The Best and Worst Fast Food Dishes of 2024

Fast food in 2024 has been pretty disappointing. Quite a way to start an article on the best fast food of 2024, right? But if you’re a big fast food eater, you know we’re not telling you anything you don’t already know. The fast food recession year began early this year, when article after article proclaimed that fast food was way too expensive and people were turning away from drive-thrus in favor of table-service restaurants.

And truth be told, we did it too! One of our most popular posts of the year is this ranking of the 35 best menu items at Cheesecake Factory. But chicken sandwiches? People don’t care this year! And big brands know it too, which is why they’ve spent most of the year trying to find creative ways to bring people back to the drive-thru, like bringing back old classics or offering new meals added value.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. That’s why, for the third year in a row, we’re launching our annual Golden Bag Awards, celebrating the best in fast food. Because it’s been such a strange and troubled year for fast food, we’re going to have a lot of surprises in store for you and hopefully give you a few good reasons to visit the fast food restaurants that are still in the process of making it. kill right now.

Best New Burger: Shake Shack – Smoky Classic BBQ Burger

Why he deserves this award:

This burger was pure decadent indulgence at its finest! On a sumptuous smashed patty, you have American cheese, bacon, pickles and a layer of fried onions on a bun slathered in barbecue sauce, resulting in a burger that is crunchy, smoky, beefy and packed with powerful punch umami.

This is the kind of burger that makes your mouth water while you eat it. It’s difficult for a single patty cheeseburger to achieve this, but the Smokey Classic BBQ Burger achieves it. We named it the best barbecue burger of all fast food back in June and now, six months later, we stand by it in full!

Unfortunately, like all of Shake Shack’s truly delicious burgers, this one was only available for a limited time. But at least you can order the Black Truffle Burger now, which hits complex, umami-rich notes.

Find your nearest Shake Shack here.

Best New Chicken Sandwich: Chick-fil-A — Maple Pepper Bacon Chicken Sandwich

Why he deserves this award:

Yeah, we know, it’s not fried, but hear us out for a second – the Maple Pepper Bacon Chicken Sandwich is by far the best chicken sandwich released this year, and it doesn’t. is not even close to it. There was a depth of flavor with this sandwich that no fried sando could compare to. It had an addictive charred flavor joined by herbaceous and lemony notes, a slight heat via the pepper jack cheese, and a sweet, smoky, fragrant peppery aftertaste from the maple bacon (I haven’t even mentioned the brioche bread or pickles, well, there’s that too!).

This bacon has been rendered in such a way that the smoky and sweet flavors melt in your mouth while still providing a bit of crunch. It’s a crime that Chick-fil-A decided this would be a summer seasonal item instead of giving it permanent menu status, but it got us excited for its eventual return.

Find your nearest Chick-fil-A here.

Best New Fried Chicken Order: KFC Original Recipe Tender Box

Why he deserves this award:

For years, we’ve been begging KFC to bring its original recipe (arguably the brand’s best contribution to fast food) to its chicken tenders, and the brand finally listened. As a result, we got the best chicken deals of any fast food place.

Yes, that’s right, we said “the best”. These things dethroned Raising Cane’s in every way. The chicken is complex, you can taste herbaceous notes of thyme, oregano and celery salt, a floral touch of black pepper, a savory touch of onion and garlic powder, all housing a tender and juicy. Add in some KFC secret recipe fries and a biscuit and you’ve got a meal that’s Raising Cane-esque in every way except the sauce.

We even tasted the dishes side by side and rated each item. KFC came out on top. All hail the King of Kentucky.

Find your nearest KFC here.

Best Celebrity Meal: Jack In The Box – Deadpool & Wolverine sauced & Loaded Mini Chimi Bang Bangs

Why he deserves this award:

Visually, this dish is a disaster. We are fully aware of how unappetizing this dish looks, and the visuals coupled with its ridiculous name are reason enough to never eat it, but that would be a mistake! This dish is kind of like an elevated version of the Jack in the Box taco, so if that dish is one of your guilty pleasures, you’ll love this one.

We’re not sure what this has to do with Deadpool & Wolverine, but a Loaded Mini Chimi Bang Bang certainly sounds like something Deadpool would eat, so we’re not going to think too deeply about it.

The dish features shredded chicken, corn, black beans and cheddar cheese stuffed into three mini flour tortillas which are then fried and topped with cheddar cheese sauce, taco sauce and a random sprinkling of lettuce. The result is a blend of salty cheese notes, earthy herbaceous tones and a tangy aftertaste.

Find your nearest Jack in the Box here.

The most viral fast food: the Crumbl cookie

Why he deserves this award:

Fast food hasn’t had its Grimace Shake moment in 2024, and as so many people have turned away from fast food, big brands have spent more time playing it safe and trying to keep people coming back rather than to try their luck with a strange menu item. Crumbl, on the other hand, has consistently made headlines and dominated internet discussions and while it’s not technically fast food, we’re going to go ahead and reward the brand for keeping funny things.

Find your nearest Crumbl here.

Biggest swing and miss: Jack in the Box – Ice Cube’s Munchie Meal

Why he deserves this award:

Last year, we named the Snoop Dogg Munchie meal the best celebrity meal of the year because it perfectly married Jack in the Box’s brand of stoner food with one of the most famous stoners of all time . The Ice Cube Munchie meal doesn’t have the same anchor, and as a result, it seems random and chaotic. Nothing about it says “Ice Cube”, and with its collection of disposable dishes (except the curly fries), this one left us incredibly disappointed.

The meal consisted of a Chick-N-Tater Melt, a heavily processed chicken and bacon sandwich that featured a one-dimensional salty flavor. In addition to the sandwich, you have curly fries, a taco and mini churros. There is no harmony in this dish, no real connection to Ice Cube. Seems random, according to a West Coast kid from suburban Los Angeles, Cube deserved better.

Find your nearest Jack in the Box here.

Best Brand Collaboration: Hot Ones x Panda Express – Blazing Bourbon Chicken

No, this dish wasn’t as spicy as expected given Hot Ones’ reputation and the fact that Panda Express dubbed it their “spiciest dish,” but that’s not because it didn’t have not provided heat as it was. not delicious.

Featuring white meat chicken breaded in a crispy cornstarch breading (the perfect sponge for soaking up sauce), this chicken dish offered a mild honey and maple flavor with subtle fruity notes. and a gentle warmth that builds between bites. In addition to the chicken, this dish came with wok-fried peppers and onions, which helped add a vegetal counterbalance to all the sweetness.

Find your nearest Panda Express here.

Worst New Dessert: Starbucks – Summer Berry Refresher

Why he deserves this award:

No fast food product has made me feel like it’s burning money like the Starbucks Summer-Berry Refresher, and yes, we’re fully considering Starbucks fast food at this point. They have a drive-thru, quality control is at an all-time low (the food is particularly terrible), and prices are higher than they should be – everything about Starbucks screams fast food.

The Summer-Berry Refresher included a blend of blueberry and blackberry syrups shaken with ice and cut with water. Yes, you read correctly, it is simply syrup flavored water. It’s soda without the fizz, and the result tasted like a muted, watery mess. To add insult to injury, Starbucks attempted to enter the boba market by adding boba-like pearls to this drink, but instead of chewy tapioca balls, Starbucks thought it would be a good idea to put plastic bubbles filled with edible raspberry syrup.

Just thinking about this drink makes me angry.

Find your nearest Starbucks here.

Most Surprising New Menu Item: Jack In The Box – Smashed Jack

Why he deserves this award:

If you had told us at the start of the year that Jack in the Box would release one of the best burgers of the year, we definitely wouldn’t have believed you. And sixteen days later, we would have been wrong.

Launched in early 2024, Smashed Jack, inspired by Jack in the Box’s smash burger, blew us away with its mix of savory, savory, smoky and tangy flavors. The beef patty is juicy, the grilled onions are perfectly caramelized and the sauce coats everything nicely. It’s not only one of the best burgers of the year, it’s the best burger Jack in the Box has ever released, and although it initially sold out, the Smashed Jack is now a permanent fixture on the menu by JiB.

If you haven’t had it yet, fix this shit ASAP.

Find your nearest Jack in the Box here.

Best Overall Brand: Taco Bell

While every other big brand has been hesitant to take risks this year, Taco Bell has quietly been doing a lot of work. Not only did they launch the delicious Cantina Chicken menu, a slightly upgraded version of the brand’s usual fare, but the brand kept prices low with its new Cravings Value menu, launched several new menu items including the Cheesey Street Chalupas, And they brought back coveted menu items from decades past, like the legendary Meximelt with its nostalgic Decades collection.

It seems like Taco Bell is the only fast food brand that hasn’t gotten the message that people are abandoning fast food. The brand has kept things fresh in 2024, a phrase we never thought we’d say about Taco Bell.

Find your nearest Taco Bell here.