Plant-based meat has officially infiltrated pretty much every fast food restaurant in the game. Burger King has the Impossible Whopper, White Castle has Impossible Sliders, Dunkin’ has the Beyond Sausage Sandwich, and, now, even KFC (a fast food chain that’s literally all about chicken) has hopped on the bandwagon.
Recently, KFC started testing out plant-based chicken nuggets and wings—which they call Beyond Fried Chicken (a.k.a. fried chicken made with Beyond meat)—in certain parts of the U.S.
It was a BFD. One Atlanta restaurant sold out of Beyond Fried Chicken in less than five hours. Now, KFC has expanded their Beyond Fried Chicken test to more than 70 spots in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee, throughout February, according to a press release.
Beyond Fried Chicken primarily gets its protein from soy, wheat, and pea proteins. Although, Beyond Fried Chicken is 100 percent plant-based, but it’s prepped in the same fryers as KFC’s actual chicken.
So, it could get contaminated with residue or fat from that real chicken, and therefore isn’t technically even vegetarian, let alone vegan. They bread this in a mixture similar to their popcorn nugget breading, meaning that the plant-based option is not gluten-free.
Plant-based faux meats are also often made with heavily processed ingredients and contain excessive amounts of sodium—neither of which are great for you.
Reference- Beyond Fried Chicken Press Release, KFC website