The eighth wonder of the world: looking into a full chicken bucket. / Courtesy of @intothefoodieverse on Instagram.
The 2024 World Series at Yankee Stadium is one of the hottest tickets in the sports world. Realistically, only some of us have $1,000 to spare on a single ticket, and fewer have the means to travel to the Bronx.
But never fear. A Yankee Stadium staple can be easily made in the comfort of your own home for the upcoming series: the Mastercard chicken bucket. This item is served in a MasterCard-emboldened plastic bucket adorned with the New York City skyline. These ten tenders served over a generous amount of fries are a dream come true. And not to mention—they also come with a liter of Pepsi.
To offer a disclaimer: no chicken will ever compare to a tender eaten in the bleachers of Yankee Stadium. However, replicating this chicken bucket at home is fairly easy and possible to make in the same $20 budget.
The Chicken Tenders
This element will make or break your chicken bucket. A poor selection of chicken tenders makes your meal simply a bucket of fries—and we don’t want the Mastercard Bucket-of-Fries.
What makes the chicken bucket so special is the quality of the tenders. They’re perfectly breaded and juicy, a tough combination to come by. You want the tenders to stay crispy on the outside but not get too dry. And if you ask me, there’s one frozen chicken brand that does this better than the rest: Just Bare.
The Just Bare Tenders are exemplary. You can get these tenders for 11.99 per bag at Target. They are the perfect combination of a crispy breading with juicy chicken. These tenders cook best in an air fryer if you have one. I’ve tried them in the oven as well, but tenders generally don’t crisp up very nicely in the oven unless you’re extremely patient. If you’re feeling especially committed, a deep fryer would better replicate the Yankee Stadium feel. Alas, that’s not easy to do, and few keep a deep fryer in their homes.
The Fries
I’m not as picky about the fries as I am about the chicken. A good dipping sauce can make up for only mediocre fries. However, here’s my pick:
McCain Straight Cut Fries are a safe bet. The only rule we have for the Mastercard Fries is that they are straight-cut and mid-thickness. These come at about $5.49 per bag. The packaging is very generic-looking, but don’t let that deceive you. These fries are considerably better than any aesthetically-packaged frozen fries.
The Sauce
The only rule: the sauce of choice must be honey mustard or barbeque sauce. The Mastercard Chicken Bucket deserved more than ketchup.
The barbeque sauce that comes with the chicken bucket, should you opt for it, is the “Alabama Slammer” sauce. Though, unfortunately, I couldn’t find a place to buy it online. As an alternative, Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbeque Sauce is a classic. This sauce is about $3.19 at Target and is a perfect addition to a strong chicken bucket.
Honey mustard is hard to come by at Yankee Stadium, but it’s worth the effort. Concessions don’t offer honey mustard at the condiment bar, but some will have honey mustard on hand if asked. Bobby’s Burgers (in section 132) and Fuku (in sections 109 and 213) both serve honey mustard. That said, the best honey mustard to get for your chicken bucket recreation is either Ken’s ($4.29 at Target) or, again, Sweet Baby Ray’s ($2.69 at Target). Though Ken’s is technically a dressing, the honey mustard works great as a dipping sauce. But if you’re a purist and need a sauce designed for dipping, Ray’s is your best bet.
The Bucket
If you’re like me and crazy enough to stash Yankee Stadium buckets in your house, you’re all set for the final piece of your meal. But if you never had the desire to transport a greasy, used bucket back home with you after a game (I don’t blame you), let’s find the next best bucket.
The only rule here is that you have to eat out of plastic. If I can’t taste the microplastics leaching into my hot chicken and fries, then I’m not having a real experience. So, a big plastic bowl would be a safe bet for assembling a chicken bucket. Even better than that would be a movie theater popcorn bucket—handle and all. If you’ve got the handle, you can anxiously pace your floors, bucket in hand, when Clay Holmes is inevitably called in to close a game this weekend.
Edited by Brooke Weinrich
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