Review: Oven Crisp Chicken Sub from Subway

Posted August 16th, 2011 | 4:41pm by Ryan

Something worth checking out has come to Subway in the form of low-fat breaded chicken. I only say “worth checking out” because it’s new. Not a new combination of sauces or meats with a name attached, but an attempt at a rival for fried chicken. For Subway, this is a big deal. It’s called Oven Crisp Chicken and I didn’t care for it all that much.

The Oven Crisp Chicken sub is described by Subway like this:

Experience the breakthrough taste of the NEW Oven Crisp Chicken for some deep flavor without the deep fryer. It’s NEVER fried, NEVER greasy and ALWAYS tasty. As a 6-inch sub, it’s a delicious part of a SUBWAY FRESH FIT® meal. Try one today, because grease is out. Fresh taste is in.

Have you ever had the Oven Roasted Chicken from Subway? Flavorless, warmed up chicken patties is what you’ve probably experienced. The Oven Crisp Chicken is basically the same thing. It’s not tasty and not at all crispy. Breaded Oven Heated Chicken doesn’t quite have the same impact as “Oven Crisp”. The chicken patties aren’t big enough to standout as it’s dwarfed within the glut of bread. I went with the “Hearty Italian” and dressed up my sub like the picture in the advertisement shows. Lettuce, tomato, cucumber slices and honey mustard sauce. I opted for the footlong over the 6″. The sub was priced at $4.00 for 6″ and $6.00 for the footlong. My local Subway has a Tuesday special of “$1.00 off any footlong sub” so I just went with the full deal.

The Oven Crisp Chicken sub is weak. I grew tired of it as I approached completion of my first half. To be fair, I find most Subway subs to suffer in the same areas. The condiments and produce all have this familiar “Subway taste”. I can’t describe it any other way. However you choose to dress it up, it’s still Subway. As far as the Oven Crisp Chicken being a healthy option, 420 calories and under-7 grams of fat for a 6-inch is decent. An apple is also a healthy option and way tastier. A Greek yogurt with blueberries is a healthy option and so much tastier. I couldn’t get away from the thoughts of how many healthy substitutes I could have gone with.

I was a sucker for the Oven Crisp Chicken sub TV spots and picture ads. It looked good, but deep down I knew I was in for a letdown. I feel like an idiot for going with 12 inches of this thing. Well over 800 calories of a lunch I wish I could just take back. I need some Popeyes to cleanse my unsophisticated pallet.