightly sweet and herbaceous before a slow creeping heat snuck in for maximum enjoyment. Read our full review here.

We had no idea we’d close out 2023 with two entries from Panda Express on the year-end Best Of list, but that’s just how hard Panda has been working to win our affections this year. The Chili Crisp Shrimp, introduced in September, uses one of our favorite condiments to full effect, tossing it with fried shrimp, onions, and bell peppers to create a not-too-spicy but surprisingly balanced entree. Combining an oil-based condiment with fried shrimp could easily create a greasy mess, but Panda adds just the right amount of chili crisp to avoid catastrophe. Read our full review here.

It started off with a TikTok hack... how did it end up like this? The delicious Chipotle Fajita Quesadilla began organically with social media users in 2022 when they figured out how tasty it was to add fajita veggies to a steak quesadilla. After lots of headaches, Chipotle figured out how to make this customization a seamless part of its assembly line and added the hack to the menu for good. We’re lucky they did, because the veggies downright transform the otherwise lackluster steak, amounting to a much more satisfying meal overall. Read our full review here.

Released in the first few weeks of 2023, the Starbucks Pistachio Cream Cold Brew tasted unequivocally like dessert for breakfast—and it rocked. The balance of salty and sweet in the pistachio foam was doubly rewarding once it started dissolving into the coffee, infusing every sip with richness. Starbucks should keep this on the permanent menu. Read our full review here.

In June, Taco Bell brought back its throwback Volcano Menu for the first time since 2016, including the Volcano Burrito, Volcano Taco, and spicy nacho cheese Lava Sauce, available as an add-on to any menu item for $1. The latter, it turns out, was one of the best decisions Taco Bell has ever made. It’s not a challengingly spicy condiment, but it did have a pleasant kick that complemented virtually everything it touched—meaning you can turn a $1 burrito into a $2 flavor experience. Read our full review here.

In February, Smashburger’s newest creation, the S’mac & Cheese Burger, sounded primarily like a gimmick: a burger topped with a thick mound of gooey macaroni. But the way the pasta was prepared set it apart, elevating it above a mere stunt. Prior to being placed on the burger, he mac was smashed down on the griddle, caramelizing the bottom with extra sweet and savory flavors and adhering it into one tidy, burger-patty-sized mass. It’s a great example of how one decision along the assembly line can make or break a fast food item. Read our full review here.

Wendy’s has made its inimitable Frosty more or less the same since 1969, so you’d think that adding new flavors to the lineup, especially trendy seasonal ones, would be unnecessary, to say the least. But the Pumpkin Spice Frosty, released in September, was a remarkably balanced frozen treat, with its creamy vanilla base allowing all the pie spices to stand out prominently in each spoonful. We have to say it: In terms of capturing fall flavor, this was better than the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. Read our full review here.

It was a big news story in April 2023: McDonald’s took its burgers back to the drawing board and made tons of changes to the process to ensure a better product. We tasted the “new” burgers to determine it was all just a PR campaign—and to our delight, we found that the changes really did make a big difference, particularly in the case of the “new” Double Cheeseburger. McDonald’s has made the cheese on its burgers warmer and meltier by adding it to the patty earlier in the process, and the buns are now toasted longer, both of which add up to huge gains with the Double. We love to see a fast food chain that doesn’t rest on its laurels. Read our full review here.

The Taco Bell Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco, released in August, made a bold attempt at appealing to fans of birria, a Mexican meat stew rich in herbs and spices. Taco Bell’s flavors have never been as nuanced as a slow-simmering pot of beef or goat, and yet this taco surprised us with its Taco-Bell-ified interpretation. Sure, this thing didn’t faithfully recreate the complex flavors of birria, but it offered the same form factor, with two different sauces for dipping (reminiscent of birria’s side of consomé) and a layer of caramelized cheese on the outside (a la quesabirria). It was a damn delicious experience, and some impressively crafted fast food innovation, regardless of how far from “authentic” it was. Read our full review here.