The Best Dip For Popeyes Ghost Pepper Wings Skips Using Sauce Entirely

Fans of fast food on the spicier side of the spectrum can always rely on Popeyes to turn up the heat. All of the fried chicken restaurant's chicken options can be made spicy to order, but the Ghost Pepper Wings are reserved for true capsaicin aficionados. Ghost peppers typically rank at a million Scoville Heat Units (SHUs) on the scale used to measure how hot peppers are. That puts these particularly spicy peppers somewhere between the modest jalapeño (8,000 SHUs) and the Carolina Reaper (2.2 million SHUs). Once you get to the millions in SHUs, you know you're playing with fire.

Spicy wing enthusiasts often turn to the cooling powers of creamy ranch dressing, but creative Popeyes fans on TikTok have been perpetuating a new trend as of late. Instead of getting one of the restaurant's dipping sauces, they'll order a side of Mashed Potatoes with Cajun Gravy, give it a healthy stir so everything mixes, and spread the creamy spuds on the wings. It's a trend that has been gaining traction on social media, but is it any good?

On their own, the Ghost Pepper Wings can be a little on the dry side, though they do get a great depth of flavor from the beef tallow deep frying process. The heat is fried right into the breading, so a crunchy mouthful that sets your mouth ablaze really benefits from a bit of moisture and a good amount of starch. Popeyes Mashed Potatoes (which are some of the best fast food chain mashed potatoes, by the way) deliver both of these components to the spicy chicken wings, which keeps the heat from becoming overwhelming.

In addition to providing a way to tamp down the heat levels, Popeyes Mashed Potatoes create an interesting textural contrast. Popeyes makes its chicken wings on the crispy side, so getting a creamy dollop of mashed potatoes along with the crunch of the exterior breading hits all the right textural bases. The slight heat of the Cajun Gravy also pairs nicely with the Ghost Pepper Wings — there's a note of black pepper that adds some nuance to the ghost pepper's slightly sweet and fruity flavor. Next time you're craving some spicy Ghost Pepper Wings, adding a side of Popeyes Mashed Potatoes is definitely worth a try.