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Mar 1, 2011

Review: KFC - Famous Mashed Potato Bowl

If I remember correctly, KFC's Famous Bowls have been "famous" since they first came out i.e they're famous because KFC says they are. They actually come in three varieties (Chicken & Biscuit, Rice, and Mashed Potatoes) with varying degrees of availability depending on your market. I live in California and my local KFCs do not serve seasoned rice or country gravy which left me with a Famous Mashed Potato Bowl.

The price on a Famous Bowl and a medium drink was $5.59 but a coupon netted me the whole shebang for an even four bucks.

The Famous Mashed Potato Bowl is supposed to come with a bed of mashed potatoes layered with sweet corn and Popcorn Chicken and then topped with KFC's gravy and a 3-cheese blend. I say "supposed to" because, maybe due the inexperience of the food assembler, my bowl ended up coming with a thin layer of mash on the very bottom and consisted mostly of the biggest pieces of Popcorn Chicken I have ever received at KFC; some were actually quite only a little smaller than a Chicken McNugget if rounder.
The Popcorn Chicken was almost as big as a regular spoon; it's usually half that size if that.
The Famous Bowl is pretty much all the most popular tastes of KFC thrown together in a bowl.
I dug a small hole on the left side with nary a mashed potatoes sighting...
While I felt I was getting a lot of value with so much Popcorn Chicken (the bowl is a pretty good size itself), I didn't order Popcorn Chicken and was expecting a Famous Bowl. It honestly felt like I was just eating chicken topped with bits of corn, cheese, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

The chicken was retained a fair bit of crunch despite the gravy but was on the salty side and I felt I really could have used some potatoes to balance out the saltiness. I did enjoy the sweet kernels of corn but I didn't order a corn bowl either.
Until I tried the other side and finally found a little bit of mashed potatoes!
I'm just going to have to file this one as an incomplete because I don't think this is how a Famous Bowl is supposed to be. I mean, if something is called a "mashed potato bowl" shouldn't that be the most abundant or at least the second most abundant ingredient? I really had to dig to get to the pitiful amount of mashed potatoes at the bottom!

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Nutritional Info - KFC Famous Mashed Potato Bowl (525g)
Calories - 680 (from Fat - 280)
Fat - 31g (Saturated Fat - 8g)
Sodium - 2130mg
Carbs - 74g (Sugar - 3g)
Protein - 26g