How To Reheat A Fast Food Chicken Sandwich So It Tastes Just As Good The Next Day

You might remember the Great Fast Food Chicken Sandwich War of 2019, a glorious time for consumers of the poultry delight, when the likes of Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, KFC, and even Wendy's battled it out for crispy sammy supremacy. Obviously, the real winners of this contest were the hungry patrons of these fast food establishments, who were inundated with new and more creative iterations of breaded patties on buns for about two years following the start of the event. And even though the competition has waned (though Food Republic has its own ranking of spicy chicken sandwiches), the sandwiches have stuck around. If you grabbed one recently but didn't get to eat it until the next day, you might have just consumed it cold. But there is a way to reheat it so that it's like brand new, and it involves your air fryer.

However, you don't want to just pop it in the air fryer whole, patty-on-bun. Instead, what works best is to separate the chicken from the rest of the sandwich and let the air fryer revive it on its own (it only takes about five minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit). Further, if there are any toppings on the bun, scrape those off and set them aside, and when there is about a minute left on the timer, drop the bun in with the chicken for a quick toast. Then, reassemble everything, and chow down.

There are a few extra steps you can take if you want your air fryer to reheat the chicken patty to an even better state (Chick-fil-A's chicken recipe took years to perfect, so you don't want to waste a great piece of poultry on subpar reheating). If you're not in a hurry — and you have the wherewithal to think well ahead — remove the sandwich from your fridge about half an hour before you plan on reviving it so it can come up to room temperature. Just like when you're grilling steak, the patty will cook more evenly when it starts at room temperature (but don't take it out and then forget about it; you have two hours before it becomes a safety risk).

Another extra measure that will give your chicken patty a boost is to wrap it loosely in aluminum foil before popping it in the air fryer. This helps lock in moisture, especially if you leave it in for a minute or two too long. If you find that the foil inhibits surface crispness, you can start the patty wrapped up and then remove the outer layer with a minute or two left on the timer — just make sure the chicken weighs it down so you avoid the dangerous mistake of loose foil flying into the heating element and causing a fire hazard.

Finally, you absolutely should not put any green toppings, like lettuce or pickles, through the air fryer, but if you've scraped them off and they look kinda sad sitting there, you might just toss them out and start fresh. If you have them, consider adding new lettuce and pickles to your reheated chicken sandwich for the crispest, tastiest bite.