A Look Back At The Best New Fast Food Items Of 2024

There were some truly memorable additions to the fast food world in 2024. Plenty of well-established restaurant chains leaned into their strengths and mined some interesting ideas out of their existing bag of tricks. We also saw the staying power of a few promotional items that were created to align with some of the year's biggest movie releases. The year's seasonal offerings were also on point, delivering much more than the inevitable pumpkin spice.

Upon creating this list of 2024's most exciting new fast food items, we realized that the featured brands are clearly striving to create full-blown fan experiences that are ripe for social media sharing. We've seen brands fully embrace their menus and what they offer for today's fast food fan, and it's no surprise that some of the best new fast food items of 2024 are delightfully unapologetic. On that note, let's dive right into our list of 2024's best new fast food items.

Taco Bell's unveiling of its original chalupa back in 1999 was a historical milestone for the fast food chain. The popular menu item has been the starting point for several other great Taco Bell creations, and the Cheesy Street Chalupa, which became an instant classic when it debuted over the summer, was no exception. As the name implies, this menu item came in a smaller size and featured toppings and protein options inspired by street tacos. While it's difficult to conceptualize how an overstuffed chalupa could be adapted to street taco standards, Taco Bell did a great job with these little guys that were available only for a limited time.

Every order came with two small versions of the crispy yet chewy chalupa shells that were stuffed with either marinated steak or slow-roasted shredded chicken and then topped with diced white onions, a bit of cilantro, and a creamy jalapeño sauce. The chalupa shell got an extra layer in the small flour tortilla that was affixed to the shell with a bit of melty cheese. Whether it was the subdued toppings or the chewy-on-crunchy-on-chewy texture, the Cheesy Street Chalupas were always a delight to dig into.

Pizza Hut doesn't usually put much stock in thin-crust pizza, but the chain surprised us all by scoring big with its Tavern-Style Pizza in 2024. This thin-crusted pizza preparation takes its cues from the lesser-known Chicago-based subgenre of pizza that is characterized by an extremely crisp crust and square slices. Pizza Hut debuted its take on this classic pie with four new flavors: Pesto Margherita, Spicy Chicken Sausage, Double Pepperoni, and The Ultimate. Each pie is sprinkled with a blend of seasoning that the menu has dubbed "Hut Dust." As an added bonus, the new toppings and sauces became available to include on any pizza.

There are a lot of reasons to love Pizza Hut's Tavern-Style Pizza, but these pies became a runaway success because they nailed that crust. Thin-crust pies are hard to get right, especially if you're mass-producing them like Pizza Hut does. That said, the tavern-style crust manages to maintain that pleasant thin-crust crunch without veering into burnt or brittle territory. And, perhaps as unappetizing as it sounds, the Hut Dust does make a huge difference by enhancing the pizza's topping flavors with some crucial salty and smoky notes.

Chick-fil-A is at its best when it leans into its Southern roots, and this year's grand return of the Banana Pudding Milkshake, albeit for a limited time, was a prime example of that maxim. While this shake was not technically a brand new item as it was returning to the menu after a 13-year hiatus, that felt like a long enough gap to declare it one of 2024's fast food highlights — especially if you joined the viral Chick-Fil-A hack that makes its Banana Pudding Milkshake even better and requested yours with a shot of chocolate syrup.

Fans of Southern desserts will recognize the combination of pureed banana, vanilla wafers, and whipped cream as it's been around for over a century. Banana pudding is a creamy, refreshing note that ends any meal with a smile, but it's particularly good after a heaping helping of something spicy and deep fried. Perhaps this flavor combo had something to do with Chick-fil-A's Banana Pudding Milkshake getting released in late August alongside its Spicy Honey Pepper Pimento Cheese Sandwich. The Banana Pudding Shake captured all the creamy goodness of the original dessert, and having the vanilla wafers for a bit of textural contrast really tied everything together.

When the Little Caesars Crazy Puffs first hit menus in March, they were one of those promotional items that felt like a flash in the pan. Once they started going viral, though, it didn't take long for most of the fast food-loving populace to catch on. Their portable size, affordable price point, and pleasing aesthetics were enough to skyrocket this new menu item into the fast food hall of fame. Those who tried Crazy Puffs this year couldn't resist the charming allure of pizza crust cups filled with a snack-friendly amount of pizza toppings.

Crazy Puffs are available in either cheese or pepperoni varieties, and you'd expect them to simply taste as good as either the cheese or pepperoni pizzas at Little Caesars. Due to some unknown alchemical transformation in the pizza oven, however, these bite-sized cups of pizza magic become more than the sum of their parts. Whether that's thanks to the garlic butter drizzle or the fact that each puff is encircled by a halo of crispy cheese, Little Caesars Crazy Puffs have truly caught lightning in a bottle this year and remain on the menu for all to enjoy.

There is a reason Popeyes is beloved by both casual diners and global food explorers like the late Anthony Bourdain, who told People magazine in 2018, "To me, Popeyes is exotica." The restaurant's popularity has only increased since it released its famous chicken sandwich in 2019. As part of its Halloween promotional menu in 2024, Popeyes released a Ghost Pepper Chicken Sandwich designed to scare diners' taste buds with a spicy ghost pepper sauce. Popeyes hasn't been shy in the past about ramping up the capsaicin levels of its offerings, and the Ghost Pepper Chicken Sandwich may have been the hottest thing it's released yet.

Flavor-wise, this limited-edition sandwich has got everything you love about the Popeyes chicken sandwich. The toasted, buttery bun, the thick-sliced pickles, and the crispy chicken fillet are all here and ready to party. The heat comes from the ghost pepper sauce that is spread across the top and bottom buns. It's definitely a hard sell for those who don't really like their fried chicken spiked with heat, but the sauce itself has plenty of its own flavor, so you're not getting slapped too hard with the hot stuff.

It's tough to top the original McFlurry formula, especially when you can tap into McDonald's secret menu and combine the creamy frozen dessert with the chain's hot apple pie for an instant classic pie a la mode. But then came the introduction of the Grandma McFlurry, which leaned into the pleasurable butterscotch realm of the dessert spectrum, tasting to one reviewer like McDonald's raided your grandma's candy jar. With its ribbon of caramel syrup and crunchy candy sprinkles, this particular iteration of the McFlurry truly whipped up a flavor profile that could only be described as "grandma's house."

While this flavor wasn't as successful as some of McDonald's other promotional desserts, the Grandma McFlurry maintained a level of oddball charm that won our hearts. No one really asked for an ice cream dessert that evoked a level of butterscotch nostalgia that is somehow familiar to everyone with a grandmother, but McDonald's delivered it all the same. Its butterscotch ripple found its way through the entirety of the McFlurry, making sure its trademark flavor was present in every bite. On top of that, the candy sprinkles added a nice cupcake topping experience to the whole dessert. Was the Grandma McFlurry kind of weird? Yes, it was. But that didn't make it any less tasty while it was available.

Now that Starbucks has stopped upselling customers for plant-based milk alternatives, it's time to fully explore the potential of its oat milk options. For example, the Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte introduced in September 2024 leans on the non-dairy milk's natural creamy flavor as the foundation for this pecan pie-inspired latte that checks all the fall flavor boxes. Starbucks may never have a beverage take off with as much caffeinated gusto as its Pumpkin Spice Latte, but this one is an excellent option for those who are after a PSL-ternative.

The Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte is tailor-made for those who find themselves gravitating toward the pecan pie instead of the pumpkin pie during the holiday spread. There's nothing wrong with the latter, but sometimes you just need a concentrated dose of rich caramel and toasted pecans. This rustic blend of flavors is exactly what you get with the Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte. It's ideal for those in need of an autumnal beverage that eschews the Pumpkin Spice Latte cliche.

Somewhere in Wendy's history, the fast food giant learned to wield strips of bacon in the same way that Zeus wields bolts of lightning. When Chowhound ranked every Wendy's burger from worst to best, the most successful ones had "bacon" in their titles. Plus, the Junior Bacon Cheeseburger is known as one of the best value burgers on the fast food market today. So, when Wendy's unveiled its new Mushroom Bacon Cheeseburger toward the end of 2024 for a limited time, we had high expectations.

The Mushroom Bacon Cheeseburger gets plenty of mileage from its bacon strips, but the MVP here is the combo of roasted mushrooms and garlicky spread. Wendy's proves with this new burger that sauce is the boss. When all of these rich, savory flavors come together in each bite, you get a quality of burger that you might find at your local gastropub. This burger also benefits from the use of Muenster cheese, which goes extremely well with the mushroom and bacon flavors. The Junior Bacon Cheeseburger will ever remain the reliable workhorse of the Wendy's menu, but if its more garlicky and mushroomier cousin happens to still be on the menu the next time you visit, make sure to give it a whirl.

It's true that KFC's bone-in chicken is the restaurant's primary selling point, but every so often the Colonel will sneak a supporting dish on the menu that makes us all stop and take notice. In October, KFC debuted its Original Recipe Tenders that would make the Colonel proud of his delicious legacy — they received rave reviews from day one. When KFC released these signature tenders, it also threw down a deep-fried gauntlet and dared other purveyors of chicken tenders to step up.

The Original Recipe Tenders are successful because they don't skimp on KFC's special blend of herbs and spices, but they do get the breading right. It's a formula that was perfected with KFC's nuggets, which placed high in our Chowhound ranking and which have a more pronounced meat-to-breading ratio. This formula almost works better with the tenders since they're comprised of more chicken overall, so all those tasty seasonings have more surface area to work with. With a $5 price point that includes three tenders, fries, and two sauces, these chicken tenders came in hot in 2024, reminding all of us who rules when it comes to fried chicken.

The Churro Fries were originally released as part of Burger King's Halloween menu featuring scary good promotional items from Amazon MGM Studios' animated version of "The Addams Family" and have been popular enough to stick around for a bit. They represent the most recent addition to Burger King's evolving side dish menu that has turned everything from fried chicken to mozzarella sticks into a boxed, fry-adjacent supplement. With a dusting of cinnamon and sugar and a little cup of chocolate sauce for dipping, the Churro Fries quickly became a Burger King fan's go-to when they wanted dessert.

The Churro Fries embody everything you'd want from smaller, bite-sized churros, and they are perfect for those still lamenting the departure of Costco's food court churros. The Churro Fries have the right amount of cinnamon sugar dusting, and each fry is consistently fried to golden brown perfection. The chocolate sauce tastes fine, but it's mainly there to keep those mandibles lubricated as you scarf these little guys down. They may not reach the heady altitudes of Burger King's Hershey's Sundae Pie, but the Churro Fries are a definite win for the chain's dessert menu.

When considering the burger menu at Jack In the Box, it's easy to give preference to the restaurant chain's sourdough melts because they are that good. The introduction of the Sourdough Smashed Jack in November 2024 takes the successful Smashed Jack formula that debuted a year ago and adds a sourdough bun to the mix. With a smashed burger patty and gobs of melted cheese, the original Smashed Jack sold nearly 70,000 burgers on the first day of its release, making Jack In the Box history as the most successful product during a launch week, the company told investors. Combining this formula with the sourdough bun seemed like a no-brainer.

Recapturing the Smashed Jack magic on a sourdough bun did the trick for the Sourdough Smashed Jack. The smashed burger patty maintains its crispy, flavorful character, the melted cheese comes through nicely, and Jack's Boss Sauce remains a tangy complement to the whole situation. The original Smashed Jack remains a delight, but there is something about the toasted sourdough bun that really takes this formula to the next level. On top of that, Jack In the Box offers a Bacon Double Sourdough Smashed Jack for those who really want a deep dive into this new burger.