hello everyone this is running on empty Food review well hello ladies gentlemen
and everyone watching welcome one and all to this newest edition of The Running on
Empty Food review series I'm your host the report of the week thanks for checking in
right off the bat I think you could see what an action-packed introduction this has been
uh you could see that you you actually bore witness to the Great
buttermilk ranch dipping sauce tipping of 2023 that's incredible right there I didn't
think it was going to get this crazy this quickly but expectations constantly exceeded
and speaking of craziness this item I guess it has to be someone out there that would
use the verbiage crazy to describe this there has to be someone that that does
with that said Popeyes has brought back an item that personally I enjoy
I've had some complaints with this before in terms of the spice level but in the end I still found it
to be at least a pleasant item and what I want to do is I want to give this another shot I want to
see because it's been about three years since they've last released this item I want to see
in that time have they made any adjustments have they made any tweaks of sorts are they
maintaining the standards or have those said standards plummeted that's exactly what I want
to discern for you today and I really just want to try out the 20 where did it go oh now you've
witnessed the great buttermilk ranch sauce falling off the table I'm just gonna put it here because
this thing's nothing but trouble right now anyway they last released this in 2020 before that they
released it in 2018 and again I just want to see how is it any different in 2023 so Popeyes has
brought back the ghost pepper wings you can get these as a six piece or a 12 piece and what they
are is bone-in chicken wings with a ghost pepper spice blend the chicken itself is marinated for
about 12 hours time in the ghost pepper blend so it's essentially baked and soaked into the chicken
I should say then it's breaded it's fried and on the side you can choose from various side sauces
to accompany the chicken generally speaking they go with the buttermilk ranch which is being rather
recalcitrant this time around but nonetheless they give you this to cool things off a little bit
uh likewise they let me choose another sauce so I thought all right what the heck I'm gonna go
with their uh their sweet Heat sauce this time around as well so two sauce is there for dipping
it's approximately price wise one dollar per Wing so you could get a six piece for about six dollars
you could get the 12 piece for twelve dollars in this case I decided to get the 12th piece uh no
sides or drink came with this so it was twelve dollars merely for the wings themselves and the
dipping sauces so as I mentioned I like wings personally I know people will say what they will
I like boneless wings bone bone in wings are still pretty darn good though and some establishments of
course do a better job than others These Wings quality wise in the past when I reviewed them
I found them to be of generally high quality but spice wise my chief complaint was that they
weren't as hot as advertised so in 2020 when I tried these out I gave them a 6.8 out of 10
which isn't a terrible score it's not one of those mind-blowingly good ratings either but back then
my chief complaint was that they were marketing these as ghost pepper wings which obviously you'll
have the notion that they're extremely spicy and then when I tried them out they really weren't
all that hot and that was just an issue that I had but we will see how they are in 2023 again quality
wise any better any worse spice wise how does it compare to how they were in the past so that
said now you know everything there is to know about them the ghost pepper wings from Popeyes
they come in this special box and you can see the various half eyes
hieroglyphs on the front especially the rubber duck front and center
and now let's take a look at them the wings that is not the giant rubber duck well since the Earth
is next to it I guess that would be a space rubber duck maybe it's an alien life form who's to say
Popeyes might know all the secrets of the world
they look like they're crispy I think we all can agree they look well breaded fried crispy wings
12 piece thereof
and now foreign
let's get that close up
there you have it you can see again fried breaded has a little bit of that uh reddish orange
Hue to it I'd presume from the from how it was marinated I'd assume that's where the spice lieth
hopefully you're able to get a good look at it so that said
I think we know everything there is to know about them now the moment of truth let's find out how
good These Wings Are and how spicy they are if I start convulsing on camera because of the spice
mission accomplished so let's give it a shot Popeyes ghost pepper wings going in
foreign
a little bit I'll try it out with the sauces also
quality wise I'd say it's very straightforward which can be good
sometimes it doesn't always need to be the most complex item in the world
all right quality wise number one let's just focus on the chicken real quick chicken is good quality
juicy flavorful and you could see that these wings I think based on the size of them do have a good
amount of meat to them likewise sometimes you'll get these wings from certain establishments that
they look so tiny as if they're miniature wings and there's more bone than anything else so it
seems but in this case I would say that there was a good balance between uh you know the bone to
meet ratio a good amount of the breading as well I like that you do get that crunch in every single
bite but the meat itself isn't dry it isn't tough and uh it's tender it's flavorful and I would say
of generally good quality so purely from a wing the standpoint they taste good it's exactly what
you would expect from Popeyes but I'm certainly happy with that now most importantly spice wise
I guess knowing the track record that I've had with these wings and the fact that my biggest
problem has been the same each and every time it shouldn't really be much of a surprise that
I was able to eat these and essentially be reactionless because I will say that
compared to some of the previous times that they released this be that early 2018 and then mid 2020
this has a little bit more of a lingering aftertaste so spice wise
it hits you you feel it you immediately get that spice in the front of your mouth
and then it kind of radiates I would describe it mostly As It essentially radiates down your tongue
and then into the back of your mouth and then it lingers as a bit of an aftertaste so for instance
as I am still delivering this assessment right now I still am experiencing that sort of spicy
aftertaste with every uh sort of word I enunciate that little bit of spice keeps coming back up and
coming back up and of course I'll let you know if that does go away but I do notice it's much more
of a lingering spice this time around however this is the important thing while the duration
of the spice what I am experiencing does seem much more drawn out in comparison to some of the
previous releases of these ghost pepper wings the intensity of the spice Remains the Same
if anything I would note the spice starts off maybe a little bit more intense than I
last remember it being but it seems as though it dissipates quickly and by the time it turns into
more of that spicy aftertaste the spice level is quite minimal if I had to say all right out
of 10 spice wise let's say I'll just use this as a scale of items that I've actually tried
10 the most spicy would probably be those uh wings from Planet Wings that I tried out back in 2013
wherever I was in an absolute State I had tears in my eyes my face was all red I I could not maintain
my composure so you have that as the spiciest and then as let's say a one you would just have maybe
just some mild sauce from somewhere where it's just you know very very very weak watery Etc on
that scale of spice I would say the aftertaste would be maybe a 2 out of ten so very weak it's
just something that I just happen to notice as I'm deliberately trying to pay attention to everything
that I'm feeling right now in terms of the spicy nature of These Wings but most people probably
wouldn't even notice this aftertaste because it it becomes more of an afterthought if anything
else as again the spice level is so low you would have to deliberately go out of your way to pay
attention to it so sure while it's still lingering while it's still there I just happen to notice
yeah it's not all that strong now the initial spice I would say is around a 5 out of 10 standard
you could just call these hot wings and I'd be inclined to believe that same problem persists
as I had the last few times when you think of ghost pepper you think oh this has to be really
really spicy right you see these eating shows where some guys eating some ghost pepper wings
and again like I even described with that one item that I I tried face is all red you
you gotta you're trying to catch your breath you're guzzling down the milk like crazy and
all this sort of stuff when you think of ghost pepper you can't help but have that imagery
this on the other hand it doesn't meet those expectations so if you get these
and you have that image in your head that you're thinking all right this is going to
be really really hot I like all those hot sauces this is going to be something else
you're going to be really let down because you're going to think wait a minute I mean I I could go
to a local wing place and I could just get their medium wings and it's going to be hotter than this
so they're flavorful I describe this as a flavorful spiciness has a very weak but prolonged
aftertaste which is now finally beginning to fully dissipate Wings themselves are of good quality but
when they are being advertised as being at least giving the impression that they're far spicier
than they actually are that is an issue because you're going to have no matter what folks going
into this who think yeah this is going to be really hot then they're going to have it they
might think all right the wing itself is good but this isn't really what I was expecting it to be I
I wanted to be in a complete and I wanted to be a wreck I wanted to be an inconsolable mess and
instead here I am sitting here just uh enjoying these wings so that's the thing if you want some
decent chicken wings with a little bit of spice I'd say yeah these are fine a little pricey these
days but wings are what they are price wise but if you're looking for these after a lot of spice I'd
say just go somewhere else nonetheless let me try out these sauces real quick the buttermilk ranch
I don't think it's really a necessary component purely because these Wings aren't all that hot
so I don't really think you would need even a cold drink or anything or rather the ranch sauce to uh
extinguish the Flames because I don't really think there are Flames that need
extinguishing but nonetheless try it out real quick see if it makes a difference
you have to be quick very it's very subtle
it doesn't affect the other spice too much but I do like that little bit of a sharpness that the
ranch offers it complements the wings nicely so if you are a fan of that combination I'd say go
for it and utilize it but I wouldn't say it's one of those instances where the sauce is absolutely
necessary for an enjoyable experience finally you're going to try out the sweet heat sauce
increases the spice a little bit I'd say go for that too the sweetness combines really nicely with
these wings as well so either of these sauces I'd say hey give it a shot if you'd like you
could tack them on so uh I'd say both of them are completely adequate additions to this meal
on a final note last time I gave this a 6.8 out of 10. this time in 2023 my rating for
the ghost pepper wings from Popeyes is going to be a 6.5 out of 10 as the spice again seemed
almost a little bit weaker but overall all the reasons that I mentioned take that into account
still decent for what it is that's all that I have thank you for watching I'm your host