KFC Apple Pie Poppers Review: A Not-Too-Sweet Mini Treat That's Easy To Share

At the beginning of April 2024, KFC rolled out its newest round of menu items, including five new and returning flavors of Saucy Nuggets and one sweeter bite-sized offering — the chain's new Apple Pie Poppers. The dessert is the latest individually sized option to join the larger family-style dessert options on the chain's menu. They also represent a step toward expanding KFC's dessert menu offerings as a whole. This small twist on an apple turnover is a clever departure from the larger fried hand pies sometimes offered by many of KFC's competitors.

KFC invited Mashed to its headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, to taste the Apple Pie Poppers along with a selection of other new menu items ahead of their release earlier this month. I tasted the new Poppers there, as well as at my local KFC restaurant, to see for myself what they're all about. I'll bring you everything you need to know about the new dessert offering — including what you can expect flavorwise, as well as the sizes the new dessert is offered in, the price, and nutrition information for this sweet new treat.

Unlike the larger hand pies offered by other fast food chains, KFC's new Apple Pie Poppers come in two different order sizes — a four-piece and a 10-piece order size. The four-piece option is roughly what you would expect from half of a regular-sized turnover. Meanwhile, the 10-piece option comes out to a little more than a regular-sized turnover's worth of dessert.

The price of the Apple Pie Poppers will vary depending on your store's location and whether you're ordering online or for delivery. Generally speaking, prices start at $2.49 for an order of four Poppers and $5.49 for an order of 10. Naturally, anyone who is looking to get the best bang for their buck might want to opt for the 10-piece Poppers, which has a lower cost per piece, though you may want to share that order with a friend.

Each Apple Pie Popper piece runs about 85 calories, making for a total of 340 calories for four, and 850 calories per 10-piece order. Gluten, wheat, and soy are the only listed allergens for the Poppers, which is good news for anyone looking for a dairy and egg-free dessert option. Additionally, a single Apple Pie Popper has 5 grams of fat, 0 mg of cholesterol, 55 mg of sodium, 9 grams of carbohydrates, and 1 gram of protein.

There's a chance that you may have never ordered a dessert from KFC before, since the options have been relatively limited up to this point and the chain is widely known for its fried chicken. Furthermore, the two dessert options (other than the Apple Pie Poppers) currently available are relatively large and meant to be shared family-style. Depending on your location, you may have recently seen a larger-format Colonel's Homestyle Brownie on the menu, which serves up to nine people. Most locations also offer the Chocolate Chip Cake, which is a small chocolate bundt cake that's drizzled with icing, and serves roughly six to eight people. While not listed on the menu, my local restaurant also offers a Lemonade Cake in the same bundt style as the Chocolate Chip Cake.

The Colonel's Homestyle Brownie was introduced to the menu just before the holiday season, in November 2023, which is an ideal time to have a shareable dessert handy. The fan-favorite Chocolate Chip Cake has been on the menu for well over a decade, is made offsite by Café Valley Bakery, and is practically a steal at an average of $5.19 per cake.

Previously, the dessert menu also included chocolate chip cookies, a full-sized apple pie turnover, and even a chicken-flavored ice cream cone that was met with mixed reviews. KFC doesn't seem to eschew innovation, as the new Apple Pie Poppers are a return to individually-sized desserts for the brand, with the potential to grow the dessert menu in a new direction.

The bite-sized Apple Pie Poppers are a cute and clever addition to the KFC dessert menu, making for a dessert option that's much easier to share and snack on for a longer time than a single regular-sized apple turnover. As I tasted them, the freshly fried pie bites were crunchy and flaky — exactly what you would hope to expect from a fried apple hand pie crust. Inside, I found tiny pieces of diced apple that were suspended in a lightly spiced apple pie filling that was not too sweet or runny. I also noticed that the Poppers weren't overwhelmingly sweet, but leaned more towards buttery and crunchy, understandable given that there's a bit more crust than filling in each bite.

As someone who likes a dessert on the sweeter side, I'd probably toss my warm Apple Pie Poppers in a little bit of cinnamon sugar for some extra spice and sweetness, or even dip them in a little icing if I had any on hand. And while these bites are meant as a dessert, I'd gladly have a few pieces as a midnight snack, or even pop a few in the air fryer to reheat for breakfast — assuming there are any leftovers after I've filled up on all of that extra crispy fried chicken, that is.