Pizza Hut’s KFC Popcorn Chicken Pizza Thoughts and Impressions

Almost a year ago, after this whole pandemic thing had started, I had a rather bad experience with Pizza Hut. Amidst all the lockdowns, reduced hours, social distancing, and isolation, I opted to order Pizza Hut, feeling fairly confident in the contactless delivery procedures listed on their website.

Unfortunately for me, the delivery person didn’t seem to care much for any of this. Unlike every other delivery person before or since, they told me they couldn’t enter the building on orders from corporate, and even that notwithstanding, the delivery was not contactless as he handed the box to me through the door.

I complained, which seemingly fell on deaf ears, and swore that I would not order from them again for as long as this state of affairs persists.

So, what pulled me back?

I’ve had a dream since I was a kid. More of an idea, really. “Why not put fried chicken on pizza?”

In my years spinning through the cosmos atop this melty ball of blue, I’ve seen cheeseburger pizzas, barbecue pizzas, taco pizzas, butter chicken pizzas, and even poutine pizzas, but never fried chicken (specifically fried, I’ve enjoyed the other kind many a time). It was such a simple concept, so why had no one done it yet?

When I was in school, I nearly had he opportunity to do it myself. As a part of the curriculum, there was one period where each quarter or so, we’d rotate through different classes: Shop, art, stuff like that. I forget the actual name of it, but one was basically some sort of home economics course, and at the end of the quarter, we’d get to make our own pizzas. I had my eyes set on this prize, to finally put into practice for myself what I could not believe no pizza restaurant (around me, at least) had ever done before.

So naturally, I got sick or something and missed that day.

But now, after 30 years, the dream had been realized, and by the unlikeliest of suspects — the same guys I couldn’t believe hadn’t already done it 30 years ago.

Clearly, they wanted me back.

I knew I had to try this. After all this time, how could I not? As a result, I called, I asked about their delivery procedures and was assured they’d actually do it right this time, and they did!

Here’s what they tell you it looks like:

And here’s what I received. No special orders or alterations (just extra seasoning on my breadsticks and wings), just as it comes in a large:

Pretty similar, yeah?

The full scope of what you get is a pan pizza crust (medium or large, didn’t see Stuffed Crust options for it), mozzarella cheese, a gravy sauce base, corn, and KFC’s popcorn chicken.

The result?

I liked it.

I’m not going to lie, I never quite envisioned this as world-changing, or even a specialty kind of thing. I just figured fried chicken belonged on the list of toppings next to pepperoni, chicken, sausage, ground beef, bacon, ham, mushrooms, etc. Corn wasn’t a thought in my mind, and I figured tomato sauce would be the base, because that’s all I knew of pizza bases at the time. Hell, I didn’t even know that part was called a base, I thought it was just the sauce.

But what we have here is very specifically designed so that each ingredient complements the others somehow. The gravy was subtle, and I only got hints of it here and there; I couldn’t even accurately identify it as KFC’s own gravy, the stuff Pizza Hut used on their poutine pizza (which they need to bring back here), or something else. Suffice to say, it complements the taste at most, and didn’t come anywhere near overpowering the rest of the flavors.

Then there’s the corn. Now, the corn? That stuff is packing a bit more of a flavorful punch, much to my surprise. And while more common in other parts of the world, its inclusion here seems strategic. Despite averaging around three pieces of popcorn chicken per slice (eight slices on a large, if I’m not mistaken, so that would be roughly 24 pieces of popcorn chicken), their coverage leaves a lot of empty space across the surface of the pie. That’s where the corn comes in and basically helps fill in those gaps.

And then there’s your main event for the evening, the Kentucky Fried Chicken popcorn chicken itself. If you’ve had it before, you know what you’re getting here: bite-sized balls of fried chicken meat, coated in a crispy breading flavored with the 11 herbs and spices of Colonel Harland Sanders himself. Each is nestled firmly in place by the mozzarella, and not coming loose as you choose whether to savor it by biting into the piece of popcorn chicken, or just take the whole thing down in one bite, maybe some of the corn along with it.

And it’s good. The tastes complement each other well. It’s not like the first time someone added pepperoni to a pizza and changed the game, for sure, but as pizza toppings go, it’s perfectly fine, craveable, and delectable. It’s also a shame that it’s only available for a limited time as a part of this particular configuration (online, at least — maybe they’d let you add it via call or walk-in if you asked nicely?), as I would love to experiment by combining it with other sauces and toppings.

Pepperoni, Alfredo, and popcorn chicken? Alas. Or even something more traditional, with tomato sauce and extra cheese — effectively making it a popcorn chicken parmigiana pizza! Oh, what might have been, what could have been!

Nevertheless, I’m glad I finally got to see the dream realized in some fashion.

Oh, and you know how cold pizza is good? And cold fried chicken is good? Well, guess what? This pizza is really good cold. Possibly better than when it was warm!

Incidentally, it occurs to me that maybe the pizza I got wasn’t even achieving its full potential. Ken Domik of KBDProductionsTV on YouTube tried this out just the other day, and he was blown away by it:

I think his might have been a little more well-done than mine, and he seems to get more out of the gravy — perhaps his simply had more?

Either way, I recommend checking this out while it’s still around.

Oh, and I feel I should mention: As far as I know, this is only available in Canada. Americans, you might want to @ Pizza Hut on Twitter about this one. If that doesn’t work out, at least they’re doing the whole retro thing down there, so that’s pretty awesome.

Thanks for reading!

—

David Oxford is a freelance writer of many varied interests. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.