KFC’s New Zero Chicken Burger Isn’t Vegan Or Vegetarian-Friendly — Here’s Why

KFC, the longtime purveyor of fried chicken, is going meatless with its new KFC Zero Chicken Burger. While it’s a chix burger in name, the item has a meat-free mycoprotein (a form of protein derived from fermented fungus) fried ‘chicken’ patty. The mock chook, although vegan, is also still made with KFC’s proprietary 11 herbs and spices recipe.
The burger, which costs $6.55 a la carte and $8.65 with a set meal, is then layered with fresh lettuce, sliced cheddar cheese and dollops of barbecue sauce and mayonnaise.

But here’s the confusing part — the fast food chain has candidly disclosed that the burger is not vegan or vegetarian-friendly. According to its PR rep, this is because the patty is “fried in the same oil as some chicken products”, and “the mayonnaise used in the burger is not vegan.” (Mayonnaise typically contains egg yolks).

We must say this is a tad disappointing for our vegan and vegetarian friends who were excited about finally being able to enjoy a KFC burger. As for why KFC is launching a burger that vegans and vegetarians can’t eat, its Senior Director of Marketing & Food Innovation, Juliana Lim, explains in a press release: “We see a trend towards flexitarianism and increased demand for meat alternative products, so we wanted to offer a meat-free option but still keeping the same great KFC taste.”

We try the meatless burger, which the chain sent to us with fries and a Pepsi Zero Sugar. At first sight, it does look like a regular burger with a crispy breaded fried patty in between sesame buns. The mycoprotein ‘chicken’ even tastes very similar to the real thing, with a fibrous, meat-like texture. For some reason, there’s no cheese in our burger. But it’s surprisingly not bad when slathered with the accompanying barbecue sauce and mayo.

As a meat lover, we see no reason to order this burger when we can chomp on the more shiok real fried chicken anytime. As for vegan and vegetarian folks, this is a good alternative that’s unfortunately off-limits. We hope KFC would consider reworking its cooking SOP to include that market segment.

Available at all restaurants except Singapore Polytechnic and Singapore Zoo, and via KFC Delivery. www.kfc.com.sg.

PHOTOS: YIP JIEYING