Kirkwood Southern Style Crispy Fried Chicken

EDITOR’S NOTE: We first reviewed this chicken in 2016. We bought it again in 2026 and updated this review. 

Rachael also contributed to this review. 

Aldi used to sell a Kirkwood Crispy Chicken, which was awfully good considering that it came straight out of a freezer. While we haven’t seen it at Aldi in a while, sometimes Aldi sells another type of fried chicken as a limited-time special. This product, Kirkwood Southern Style Crispy Fried Chicken, differs from the old traditional Crispy Chicken in one notable way.

Specifically, this has some mild spiciness. We think the latest version in Aldi stores has less spiciness than when we first tried it years ago, but it’s still something to note. If you do like Southern-style fare, this is definitely worth a look.

Kirkwood Southern Style Crispy Fried Chicken is an Aldi Find, which means it’s only in stores for a short time. Each store should receive one shipment, and after that sells out, it’s gone until whenever Aldi might decide to bring it back. Aldi does not offer online ordering for this if it’s out of stock at your local store.

This was most recently scheduled to be in Aldi stores the week of January 28th, 2026.

We buy Aldi products for review using our own funds. I paid $8.99 for a 29-ounce box in 2026. That comes out to about 31 cents per ounce.

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains soy and wheat.

The full ingredients list is assorted chicken pieces (breast and back portions, thighs with back portions, and drumsticks), water, bleached wheat flour, wheat flour, and less than 2% of modified cornstarch, salt, spices (including celery seed), isolated soy protein, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, wheat gluten, flavorings, sodium phosphates, dextrose, leaving (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate), spice extractives, extractives of paprika, and soy lecithin.

The box contains assorted chicken pieces, and the number of servings in the whole package may vary depending on the assortment.

The box lists varying nutrition facts depending on the chicken piece you eat.

A breast with back portion has 180 calories, 10 grams of total fat (13% DV), 2.5 grams of saturated fat (13% DV), 580 mg of sodium (25% DV), 10 grams of total carbohydrates (4% DV), less than 1 gram of dietary fiber (3% DV), no total sugars or added sugars, and 13 grams of protein.

A thigh with back portion has 220 calories, 14 grams of total fat (18% DV), 3.5 grams of saturated fat (18% DV), 610 mg of sodium (27% DV), 12 grams of total carbohydrates (4% DV), 1 gram of dietary fiber (4% DV), no total sugars or added sugars, and 10 grams of protein.

A drumstick has 190 calories, 10 grams of total fat (13% DV), 2 grams of saturated fat (10% DV), 630 mg of sodium (27% DV), 1 gram of dietary fiber (4% DV), no total sugars or added sugars, and 12 grams of protein.

This is fully cooked, so all you have to do is heat it and serve it. Heating it up is not hard, although it can take a little time for best results. The box has microwave instructions, baking instructions, and air fryer instructions. The recommended cooking method is an oven, although the box also has a note saying this is “great for the air fryer.”

To bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the chicken from the package and place it on a baking sheet. Bake in the center of the oven for 35-40 minutes.

To air fry, place chicken in the air fryer basket. Do not overfill. Heat at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove smaller pieces of chicken that may be finished heating, and turn the larger pieces and continue heating them for 4-8 minutes or until brown and crispy.

To microwave (which we don’t recommend, since it won’t come out crispy), remove the chicken from the package and place it in a single layer on a paper towel-lined microwave-safe plate with larger pieces toward the outside edge. Microwave on high according to the time chart below, turning the chicken once during microwaving.

• Full box: 9-11 minutes
• One chicken breast: 4-6 minutes
• One chicken thigh: 3-4 minutes
• One chicken drumstick: 1 1/2 to 2 minutes

Once heated, it just needs to cool down for a minute before being ready to eat.

We had five pieces of chicken in the box we got: four large pieces that were either breasts or thighs, and one drumstick. What you get may vary from box to box.

I put as many pieces as would fit in my air fryer and baked the rest in my oven. I ended up air frying three pieces and baking two pieces. My family felt like air frying was superior, but the chicken comes out decently crispy when baked as well.

Like its traditional cousin, the breading is nicely crispy, the chicken is moist, and the overall flavor is a good imitation of fried chicken. We did find this to be heavy on the breading, with perhaps less meat and more fatty bits than we’d like. For the price, though, it’s not bad.

The serving total is decent but not massive, so don’t expect to feed a huge crowd with a single box. Depending on appetites and what other side items are served, this is probably good for 2-4 adults.

The Verdict:

If you like Southern-style fried chicken, the Kirkwood Southern Style Crispy Chicken fits the bill. It has a high breading to meat ratio and can be a bit fatty, but our taste testers still enjoyed it. Do note it has some very mild spice to it.

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