IHOP adds new menu item inspired by viral 'Chicken Banana' song

Saleen Martin and Bonnie Bolden, USA TODAY Tue, April 21, 2026 at 4:05 PM UTC

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Inspired by a now-viral song on social media, IHOP has launched a new menu item that pairs bananas with crispy chicken strips and the company's signature pancakes.

The new menu item, Chicken & Banana Pancakes, costs $17.18 and includes four buttermilk crispy chicken strips and three banana pancakes topped with banana slices.

The meal is based on Crazy Music Channel’s “Chicken Banana” song, released in February 2025. The dance track, made up of just a few lyrics, has over 200 million views on YouTube as of late April. The song also has over 55 million streams on Spotify.

"You've heard the song. Now get the meal,” IHOP shared on its website. The pick comes with the customer’s choice of sauce, including honey mustard, buttermilk ranch or IHOP sauce.

The Chicken & Banana Pancakes Stack at IHOP.

In an email to USA TODAY, IHOP said the song “has become a punchline, a beat, and a meme used across food content, comedy skits, and dance videos.”

The company added, “IHOP asked the obvious question: what if we didn’t joke about it… what if we made it?”

USA TODAY contacted the creators of Crazy Music Channel to get their thoughts on the song’s virality and IHOP’s latest menu addition, but has not received a response.

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Pancakes inspired by viral 'Chicken Banana' video, song

The “Chicken Banana” video features a chicken initially, and then as the artist recites "Chicken, banana," the two are fused – a chicken with a banana for a body. There’s even a chicken DJ in the video, bopping its head to the beat, and a chicken driving a truck by as the song plays.

Michel Petré, CEO of the label MTM Music, which licensed the song, told Vox that the hit's creators wanted to make people laugh.

“You know, let’s just put the chicken and banana together,” he told the outlet.

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The song has since been shared across multiple social media platforms, including in dance videos on TikTok. From parents playfully having their babies dance to AI videos of Bluey and even “The Old Gays” putting on a performance of their own, “Chicken Banana” has reached younger and more mature audiences.

The song has also been added to Fortnite as a Jam Track, or a song players can perform in Fortnite Festival, reported the Mississippi Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network.

The song that inspired the meal: What is 'chicken banana'? Viral song and slang might be new '67'

OK, but what does ‘chicken banana’ even mean?

There’s not one simplified meaning for “chicken banana,” reported the Mississippi Clarion Ledger. Young people who use the phrase often say it as a stand-in answer for any question, whether it makes sense or not.

“It’s morphed into a slang phrase that doesn’t really mean anything, much like the ever-popular 'six-seven,'" the outlet SheKnows explained.

“Six-seven,” (sometimes stylized like 6-7 or 67), was named Dictionary.com’s 2025 Word of the Year. It became widely popular among Gen Alpha and Gen Z.

Children normally say it while holding their palms face up, raising one hand while lowering the other. The up-down motion makes it look like they are weighing two objects.

Again, no one can say for sure what it means. That depends largely on what the user wants, often a silly interjection.

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s trending team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: IHOP uses 'Chicken Banana' song as inspiration for new menu item

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