Fans Of Aldi's Iconic Red Bag Chicken Will Love These Crispy Nuggets

Frozen chicken nuggets brands abound in grocery stores across the country, some trying to mimic the same flavor that you experience at fast food restaurants. While Tyson has reigned supreme among the best-ranked frozen chicken nuggets, a new contender seems to be on the horizon at Aldi: Kirkwood Crispy Chicken Nuggets.

Aldi is known for its exclusive Kirkwood brand, so much so that its iconic Breaded Chicken Breast Fillets have been affectionately dubbed "Red Bag Chicken" by shoppers and are widely known as the Aldi chicken that tastes just like Chick-fil-A. In a similar fashion, the brand's newest Crispy Chicken Nuggets — not to be confused with the regular Chicken Breast Nuggets — also come in a red bag, and Aldi fans are raving about how they taste just like the nuggets at Chick-fil-A.

At least a handful of TikTok users have gushed about the Crispy Chicken Nuggets in video posts, each describing the morsels, which taste and even look very close to the popular restaurant chain. Some of them noted that frying them instead of heating them in an air fryer or oven may make them even better. Viewers' comments echoed the deliciousness and expressed their shock about the similar flavor. Reddit users repeated the sentiments, too, with one noting that the slightly higher price is well worth it.

Comparing Kirkwood's chicken nuggets and fillets

The general consensus among Aldi fans is that both the Kirkwood Crispy Chicken Nuggets and Kirkwood Breaded Chicken Breast Fillets taste like their Chick-Fil-A counterparts (and, therefore, should both be included in the frozen foods you should always buy at Aldi). If that's the case, are the ingredients the same? While the products each list chicken breast with rib meat as the first ingredient and use similar seasonings and spices, there are a few differences.

For instance, both contain sugar, salt, paprika, maltodextrin, and natural flavors. However, the fillets contain garlic and onion powders, whereas the nuggets contain dextrose, sucralose, and caramelized sugar. The additional sweeteners in the nuggets might be why some people noted on social media that they have an oddly sweet flavor. Other stand-out ingredient differences include rice starch and malted barley flour in the fillets and nonfat milk, citric acid, and turmeric extractives in the nuggets.

The differences extend to the heating instructions, too. While the fillets and nuggets come in red bags with directions for heating in a conventional oven, the nuggets package also allows you to pop the bite-size pieces of chicken into the microwave or air fryer. With an adjustment to the time, you could heat the fillets in the air fryer as well, but having the guesswork taken out of the equation is helpful when you're preparing nuggets for dinner. It's one more reason why they should be added to the growing list of products most beloved by Aldi shoppers.