We compared McDonald's 'better chicken' to Chick-fil-A's — and the winner is obvious

• McDonald's has introduced a new chicken tender to its menu.
• The Buttermilk Crispy Tenders seem to be an upgrade to the Chicken Selects.
• We pitted them against Chick-fil-A's chicken tenders to see how they stacked up.

McDonald's tenders have enjoyed a checkered past.

In 2015, the company nixed its Chicken Selects tenders after over a decade on the menu, leaving McDonald's diners with McNuggets as the only dippable option.

But now, two years later, the prodigal tender is back with a new name — Buttermilk Crispy Tenders — and a better approach. This new formula, it seems, is a resurrection of the Chicken Selects of yesteryear.

We tested these new tenders recently and were impressed with what we found. But can they hold a candle to the fast-food industry's fried chicken heavyweight champion, Chick-fil-A? We decided to put them to the test.

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Here stand two chicken-tender titans: Chick-fil-A's and McDonald's.

Chick-fil-A has been churning out tenders for years now — they're a tried-and-true part of the menu.

The new tenders from McDonald's come in an ... odd box. One could see it as a cardboard bungalow, slung low with a sauce-pocket porch out front. It's weird, but it's not an issue.