I tried Shake Shack's new hot honey chicken sandwich and was disappointed by the lack of sweet flavo

2021-07-12T22:04:16Z

Shake Shack launched a hot honey fried-chicken sandwich as part of its summer menu.
The sandwich features a honey glaze and habanero sauce.
I wasn't able to taste the honey and the chicken was dry.

Shake Shack launched a new hot honey fried-chicken sandwich as part of its summer menu.

I hoped this would be my new sandwich of the summer. Rachel Askinasi/Insider

The menu item is part of a larger collection of summer offerings including hot honey fries, hot honey chicken bites, non-alcoholic Summerades, and two new milkshakes.

Shake Shack's summer menu became available nationwide on July 1 and will last until October 4. The chicken sandwich costs $7.19.

The sandwich features a honey-glazed fried fillet of white meat, shredded lettuce, and habanero sauce.

The components were put together well, and there was a vibrant color scheme happening on my table. Rachel Askinasi/Insider

According to a press release shared with Insider, the honey glaze is made with shallots, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and passion fruit puree, and the habanero mayo sauce is made with pickled fresh habanero peppers.

I was super excited to sink my teeth into this sandwich to taste all the explosive flavors promised. Unfortunately, the shalloty, passion fruity, vinegary honey glaze was virtually undetectable.

Disappointment in both the flavor and texture soon set in.

The flavors weren't as bold as I had hoped they would be. Rachel Askinasi/Insider

While I was able to get some heat and sweetness from the habanero sauce, I was missing the taste of honey completely.

The sweetness was more peppery than it was sugary and rich. I even took a bite of just the crunchy coating and still was unable to taste any honey or detect any signs of glaze.

In my opinion, even more disappointing than the lack of honey flavor was the dry piece of chicken served between the bun. It's important to note that this may have been a mistake unique to the batch I was served from, but it ruined the sandwich for me nonetheless.

The chicken was dry and resulted in an unpleasant eating experience.

Dry chicken ruined this sandwich for me. Rachel Askinasi/Insider

The piece of white meat was large and impressive to the eye when I thought about some of the other fast-food fried chicken sandwiches I've tried recently. But it was completely dried out to the point where it took some of the moisture out of my mouth.

The crunchy lettuce and soft potato bun were both welcome additions to this dish, but it didn't seem to matter once my taste buds realized the chicken was dry and flavorless.

Most of the flavor is found within the crunchy, fried exterior.

The fried bits mostly had a delicious flavor. Rachel Askinasi/Insider

While the fried coating was crunchy and wonderfully savory, I was barely able to detect any notes of honey. On a rogue cluster of fried coating, my taste buds were able to pick up traces of some honey glaze. But other than that one bite, it was void of sweetness, and heat from just one drop of habanero mayo soon took over.

Overall, had this been labeled a spicy fried-chicken sandwich, it would have hit the mark (except for the dried fillet, of course). But this sandwich is part of a larger menu featuring hot honey, and it missed one of two main components.

If I'm inclined to get chicken at Shake Shack this summer, I think I'll stick with the classic, pickle-heavy Chick'n Shack.