I tried Burger King’s vegan chicken nuggets. You could tell they weren’t meat — unless you added ketchup.

Prices are accurate at the time of publication.

• Burger King has rolled out vegan nuggets made from soy and plant proteins across the UK.
• The flavor and texture of the nuggets were remarkably meat-like.
• But the aftertaste gave away that they were plant-based — unless you dipped them in ketchup.

Burger King UK launched vegan nuggets made from soy and plant proteins on January 5, and I was excited to try them.

Source: Insider

The chain already sold a Vegan Royale and a Plant-Based Whopper. I thought it was great that Burger King was expanding its meat-free offerings even further with the nuggets.

Like Burger King’s meat-based nuggets, the vegan nuggets are available as a set of six, nine, or 20, though the 20-pack wasn’t available to order at the digital kiosk.

The six- and nine-nugget packs can be bought on their own or as part of a meal. A nine-pack of nuggets costs £3.99 on its own, £5.99 as a medium meal, and £6.49 as a large meal – the same prices as the meat versions.

One thing I immediately noticed was the lack of specialist packaging.

Burger King rolled out special packaging for its Plant-Based Whopper. McDonald’s has a box especially for its McPlant, too.

But Burger King’s vegan nuggets just had a large “V” hand-drawn on the top …

… and well as a tick on the side. This was especially surprising given all the advertising Burger King had rolled out for the product. The box was very underwhelming.

When I opened the box, the nuggets smelled really, really good.

They looked a lot like chicken nuggets, too.

I bought a 20 pack to share with my flatmates. They were all slightly different shapes and sizes, which made them seem more natural.

The texture was remarkably chicken-like, too. But to me, the nuggets tasted quite buttery and the aftertaste definitely gave away that they weren’t meat.

Regardless, they were delicious. I’ve never tried Burger King’s meaty chicken nuggets, but the vegan ones tasted very similar to the nuggets I’ve had at McDonald’s.

The signs in store said that the nuggets came with sweet chilli dip, but both the digital order kiosk and the member of staff I spoke to asked whether I wanted sweet chilli or ketchup.

I went for ketchup. Once it was on and slightly masking the flavor, I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell that it wasn’t real chicken.

I asked my housemates what they thought. “They’re dry and don’t have much texture, so they taste exactly like regular takeaway nuggets,” my vegetarian housemate said, referring to how chicken nuggets from fast-food chains are often low quality.

My other housemate, who eats meat, said that he had expected to be disappointed but that the nuggets were actually “alright,” though they needed more seasoning. “In a parallel universe, I wouldn’t mind it over the meaty chicken nuggets,” he said.

Source: Insider

The vegan nuggets weigh in at 18 grams each, compared to 16.7 grams each for their meat-based counterpart, per information on Burger King’s website. The vegan nuggets are also around 1 calorie less each.

Sources: Burger King, Burger King

The new nuggets are approved by the Vegan Society, too.

This is unlike its Plant-Based Whopper, which the chain doesn’t class as vegan because it’s cooked on the same broiler as its meaty namesake.

More vegan dishes could be on the way: Burger King UK has announced plans to make half of its menu meat-free by 2030.

Source: BBC