The KFC Double Down Sandwich has caused quite a stir in the food blogger community. Perhaps it’s the catchy name, or maybe it’s the fact that KFC has just thumbed it’s nose at all the this healthy, organic, farm to table, etc, etc type of eating that we’ve all been doing had shoved down our throats (pun intended) lately.

Make no mistake about it – There ain’t nothing healthy about the KFC Double Down. It consists of two fried chicken patties and stuffed inside said patties are bacon, cheese and a mayonnaise-based sauce. Sure, you can also get it in a grilled version instead of a fried version. But c’mon, if you are going to indulge, man up and do it right. According to the KFC Website, the Double Down only has 540 calories, 32 g of fat, and 1380 mgs of sodium. 540 calories my ass! Maybe the grilled version.

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I caved after reading about the Double Down on many a foodie site. You see, I have been boycotting KFC for about 5 years now. After seeing video from PETA about the horrendous treatment of their chickens, I stopped eating KFC. But, after seeing the movie Food, Inc. recently, I realized that unless you become a vegetarian, it really doesn’t matter who you get your food from as the raising and processing of all animals seems to all be controlled by about 2 or 3 companies.

So with weak justification for ending my boycott, I sheepishly went to the drive through at a KFC and ordered one KFC Double Down. That’s it. No sides. No drink. Just the sandwich thank you. I paid my $5 plus tax and was on my way. It was approximately a 5 mile drive back to my house and that familiar KFC scent was wafting all around my car. It was all I could do to stop myself from opening the container right then and taking a bite. I was actually salivating. Yeah – I like fancy restaurants, but I am not averse to slumming every now and then.

I did have enough restraint to take pictures first, as you can see. But after I took the last shot, I was more than ready for that fried chicken-bacon-mayonnaise orgy of fat deliciousness. I took my first bite and I tasted that distinct KFC original recipe taste coupled with a bunch of salt and not much else. I thought, well, that was just the first bite, once I get closer to the center the bacony, cheesy, goodness will be be apparent. Wrong again. The salty chicken permeated bite after bite. How disappointing! I felt like Ralphie from A Christmas Story when he finally (after much anticipation and many weeks of waiting) deciphers the secret Ovaltine Code – “Be Sure to Drink Your Ovaltine” That’s it? Son of a Bitch!

Comparison KFC Double Down Image (Left) vs. My Double Down (Right):

I will say that the chicken patties were large, but the filling definitely fell short. The bacon, cheese and mayonnaise were pathetic, like an afterthought to the sandwich. My Double Down didn’t look anything like the picture on KFC’s ads with the bacon and cheese oozing out the sides of the patty sandwich; now that’s food porn if ever I’ve seen it. If my sandwich resembled that one, I’m sure this review would be quite different. Sorry KFC, my Double Down was so NOT finger lickin’ good.

It reminded me of so many men in my past that got me all hot and excited but ultimately left me unsatisfied. Sure, they were attractive and sexy. And the thought of being with them made my heart beat faster. But when it came down to it, they just didn’t deliver. Same with KFC’s Double Down. The ingredients – fried chicken, bacon, cheese, mayonnaise all seem like a winning flavor combo- what’s not to love? But ultimately the bacon and cheese is dwarfed by the chicken and the sandwich just tastes like you are eating a piece of the colonel’s fried chicken.

So there you have it. If you’ve ever had KFC orginial recipe chicken, you know what the Double Down tastes like. Save your money and your arteries, and skip this gut buster. Boycott back on.

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