We Tried and Ranked Every Wendy’s Chicken Nugget Dipping Sauce
We can all agree that fast food chicken nuggets are delicious, but it's also important to acknowledge that your dipping sauce can completely make or break the experience.
Now, we've tried lots of sauces in our day, and until you've actually tasted them all, it can be tough to know which ones are truly delicious and which ones just don't hold up. That's why we visited a local Wendy's, ordered a ton of nuggets and one of each dipping sauce for the ultimate taste test. Click reading for our definitive ranking of every chicken nugget dipping sauce from Wendy's.
6. Buttermilk Ranch
Done correctly, ranch can be an exquisite dipping sauce for a crispy chicken nugget–but done poorly, it's barely edible. Unfortunately, we'll have to group Wendy's Buttermilk Ranch sauce in with the latter. Though it hits with a powerful combination of garlic and herbs up front, something just isn't right about them. Those flavors quickly fade to something that's dull and milky, and we found the watery sauce pretty offputting in combination with the saltiness of the nugget. After a couple of bites, we didn't dare go in for more of it.
(via Wendy's)
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5. Sweet & Sour
Wendy's Sweet & Sour sauce was bizarrely translucent and light orange in color, making it look like an orange jelly rather than a dipping sauce at first glance. We found it thicker than the others, and the flavor was more sweet than sour. It tasted of pineapple and little else, making us wish there was something else mixed in to add more complexity and tang. It wasn't offensive, but it was far from our favorite.
(via Wendy's)
4. BBQ Sauce
It pains us to have to rank Wendy's BBQ Sauce so low on this list, but since they changed the formula in the past years, it just hasn't been the same. It used to be boldly flavored, extra-smokey and just a little sweet, adding nice savory notes in each bite, but now, it tastes like pure sugar. Once upon our time, Wendy's BBQ Sauce was the king of fast food BBQ dipping sauces, but these days, the mighty have fallen.
(via Wendy's)
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3. Honey Mustard
Wendy's Honey Mustard doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's solid. It hits the balance well between the sweet taste of honey and the pungent flavor of mustard, creating a creamy and refreshing dip that's the perfect complement to the salt in the nuggets.
(via Wendy's)
2. Hot Honey Sauce
Wendy's Hot Honey Sauce is a newer addition, and it's not quite like anything else we've had from a fast food restaurant. It definitely has a kick, so avoid it if you can't stand spicy food, but if you love dialing up the heat, it's an awesome combination of habanero spice and sweet honey. Usually, we don't like our sauces too sweet, but this one just works.
(via Wendy's)
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1. Ghost Pepper Ranch
Given how much we don't care for the Buttermilk Ranch, we didn't have high expectations for this Ghost Pepper Ranch, but it fixes all of the problems the regular ranch has, and then some. It's thicker, creamier and packs a medium amount of heat thanks to the spicy addition of ghost pepper. It's a welcome addition to the lineup, and happens to be our new favorite.
(via Wendy's)
Can't get enough of chicken? Click HERE to read our ranking of every wing flavor at Wingstop.