Raising Cane’s is a relatively new fast-food restaurant compared to some of the other big hitters.
It specializes in making chicken finger meals and sides.
Considering that Raising Cane’s sticks to chicken finger meals, you may wonder if they’re any good.
From using a secret recipe in its sauce to focusing solely on chicken tenders, here are a few reasons Raising Cane’s is so good.
Is Raising Cane’s Good? (10 Reasons It Is)
1. 24-Hour Marination
One of the main reasons Raising Cane’s is so good is that takes marination seriously.
Whenever you order chicken from Raising Cane’s, it comes straight out of a pot where it’s been marinating for a full day.
The sauce that it marinates in is a Raising Cane’s secret.
Marinating food makes it good because it adds a ton of flavor to the piece of food.
Since Raising Cane’s is all about chicken tenders, it’s their chicken that gets marinated for 24 hours.
Chicken is something a lot of other fast-food restaurants serve, too.
It’s a relatively inexpensive food item.
Raising Cane’s does something different than many other fast-food restaurants, however.
They marinate their chicken for 24 hours.
Other fast-food restaurants simply thaw the chicken, then start cooking it.
They add breading and flavor after the fact.
Raising Cane’s submerges its chicken in a marinating bowl for a complete day.
This ensures that the chicken gets soaked in flavor.
Then they fry it and add even more flavor to the exterior of the chicken.
The result is a flavorful piece of chicken that has a delicious taste both on the outside of the chicken and with each bite.
This makes Raising Cane’s good because it shows that they know how to make chicken better than most fast-food restaurants.
Few fast-food restaurants would put in the extra effort of marinating their chicken for 24 hours.
It tends to cost them just a bit more money to do so.
Since Raising Cane’s does marinate its chicken for 24 hours, it’s more delicious.
2. Cooked To Order
Another big reason Raising Cane’s is good is that it uses a cooked-to-order method.
There are two main ways that fast-food restaurants handle food.
Some fast-food restaurants will pre-cook a certain amount of food, then let it rest in heated trays for the rest of the day.
A heat lamp further keeps the food warm and from going bad.
The heat lamp method is the cheapest option.
It allows fast food workers to make large batches of food at the beginning of the day.
This enables them to handle orders quickly.
The more orders they can process, the more money they can make.
The disadvantage of food that sits under a heat lamp is that it isn’t always fresh.
When you eat the food, there’s no telling if they just made it or if it’s been under a heat lamp for a few hours.
If it has been under a heat lamp, then it’s not going to have the same juicy flavor or crisp texture that you want.
It’s going to either be a bit stale or just be soggy.
Raising Cane’s doesn’t use heat lamps.
Instead, they follow a cook-to-order method.
This means that they only cook the food after you order it.
They also cook the food as per your instructions.
For example, if you were to tell them to put a bit more crispiness on it, then they’d do their best to give you what you want.
The difference is the food that gets made to order is fresh.
It maintains its juicy flavor and crispy exterior.
There’s also a lower risk of potentially getting food poisoning or having the food contaminated in some way.
3. Secret Blend Recipe
Like many other restaurants, Raising Cane’s has its own secret sauce.
You can dip your chicken fingers into their sauce or slather it on if you love it that much.
Since it’s secret, Raising Cane’s carefully guards the specific ingredients that make up its sauce.
However, some flavor experts have been able to discern certain parts of it.
There may be more flavors in it, but some of the main ingredients seem to be:
- Ketchup
- Mayonnaise
- Black pepper
- Garlic powder
- Worcestershire sauce
There are likely a few more ingredients in their sauce, but for the most part, people can make copycat recipes based on those ingredients alone.
Like many other places, a lot of people love Raising Cane’s for its sauce.
It adds a pack of flavor to their already flavorful chicken.
The sauce is so popular that you can even buy packets of it to take home.
While most people dunk their chicken tenders into the sauce, you can smear it on anything you want.
Another big reason the sauce is so good is that Raising Cane’s lets it sit in a fridge for a certain amount of time.
This ensures that all the ingredients blend well together and provide a potent flavor.
This method is different from other fast-food restaurants.
Other restaurants simply mix all the ingredients together, then quickly start dosing it out on orders.
Raising Cane’s makes sure that it always has some bowls marinating in the fridge.
This makes their sauce even more flavorful and potent.
4. Grade A Potatoes For Fries
One of the most important qualities of a fast-food restaurant is its potatoes.
Potatoes are a staple of the fast-food restaurant because they’re normally very cheap.
Farmers can plant large fields of potatoes and usually have no problems growing and harvesting them.
That’s because potatoes are hardy vegetables.
They can grow in most conditions and have an easier time surviving harsher temperatures than other vegetables.
Part of that reason is that it’s a root vegetable.
It grows underground.
Since it grows underground, the soil helps keep it protected from extreme temperatures a bit longer than vegetables that are exposed to them directly on the surface of the soil.
You can usually find a variety of different potato dishes in a fast-food restaurant.
From hashbrowns to mashed potatoes to French fries, potatoes are a staple in fast-food restaurants.
Raising Cane’s is no different.
They have potatoes in the form of fries.
They cut relatively thick fries with their potatoes.
The aspect that makes Raising Cane’s good, however, is the type of potatoes that they use.
Raising Cane’s uses Grade A potatoes to make their fries.
Grade A potatoes are the best kind of potatoes that you can get.
They’re usually of the same size and shape and have great color and smell to them.
They also usually possess very few defects.
Since these potatoes are the cream of the crop, they tend to be a bit more expensive to buy.
That’s why not every restaurant chooses to use Grade A potatoes.
Since the potatoes get chopped up into fries anyway, they may not care too much about what the potatoes look like when they come into the restaurant.
Raising Cane’s does because they’re more concerned with the flavor of their potatoes.
Grade A potatoes tend to have the most flavor since they’re a higher-quality version of a potato.
As a result, the fries at Raising Cane’s are full of flavor and crispy on the outside.
Raising Cane’s is good because of the quality of its potatoes.
5. Texas Toast Bread
Another reason Raising Cane’s is good is that it serves Texas Toast bread.
When you go to a typical fast-food restaurant, they usually have some sort of bread product.
It might be breadsticks, biscuits, or something similar.
At Raising Cane’s, you get served a slice of Texas Toast with your order.
Texas Toast is a thick piece of white bread.
It’s usually served as garlic bread, but there are other varieties available.
The main appeal of Texas Toast is its size and flavor.
Compared to other restaurants, Raising Cane’s usually ends up serving bread that’s much larger than theirs.
Texas Toast, for example, tends to be bigger than the average biscuit.
As such, you end up getting a lot more food.
It’s more filling.
Besides size, the flavor of Texas Toast is also delicious.
Raising Cane’s serves its Texas Toast with its sauce.
Although you can certainly eat the bread on its own, a lot of people choose to dip the bread into the sauce for even more flavor.
The result is a piece of bread that has a ton of flavor from the inside out.
Besides size and flavor, Raising Cane’s also cooks its Texas Toast fresh.
A problem you might experience at other fast-food restaurants is that their bread feels a bit stale or soggy.
That’s because it isn’t always baked fresh.
At Raising Cane’s, they cook your Texas Toast to order.
When it arrives, it’s going to be piping hot and crispy.
Raising Cane’s is good because of its large, flavorful Texas Toast.
6. Premium Dressing For Coleslaw
When you order a meal at Raising Cane’s, you can usually expect a serving of coleslaw.
Coleslaw is another staple of fast-food restaurants.
It works well in Raising Cane’s because the restaurant tends to lean towards its Louisiana roots.
Coleslaw is a popular food in Louisiana.
While the restaurant’s coleslaw is quite delicious, it’s the dressing that brings it all together.
Raising Cane’s uses a premium dressing to cover its coleslaw.
This adds even more flavor to the dish.
Some might find it quite refreshing after eating a bunch of chicken tenders.
The main difference between the coleslaw served at Raising Cane’s and other fast-food restaurants is the premium dressing.
Other restaurants looking to save on costs will typically order a cheap, mass-produced dressing.
The dressing is suitable, but it doesn’t leave a lasting impression.
Raising Cane’s uses a premium dressing.
It’s more expensive, but it also comes with a more memorable flavor.
In return, that makes their coleslaw far more memorable.
Raising Cane’s is good because it invests in premium dressings for its coleslaw dishes.
7. Fresh Tea And Lemonade
Although the food at a restaurant is important, the beverages it serves are just as important.
When you compare two similar restaurants to one another, one deciding factor might be the drinks.
Drinks are usually part of meals.
If the drink isn’t particularly good or memorable, then it might make the diner choose the other restaurant.
The great thing about Raising Cane’s is that it serves some great drinks.
In particular, you can get fresh tea and lemonade from the restaurant.
Its iced tea is a hallmark of the restaurant.
In true Louisiana style, it serves iced tea as opposed to hot tea or other types of beverages.
The aspect that makes its tea stand apart from the rest, however, is that they brew it several times throughout the day.
Other restaurants will just make a big vat, then sell it throughout the day.
By the end of the day, the tea is hardly fresh.
Since Raising Cane’s makes fresh tea throughout the day, you’re able to enjoy that refreshing flavor each time.
Another big factor is the lemons they use to make their lemonade.
Raising Cane’s doesn’t just buy lemonade.
They make it in their restaurants.
They use real lemons to make their fresh-squeezed lemonade.
Raising Cane’s is good because it serves fresh drinks.
8. Focus On Chicken Fingers
Perhaps one of the reasons for Raising Cane’s success is that it focuses solely on chicken fingers.
While the restaurant does provide a few sides, it only serves chicken.
You can get chicken fingers or a chicken sandwich, but that’s about it.
Some people might think the limited menu hurts the restaurant.
In reality, it means it allows the restaurant to focus on the quality of their chicken fingers.
Instead of spending money on a bunch of different ingredients, they’re able to focus solely on their chicken.
When a restaurant focuses on one particular dish, they’re able to make it better and better.
As a result, the chicken meals end up becoming incredible.
9. 100% Premium Chicken
Another big reason Raising Cane’s is good is that it uses premium chicken in its meals.
Not a lot of restaurants can afford to use premium chicken.
When they have a large menu, they need to stretch their dollar to ensure they have ingredients for all those menu items, too.
This is where Raising Cane’s focus on chicken fingers shines.
It enables them to put all their money toward using premium chicken.
This type of chicken is more flavorful, larger, thicker, and just generally better than non-premium chicken.
You can tell the difference when you bite into a chicken tender from Raising Cane’s as opposed to one from McDonald’s, for example.
Raising Cane’s is good because it uses premium chicken.
10. Quantity And Thickness
A final factor that makes Raising Cane’s good is the quantity and thickness of the food you order.
While Raising Cane’s doesn’t quite give as many fries as Five Guys, you can expect its orders to be pretty thick and numerous.
The fries are usually cut thick, and its chicken tenders are quite thick, too.
You also get a large number of both.
Texas Toast is also quite large.
As such, you end up with a sizable meal that’s quite filling.
Raising Cane’s is good because you get a lot of food for your money.
Conclusion
Raising Cane’s is a relatively new fast-food restaurant that has seen a lot of popularity over the years.
Due to its focus on chicken tenders, its large portions, and its high-quality ingredients, Raising Cane’s makes good food.
