I tried Popeyes’ and Subway’s new ghost-pepper sandwiches. They were inventive, but not spicy enough to give me a real scare.

• Viral trends and Gen Z’s love of spice have inspired new menu items at fast-food chains.
• Popeyes and Subway recently launched their own takes on a ghost-pepper sandwich.
• I tried both and thought they were milder than other spicy sandwiches I’ve had.

While October marks the start of spooky season in the US, about 7,000 miles across the world, in Imphal, a city in Northeast India, it’s the harvest season of Bhut Jolokia, or the ghost pepper as it’s known in the West.

As baskets of blazing-red peppers go on sale at markets across Imphal, fast-food brands in the US start rolling out menu items inspired by the pepper’s fiery flavor, using its name as a nod to Halloween.

The pepper, one of the world’s hottest, has a rating of over 1 million on the Scoville scale — a jalapeño typically has a rating under 8,000 — and is known for amplifying any dish’s heat.

Before becoming Halloween promotion material for fast-food chains, the pepper was the subject of eating challenges on YouTube, such as the “Ghost Pepper Challenge,” where people ate a whole ghost pepper. While spice challenges have existed for years, YouTube competitions and series, such as “Hot Ones,” have gamified the spice-eating experience.

Fast-food brands are now banking on this virality and Gen Z’s love of spicy flavors by adding ghost-pepper items to menus.

For the last two years, Burger King has sold a ghost-pepper Whopper and ghost-pepper chicken fries in time for Halloween. Starting in May 2023, Wendy’s added its own ghost-pepper items to menus, including fries, chicken nuggets, and chicken sandwiches.

And this Halloween, Popeyes, which has already trialed ghost-pepper wings, and Subway are joining them. Both chains launched ghost-pepper-flavored sandwiches earlier this month.

I don’t have a high tolerance for spicy food, but still, like other Gen Zers, I prefer a chicken sandwich with a little kick. My go-to is Chick-fil-A’s spicy deluxe sandwich, which I think gets the heat just right.

I’ve had ghost-pepper-infused food once before — at an Indian restaurant, where I needed a side of yogurt to cool the dish down — so I know how spicy it can be. So when I heard about the new sandwiches, I was curious to see how they’d compare.

Here’s what I discovered when I tried the ghost-pepper sandwich from Popeyes and Subway.