Does Popeyes Have Coleslaw On Its Menu?

Back in the summer of 2019, Popeyes introduced its first chicken sandwich, thus firing the initial shot against its archnemesis Chick-fil-A. This was the start of the now fabled Chicken Sandwich Wars. Other chicken chains soon joined the fight (here's how we ranked the fast food chicken sandwiches), but Chick-fil-A has continued to outsell Popeyes and all of its other competitors. Popeyes, however, still has one more secret weapon in its arsenal: While Chick-fil-A has discontinued selling coleslaw at its restaurants, this classic side remains on the menu at Popeyes.

At Popeyes, like many other fast food chains, certain items will vanish from time to time, which makes sense if you think about it. (How else could the company introduce new dishes without having a menu the size of The Cheesecake Factory's? ) Among the sides that are no longer offered are onion rings, although the once-discontinued Cajun rice is back on the menu again. Coleslaw, however, doesn't appear to be among the items that were ever truly in danger of going away. From time to time, ingredient shortages or supplier issues have affected the dish's availability, but barring a continent-wide cabbage crisis, it seems that for the foreseeable future, we will be able to enjoy coleslaw along with our Popeyes chicken.

Okay, so Popeyes coleslaw is still available, but is it any good? As in all things food, opinions vary. It didn't rank too highly on our list of fast food coleslaws due to a couple of reviews that called it out as bland. A Reddit thread, on the other hand, features fans who praised the side's flavor but were disappointed by the small serving size (which speaks well of its overall quality, if not its value). As preferences likely come down to the recipe, it's worth taking a look at how Popeyes makes its coleslaw.

One TikTok video, purportedly filmed inside a Popeyes, shows an employee making a batch of the stuff. In this video, it looks like the coleslaw is made with shredded cabbage and carrots along with a creamy, pink premade dressing. While the creator didn't share any information about the dressing ingredients (it's possible they didn't even know what went into the stuff), copycat recipes tend to include chopped onion, mayonnaise, pickle relish, yellow mustard, oil, sugar, and white vinegar in addition to the aforementioned shredded vegetables. 

Chick-fil-A, on the other hand, has published an official recipe for its discontinued coleslaw on its website so we can see how the ingredients compare. At Chick-fil-A, cabbage, carrots, mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, dry mustard, and salt are used, making for a simpler slaw. Even so, coleslaw in the hand (or bag) beats theoretical coleslaw at home in the fridge, so Popeyes still gets the win in this Chicken Sandwich War skirmish.