I Tried Bojangles' Pimento Cheese and It Made Everything Better
In the South, the pantheon of fast-food fried chicken joints includes, in alphabetical order, Bojangles', Biscuitville, Chick-fil-A, Church's, KFC, and Popeye's. Depending on where you grew up, your allegiance is going to waver toward one or another pretty strongly. I'm solidly in the Bojangles' camp, having been pulled out of many a bleary college Sunday morning after a hard night's drinking by refueling on a hot and greasy Cajun Chicken Biscuit with a side of (always overly) Seasoned Fries. So good—salty and with just the right amount of butteriness to make for such a great hangover meal.
I've grown up in my culinary sections, though (and cut back severely on the binge-drinking nights), so I don't often give the fried chicken joint my business. But, they just added a limited-time addition to their menu: pimento cheese. A Southern staple, if you don't know, pimento cheese is simply sharp cheddar cheese (or Velveeta in a pinch) mixed with pimentos, or cherry peppers, and mayo. You can make it chunky with shredded cheese or go the smooth route—a pimento cheese sandwich is one of the special treats you can get at the annual Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. So when Bojangles' dropped the pimento cheesy bomb, I had to step up and give my old after-drinking buddy another go.
What are Bojangles' pimento cheese offerings?
The Pimento Cheese Biscuit and the Cajun Chicken Biscuit with Pimento Cheese are on the menu, but you can also ask staffers to add pimento cheese to any of their offerings. When I pulled up at a local joint in Raleigh, North Carolina, I didn't ask for it on a fried chicken leg or garden salad, though. I went straight for the chicken biscuit.
How does the Bojangles' pimento cheese taste?
The addition of pimento cheese is a welcome one. If you're a fan of Bojangles' and pimento cheese, you could do worse than stopping by and sampling the add-on, no matter what you decide to plop it on top of. (Adding it to the macaroni and cheese or dirty rice could be genius.) I ordered a side of just the cheese to make sure I'd be able to truly taste what they came up with, and it hits all of the right Southern cuisine spots for pimento cheese. It's silky smooth with just a bit of cheese chunk, not too much mayo to make it overly bitter or gloppy, and a nice spicy kick from the pimentos.
Final verdict
When added to the chicken sandwich, the pimento cheese helped tone down the inherent saltiness of the Cajun spice and melded well with the buttery bite of the firm-yet-crumbly texture of the thick biscuit.
If you visit Bojangles' for a late-night snack, a regular lunch stop, or an early-afternoon meal after a Saturday night blowout, don't hesitate to add a bit of pimento cheese to your meal. The creamy cheese made the Cajun Chicken Biscuit a better sandwich, and it could elevate plenty of other dishes, too. Bojangles hasn't announced when the pimento cheese's "limited time" run at the restaurant will end. So if you want to try this cheesy sauce, you might not want to wait.
