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IHOP has launched a new menu inspired by a song trending on social media that combines bananas with crispy chicken strips and the company’s signature pancakes.
The price of the new menu “Chicken & Banana Pancakes” varies depending on the store. The meal includes four buttermilk crispy chicken strips and three banana pancakes topped with banana slices.
This meal is based on Crazy Music Channel’s “Chicken Banana” song released in February 2025. The dance track, which consists of just a few lyrics, has been viewed more than 200 million times on YouTube as of late April. The song has also been streamed over 55 million times on Spotify.
IHOP shared on its website, “You heard this song. Now let’s eat.” Picks come with the customer’s choice of sauce, including honey mustard, buttermilk ranch, and IHOP sauce.
IHOP said in an email to USA TODAY that the song “has become a punch line, beat, and meme used in cooking content, comedy skits, dance videos, and more.” The chain also said the promotion will run until May 31st.
The company added, “IHOP asked the obvious question: What if we didn’t tell the joke…what if it was successful?”
USA TODAY reached out to the creators of Crazy Music Channel to get their thoughts on the song’s virality and IHOP’s latest menu addition, but have not heard back.
Pancakes inspired by the viral “Chicken Banana” video and song
In the “Chicken Banana” video, a chicken first appears, but when the artist chants “Chicken, Banana,” the two fuse together, merging the bodies of the chicken and banana. The video also features a chicken DJ bopping its head to the beat and a chicken driving a truck while the song plays.
Michel Petre, CEO of MTM Music, the label that licensed the song, told Box that the hit’s creators wanted to make people laugh.
“Let’s put chicken and banana together,” he told the outlet.
The song was then shared on multiple social media platforms, including a dance video on TikTok. From parents playfully dancing their babies to Bluey’s AI video to “old gays” giving their own performances, “Chicken Banana” has reached a younger, more mature audience.
The Mississippi Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network, reports that the song was also added to Fortnite as a jam track, or song that players can play at the Fortnite Festival.
Okay, but what exactly does “chicken banana” mean?
According to the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger, “chicken banana” has more than one simple meaning. Young people who use this phrase often say it as a stand-in for a question, whether or not it makes sense.
“Like the popular ‘six-seven,’ it has turned into a slang phrase that doesn’t actually mean anything,” media outlet SheKnows explained.
“Six-seven” (sometimes stylized as 6-7 or 67) was Dictionary.com’s 2025 Word of the Year. It became widely popular among Generation Alpha and Generation Z.
Usually children say this while raising one hand and lowering the other hand, palms facing up. The up and down movement gives the appearance of weighing two objects.
Again, no one can say exactly what that means. It mostly depends on what the user wants, but it’s often just a stupid interjection.
This story has been updated with additional information.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s Trends team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – 757. Please send your email to: sdmartin@usatoday.com.
