Chicken Finger Day Date in the current year: July 27, 2024

A chicken finger, also known as chicken goujon, chicken fillet, chicken strip or chicken tender, is a food product consisting of a piece of chicken meat from the pectoralis minor muscle, which is seasoned, breaded and then deep fried. Chicken fingers may also be made with similarly shaped pieces of meat cut from the chicken breast.

Chicken fingers were invented in the mid-20th century, sometime after the introduction of chicken nuggets in the 1950s. According to some accounts, the first restaurant in the United States to serve chicken fingers was Guthrie’s in Haleyville, Alabama. It opened in 1965 and originally specialized in various types of Southern food. By 1978, the menu focused on chicken fingers with signature sauce, French fries, Texas toast and coleslaw.

However, Guthrie’s is not the only restaurant credited with introducing chicken fingers. The Puritan Backroom, a restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire, claims to have invented chicken tenders in 1974. This claim has been challenged by restaurants in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Savannah, Georgia.

Be that as it may, chicken fingers became a popular fast food alternative to chicken nuggets in the second half of the 1980s. Many consumers started to prefer chicken fingers to chicken nuggets since they contained more meat.

Today, chicken fingers are available at many popular fast food restaurants across the United States, including Chick-fil-A, Church’s Chicken, Culver’s, KFC, Popeyes, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, and Zaxby’s. Chicken fingers are also mass-produced and sold at grocery stores. Frozen chicken fingers often have seasoned breading such as Buffalo style, Honey BBQ, Parmesan Herb, etc.

Chicken tenders are usually served as a snack or an appetizer with dipping sauce, but they also make for a great main course. Besides, you can use chicken tenders in various dishes such as salads, wraps, tacos, chicken dogs or even pizza, or serve them for a Southern-style breakfast with waffles and syrup.

Chicken Finger Day, also referred to as National Chicken Finger Day, was founded by Raising Cane’s, a Louisiana-based fast food chain specializing in chicken fingers. They started it in 2010 to honor their signature menu item and celebrate one of America’s most popular fast food types.

There are many ways to celebrate Chicken Finger Day. You can order some chicken fingers at your favorite fast food restaurant or drive-through, look out for Chicken Finger Day deals and promotions in your area, try making your own chicken fingers at home, try chicken fingers with different dipping sauces to figure out the combination you like the most, throw a chicken finger party for your friends and family, and spread the word about the holiday on social media with the hashtags #ChickenFingerDay and #NationalChickenFingerDay.