US vs UK KFC | Food Wars

Harry Kersh: From calorie counts to portion sizes, we wanted to find out the difference between a KFC in the US and one in the UK. This is "Food Wars." Now, you can't actually have a small drink at a KFC in the UK. Starts at regular hours. This is what a normal drink looks like. Joe Avella: This is what an American regular looks like. Harry: And this is what a large drink looks like. Joe: And this is what an American giant looks like. Harry: These are regular fries and these are large fries. Joe: Here's the usual US one.

Okay. And you want to go up the next size, this is the US large size. OMG! Look how big that is! There are like five of those I had. My God! Harry: Let's find out how much a large fries weigh in the UK. Joe: Let's weigh our big fish. Oh man. Oh! They're packed there, buddy! Check it out! That's all? Harry: This is what a regular popcorn chicken looks like. Joe: We have a big popcorn chicken. Harry: And this is what a big popcorn chicken looks like. Joe: And if you want something even bigger than the large, get a box of popcorn chicken.

Something for you and your friends, I'm sure. You're not going to eat this by yourself. Did I lose any? No, there is no way! Am I doing this without? Oh, don't curse him. Yes, oh, oh! You and you. What all of them? Producer: That's all. Joe: Crumb. Harry: In the UK, you can get cubes in three sizes. You can get a six piece, a 10 piece, or a 14 piece. Is it...? Yuck. Joe: Eight pieces. Oh! Yuck. 12 pieces. Wait wait wait. This is, I'm not even going to, I can't even throw it away. Hey! Look how much chicken this is!

My God, what a disaster. Producer: I'm going to take the close-up camera now. Harry: Unfortunately, KFC in the UK doesn't reveal its ingredients, but what we do know are the calories. For example, in the UK, a jug has 170 calories. Joe: And in the US, one of these types for the original recipe is 130 calories. But if you get more crunchy, like this guy here, it's actually 170. Harry: America continues to gain in calories. That's largely due to the sides and drinks. If you walked into a KFC in the UK and ordered a three-piece meal and they gave you a drum, drumstick and wing with large fries and a large Pepsi, that would equate to 1,155 calories.

Joe: Our large fries are 930 calories and our large drink is 380. And if you ordered a trio with a large fry and a large drink in the US, it would have about this many calories. KFC in the US has published its ingredients list. I would like to review the ingredients in the fries at KFC in the United States. Alright, here we go. Sea salt, monosodium glutamate, maltodextrin, salt, dextrose, vegetable powders, tricalcium phosphate, hydrolyzed soy proteins, spices, soybean oil, natural flavors, potassium chloride, paprika extract (color), turmeric extract (color), potatoes (obviously), vegetable oil. It has soybean, canola, cottonseed and/or sunflower oil.

Stranded - "stranded". Bleached wheat flour and contains 2% or less rice flour, durum wheat, wow, semolina? Sem-OH-lin-ah, sem-ol? Sem-OH-lin-ah. Semi-OH-lia durum wheat. Sem-oh-LIN-ah. I don't know what that word is. It seems easy, but it's hard to say. Sem-OH-lin-ah? Semolina? Durum wheat semolina, there you have it. Dextrin, salt, degerminated yellow corn flour. Oh, thank God it's been degerminated. Cornstarch, leftovers (sodium hydrogen pyrophosphate, baking soda), dextrose again, xanthan gum, there it is! Color of annatto extract, disodium dihydrox - disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate, in parentheses, "to maintain color." OK. We add so many chemicals to our fries that we add more chemicals to make it look like they don't have any chemicals.

Thanks, disodic dehydration, dehydration, what the f---? Yeah, whatever. Harry: Here are some things you can only find on the menu at a UK KFC. So instead of chicken sandwich, what we call ours is chicken fillet burger. I think it's more or less the same. It's like chicken breaded and fried between two buns, with a little lettuce and a little mayonnaise. We also have something called the Zinger Burger, which is pretty much the same thing, but the spice level has been bumped up a bit. You can also turn these burgers into a tower burger. What that does is add cheese and fries to the burger, which is a worthwhile addition in my opinion.

Joe: We have some things in our KFC that you can't get in the UK. And surprisingly, some things I thought were paramount to the KFC menu. Mashed potatoes and gravy. This strikes me as something that has always been a part of KFC along with chicken. Look at those mashed potatoes, man. It's a jar of mashed potatoes. Okay, let's make a mess. Oh yeah! Oh my god, put that on the cover of Gravy Aficionado magazine! Another thing I didn't know you guys don't have, cookies or, as you call them, buns. This is called the Famous Bowl. It's mashed potatoes, gravy and corn, topped with popcorn chicken and cheese, all in one bowl.

Yeah, this thing, I don't think I've ever had one of these, because it looks ridiculous. Harry: Now, Joe, I'm glad you also think the Famous Bowl doesn't look so good, because, to me, it looks like a nightmare. Now, we have a slightly different approach to parties in the UK compared to the US. For example, our corn comes on the cob. Baked Beans – These are slightly different to the normal beans that can be roasted in the UK. They have a kind of barbecue sauce flavor. There are some other language differences, like instead of chicken tenders, we call them mini chicken tenders.

Joe: Mini steaks, chicken tenders, they look exactly the same. We've got them. Yes, they have corn, but we have ours on the cob, which I think is not as good as corn on the cob. This stack is here and, I know, they have wings at KFC in the UK, yes, I know. But only in the US you can order them for 48. 48 wings! I'm dying right now, man. Producer: It sure smells good. Joe: They smell so good. The potpie, when I saw a potpie on the menu, I thought, "Yeah, a little potpie." No friend. This thing weighs like a puppy.

This thing has some weight. Harry: I have to say that the potpie actually looks pretty good. Here in the UK we love mince pies. You will often see people eating a meat and kidney pie or a chicken pot pie. But yeah, they should probably put that on the menu here. I think they would take advantage of the British market. Joe: Let's talk about sauces. It's talking about sauce. Salsa talk. I think these sauces are also specific only to the US and not the UK. KFC Finger Lookin' Good sauce, see? We also have summer barbecue sauce. Honey mustard.

And, of course, buttermilk ranch. Harry: There are some sauces that are unique to the UK. For example, we have this Spicy Supercharger sauce, which is something like a spicy mayonnaise. We have sweet chili sauce, garlic mayonnaise, another very good option. The garlic mayonnaise with fries is simply fantastic. Joe: Why don't we have those sauces here? Oh man, I want those. Harry: Now normally we would have even more unique menu items to show you, but unfortunately UK KFCs are currently operating with a reduced menu. This is what you can typically find on the menu at a UK KFC.

A vegan burger, the Big Daddy burger, a range of chicken wraps, some boxes of rice, onion rings, curry sauce, Krushems and a wide range of hot drinks including English breakfast tea. Joe: In the UK, you can get teas, including English breakfast tea. Now, technically you can't get tea at KFCs in the US, but you can get something called Mountain Dew Sweet Lightning, which I think is probably pretty close. Harry: Yes, that's exactly the same as tea for breakfast. Joe: Dude.