KFC’s Smash’d Potato Bowls, the latest riff on the chain’s Famous Bowls, launched on the menu in Pittsburgh locations for a limited time.
The newest bowl pairs KFC’s Secret Recipe Fries and mashed potatoes with a warm cheese sauce, bacon crumbles and a three-cheese blend. The LTO sells for $3.49, but customers can add five fried chicken nuggets to the bowl for an extra $2.
KFC introduced first Famous Bowl back in 2006, combining mashed potatoes and gravy for the base, then layering on sweet corn, bite-size chunks of crispy chicken and the same three-cheese blend to make a convenient grab-and-go meal.
The bowls have since come back in several iterations, including the Spicy Famous Bowl—the same ingredients flavored with KFC’s Nashville Hot sauce.
In 2019, the Louisville, Ky.-based chain changed up the ingredients with the debut of Mac & Cheese Bowls as a limited-time offer. Instead of potatoes, this version tops mac and cheese with pieces of crispy chicken and the three-cheese blend. Heat seekers had the option of adding Nashville Hot sauce for extra zing.
KFC, long a bone-in chicken specialist, continues to add more portable options to the lineup. The KFC Chicken Sandwich rolled out nationally in 2021, joining the competitive “chicken sandwich wars” with an entry featuring a double-breaded, extra crispy chicken breast filet layered with thicker pickles and mayo on a toasted brioche bun.
And this past March, the chain launched Kentucky Fried Chicken Nuggets systemwide after a successful test run in 2022.
During the pandemic, buckets of bone-in chicken were an easy, inexpensive way to feed a housebound family, but now consumers are back to eating on the go. A bowl, sandwich or box of nuggets meets that demand.
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