Arby’s latest time limited release – these all new Boneless Wings. Coming in two flavors, Buffalo and Hot Honey, the Wings come in 6 piece nad 9 piece sizes.
A quick inspection of the “Wings” confirms they’re really little more than a sauced up version of June’s Chicken Nuggets release; which themselves were just re-imagined Chicken Tenders from August 2020. That’s no negative mind you, I enjoyed both those menu additions from Arby’s. There’s identifiably real white meat chicken here and the thicker breading is rewardingly crunchy. Well, for the most part, the liberal saucing contributes to some notable mushiness as you might expect.
I should note that both the Buffalo and Hot Honey Wings come pre-sauced, which is to say, they’re plonked haphazardly in a lake inside a cardboard box. A word to the wise, things get messy fast. I’m not sure if my delivery driver or Arby’s caused the sauce-splosion in my bag – but this was a messy, messy order. A lot of people are going to get their cars a lot of sticky with this one. I’d have preferred to add the sauce myself in hindsight, but I wonder if given that option, Arby’s didn’t want people musing, “hey these are just nuggets with sauce packets, what gives.”
Onto the sauces themselves then. The Buffalo sauce itself has plenty of lip-smacking zip and zing, with just a little butteriness at the edges. Though ranch on wings might seem like heresy to some it’s an undeniably fun flavor combo – a pleasing balance of vinegary-sharp and creamy-cool. If that’s still causing your eyes to twitch, remember, these aren’t real wings anyway, heck, they’re just nuggets.
The Hot Honey sauce was something of a head scratcher and caused me to double check my order and receipt. The taste was one of regular old BBQ sauce, actually, BBQ-sauce lite. While some Q sauces have a little punch and kick there was zero here, not even black pepper warmth. The dominant flavor here is sweetness, which meant they were a pass for me. The Buffalo was the clear winner of the two.
So back to the original question, are they any good? Actually that’s the wrong question. The question of whether these are any good was answered back in August 2020 and June 2021 with the Tender and Nugget releases. No, the real question I found myself asking was simply, why?
Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic Salt Lake City, and a former freelance restaurant critic. I’ve worked extensively with local, regional and national food and drink organizations. I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have been writing about food and drink for more than fifteen years. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. I don’t mind admitting to a certain secret obsession with fast food as well – and that’s where Menu And Price comes in…