How Many Calories Are in KFC Chicken? A Detailed Look at the Nutrition Facts

Kentucky Fried Chicken, more commonly known as KFC, is one of America’s favorite fast food chains. KFC is famous for its fried chicken recipes including Original Recipe, Extra Crispy, and Grilled Chicken. But with all that delicious fried food comes a lot of fat, calories, and sodium.

How many calories is KFC chicken? The number of calories can change a lot depending on the cut and style of cooking you choose. Take a close look at the nutrition facts for KFC’s chicken dishes.

KFC Chicken Nutrition Overview

• KFC’s fried chicken tends to be high in calories, fat, and sodium compared to their grilled chicken.
• A piece of Original Recipe chicken can have around 200-400 calories depending on if you get a breast, thigh, drumstick or wing.
• Extra Crispy chicken adds about 80-100 more calories per piece compared to Original Recipe.
• Grilled chicken cuts the calories in half compared to fried options. A grilled breast has only 210 calories.
• Other factors like batter, breading, sauce and cooking oil affect calorie counts.

Now let’s explore the nutrition facts for each type of KFC chicken in more detail

Original Recipe Chicken Calories

KFC’s famous Original Recipe chicken uses Colonel Sanders’ secret blend of 11 herbs and spices to create a crispy, juicy fried chicken Here are the calorie counts

• Chicken Breast: 390 calories
• Chicken Thigh: 280 calories
• Chicken Drumstick: 130 calories
• Chicken Wing: 130 calories

You can see that white meat chicken breasts and wings have the most and least calories per piece, respectively. Thighs and drumsticks, which are dark meat, are in the middle.

The flour coating and frying in oil are two main things that add calories to Original Recipe chicken. One KFC chicken breast has 21g of fat.

Extra Crispy Chicken Calories

Extra Crispy chicken features an extra craggy, crispy coating achieved by double dipping chicken pieces in the flour breading. Here are the nutrition facts:

• Chicken Breast: 530 calories
• Chicken Thigh: 330 calories
• Chicken Drumstick: 170 calories
• Chicken Wing: 170 calories

Extra Crispy has about 80 to 100 more calories per piece than Original Recipe. The extra breading and second fry add more fat and carbs to the food.

Grilled Chicken Calories

KFC Grilled Chicken offers a lighter alternative to fried chicken. Chicken pieces are marinated then grilled until juicy and tender:

• Chicken Breast: 210 calories
• Chicken Thigh: 150 calories
• Chicken Drumstick: 80 calories
• Chicken Wing: 70 calories

As you can see, grilled chicken has significantly fewer calories than fried chicken options. There’s no breading or deep frying resulting in way less fat grams too.

Popcorn Nuggets and Tenders

Beyond bone-in chicken, KFC also has chicken tenders and popcorn style nuggets. Here are those nutrition facts:

• Chicken Tenders (each): 170 calories
• Popcorn Nuggets (small): 290 calories
• Popcorn Nuggets (large): 620 calories

Both tenders and popcorn nuggets are breaded and fried resulting in higher calories than grilled chicken. But nuggets have way less calories than bone-in fried chicken.

Effects of Sauces and Sides

The basic KFC chicken nutrition facts above don’t account for sauces or sides. Those can quickly add more calories:

• KFC dipping sauces: 45-130 calories each
• Mashed potatoes w/ gravy side: 130 calories
• Mac and cheese side: 140 calories
• Biscuit: 180 calories

Sauces like ranch or honey mustard add nearly 100 calories per packet. High calorie sides like mac and cheese and biscuits can tally several hundred extra calories.

Healthier KFC Chicken Options

If you want to watch your calorie intake at KFC, here are some tips:

• Choose grilled chicken whenever possible.
• Skip the skin and breading to remove excess fat and carbs.
• Opt for wings or drumsticks over breast and thighs.
• Use lighter sauces like honey BBQ rather than creamy ranch.
• Pair your chicken with lower calorie sides like green beans or corn.
• Skip soda and have water or unsweetened tea instead.

KFC chicken can contain a wide range of calories based on the cut, cooking method and toppings. Your healthiest bet is grilled chicken or fried white meat with lighter sides and sauces. While not the lowest calorie fast food option, you can certainly indulge in KFC chicken moderately as part of a balanced diet. Just be mindful of all the boneless breasts, extra crispy thighs and heavily sauced wings you eat!