Dave's Hot Chicken Top-Loaded Fries: What's On Them, Sizes & Calories

Somewhere between a side and a full meal sits the Top-Loaded Fries — a pile of crinkle fries buried under cheese sauce, slaw, pickles, and actual pieces of Dave's chicken. People order it "as a side," then look up ten minutes later wondering where dinner went. Here's exactly what's on it, what it costs, how many calories you're signing up for, and whether it earns its spot in your order.

That's the whole thing in a paragraph. Below: what's actually piled on top, the size-by-size price and calorie table, the cauliflower option, and my honest take on whether to order it. I ate one so you can plan yours with your eyes open.

What are Dave's Top-Loaded Fries?

Top-Loaded Fries take Dave's crinkle-cut fries and load them up like nachos. The standard build stacks on creamy cheese sauce, cooling kale slaw, tangy pickles, a scatter of Dave's Bites (the bite-sized Nashville chicken), and a finish of Dave's Sauce. The result is the same flavor logic as a slider — spicy chicken, creamy sauce, crunchy pickle, cool slaw — just poured over fries and meant for a fork.

It lives in the same corner of the menu as Dave's other loaded items, and it's built for sharing. If you've had a slider and wished it came as a fry basket, this is that wish, granted and then some.

Sizes, prices & calories

Three sizes, and the jump between them is real — both in price and in the calorie count. Here's the full breakdown:

The takeaway: the Small is a genuine side, the Regular is basically a light meal, and the Large is a shared plate — good value at about $8.49 for a pile that feeds two. Prices and calories are estimates and vary by location.

Are they a side or a meal?

Honestly? Past the Small, it's a meal wearing a side's name tag. At 780 calories the Regular is heavier than two tenders, and the Large's 1,230 calories is a full dinner on its own. That's not a knock — it's loaded with cheese sauce and chicken, so of course it's rich — it just means you should treat it accordingly. If you're adding it on top of a combo, you're well past a day's worth in one order; if it is the order, it's reasonable. For the full picture, the calories guide has every item, and the healthiest-order guide has the lighter plays.

The cauliflower (plant-based) version

Good news for the vegetarians at the table: Dave's makes a Cauliflower Top-Loaded Fries, swapping the chicken Bites for breaded fried cauliflower "NOT Chicken" pieces. Same fries, cheese sauce, slaw, pickles, and Dave's Sauce — just plant-based protein on top. It's one of the more satisfying vegetarian orders on the menu, and it comes in the same three sizes.

Is it worth it?

My take: yes, as a shared plate or a standalone meal — no, as an add-on to a full combo. The Large at ~$8.49 is genuinely good value for a loaded pile that easily feeds two, and the mix of spicy Bites, cheese, and cool slaw hits the same notes that make Dave's sliders work. Where people go wrong is treating it as a "little side" next to a full meal — that's how a lunch quietly becomes 2,000+ calories.

Order it at a heat level you can actually taste, split the Large if you're not starving, and treat it as the centerpiece rather than the sidekick. Done that way, it's one of the more fun things on the menu — messy, generous, and built for sharing.