The chicken sandwich wars just got a new contender — and it’s sitting down.
Chili’s entered the chicken sandwich showdown earlier this year with a full lineup of six Big Crispy variations, all available as part of its $10.99 3 For Me meal. That’s an entrée, fries, bottomless chips and salsa, and an unlimited fountain drink — for $10.99. Chili’s is leaning hard into the size comparison: an internal study found the average Big Crispy filet was over 80% bigger than the average McDonald’s McCrispy breaded filet.
“We’re setting our sights on fast food chicken sandwiches, offering our gigantic Big Crispy and Spicy Big Crispy chicken sandwiches in the same 3 For Me value meal,” said George Felix, Chili’s Chief Marketing Officer. “This is a shakeup to the chicken sandwich category that is long overdue.”
The Six Big Crispy Variations
Every Big Crispy sandwich features a thick, hand-battered chicken breast served with house-made ranch. The six variations span mild to spicy and classic to loaded:
Big Crispy — The original: hand-battered chicken breast with creamy mayo and crisp pickles on a toasted bun. Available on the 3 For Me menu at $10.99.
Spicy Big Crispy — The new addition: the same hand-battered filet with a spicy mayo balanced by pickles. Also on the 3 For Me menu. The spicy mayo is described as balanced rather than aggressive, giving it broader appeal than a heat-first approach.
Big Crispy Club — Loaded with bacon, Swiss cheese, lettuce, and tomato for a more premium build. Early reviewers noted the filet was genuinely big and crispy, though the Swiss cheese tended to turn plasticky rather than melting cleanly — a common challenge with Swiss on hot sandwiches.
Honey Chipotle Big Crispy — A sweet-heat glaze applied to the filet. Reviewers noted the glaze coated the chicken evenly without turning the breading soggy, with the honey sweetness well-balanced — though a more sour pickle would provide better contrast.
Big Crispy Ranch — Chili’s signature house-made ranch built directly into the sandwich.
Big Crispy Buffalo — Buffalo sauce applied to the hand-battered filet for a wing-adjacent sandwich experience.
Why This Is Worth Paying Attention To
The Big Crispy lineup fits into three pricing tiers: a value tier on the 3 For Me menu, a medium price point, and a super-premium option — structured to keep the value entry point accessible while protecting margins on the higher-end builds.
Chili’s has been on a remarkable run. The chain has posted same-store sales growth exceeding 20% in multiple consecutive quarters, largely on the back of the 3 For Me value positioning that first launched with the Big Smasher burger. The chicken sandwich expansion follows the same playbook: take something fast food dominates, offer a dramatically larger version at a comparable or lower total price, and use the sit-down experience as the differentiator.
At $10.99 for a meal that includes a hand-battered chicken sandwich bigger than a McCrispy, bottomless chips and salsa, fries, and an unlimited drink, the math is hard to argue with.
The Bottom Line
Chili’s Big Crispy lineup — six variations of a hand-battered chicken sandwich, two of which are available as part of the $10.99 3 For Me meal — is available now at Chili’s locations nationwide. If you haven’t tried it yet, the Spicy Big Crispy is the most talked-about of the six.
