Review: Popeyes - Ghost Pepper Wings

Popeyes' Ghost Pepper Wings feature bone-in chicken wingettes and drumettes that are marinated for 12 hours in "an exotic blend of peppers" (including ghost peppers) and then battered, breaded, and deep-fried.

I paid $3.99 for six wings and a biscuit.

The wings are small. Like Cornish-game-hen small. McDonald's Mighty Wings (granted McDonald's Mighty Wings were ridiculously big, like they came off some storybook chicken of the top of the beanstalk variety) were about twice the size and KFC's Hot Wings are probably 50% bigger. You can get maybe two or three small bites off each wing piece but you can easily toss the whole piece in your mouth if it weren't for the whole danger of choking on the bone thing.

Beyond the size, the breading was flaky and satisfying crunchy, and what little meat there was, was nice and juicy.

Taste-wise, it's a bit lacking. There's not really any strong flavors to the seasoning and the heat is maybe a little stronger than Popeye's signature Spicy Chicken. They market the wings with "taste the mystery," but really the mystery is where did they lose the ghost pepper? At least they include sauce for dipping.

Overall, Popeyes Ghost Pepper Wings are just okay on account of the chicken and crunchy batter, but lack in the seasoning and size department. Usually, Popeyes' limited time offers offer a pretty good value but I definitely did not get my money's worth here. I'm usually pretty pleased with Popeyes' new items and so was all the more disappointed here.