Popeyes actually fries in beef tallow, which is unusual and genuinely good, but the batter on every piece of chicken carries three artificial dyes plus soybean oil, and the buns, mayo and biscuit dressing are soybean oil too. 23 of 26 main items list a seed oil and 25 of 26 carry an additive.
Popeyes is the rare chain that fries in beef tallow - their own April 2025 ingredient document defines it as "Beef fat, BHT, citric acid, dimethylpolysiloxane", and 16 items go through it. That is genuinely unusual and worth knowing. The problem is everything around the fryer. The Poultry Batter on every piece of bone-in chicken, every tender and every wing lists fd&c yellow #5, yellow #6, red #40 and soybean oil. The brioche bun, the mayonnaise and the buttery biscuit dressing are all soybean oil, so all four chicken sandwiches carry it, and the Cajun Fries are par-fried at the supplier in a canola/soybean/sunflower/cottonseed/corn blend before they ever meet the tallow. 23 of the 26 main items list a named seed oil and 25 of 26 carry an additive - only Blackened Tenders dodge the oil. MSG is in 19 items, BHA or BHT in 17. Popeyes says it aimed to drop artificial colors, BHA/BHT and HFCS by the end of 2025; in this document none of that has landed yet.