Chick-Fil-A is a prominent American fast food restaurant, providing primarily chicken-based options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
This ranges from chicken sandwiches, chicken salads, and even chicken-based side dishes such as chicken soups. In addition, you can have your chicken breaded and fried or grilled for a healthier option.
Chick-FIl-A does offer some standard breakfast items without chicken, including egg or sausage sandwiches. They also provide traditional sides for lunch and dinner like fries, though their fries are dressed up as waffle fries, so they are a little more interesting for you.
Many consumers are often concerned about what is actually in their food, especially when eating at fast-food restaurants. For example, are the ingredients fresh and natural, or are you buying low-quality or potentially fake meat?
Does Chick-Fil-A Use Real Chicken in 2024?
Chick-Fil-A uses 100% natural chicken breast, which has not been ground, separated, or modified in any way. As a fast-food restaurant that specializes in chicken, they take their chicken seriously and strive to provide the best product possible, so you keep coming back.
Chick-Fil-A takes consumers’ concerns seriously, ensuring that no steroids or antibiotics are given to the chickens they purchase. They’re also ensuring that the chickens used are not caged and live humanly in barns in the United States.
Many news articles often test and call out fast-food restaurants for how much meat is actually used in products because it’s often cheaper to take real meat and mix it with cheaper fillers.
Check and see if popular fast food chain uses real chicken:
Does Chick-Fil-A Mix Chicken with Other Filler?
Chick-Fil-A does not use fillers in their chicken sandwiches or even their chicken nuggets. You will receive a real full chicken breast in your sandwich, and you will receive real chunks of chicken breast in your nuggets.
Chick-FIl-A does offer breading on their chicken breasts in sandwiches, and of course, there is breading on the nuggets. However, the meat under the breading is untouched and real.
As an almost exclusively chicken-based menu with real chicken, consumers may be wondering if Chick-Fil-A controls the entire chicken journey from farm to table.
Does Chick-Fil-A Raise Their Own Chickens?
Chick-FIl-A does not raise their own chickens. However, they take a hands-on approach to how the chickens are handled and raised
—ensuring that only premium quality products are used, and chickens are raised ethnically and humanely.
Chickens are sourced from a variety of farms, so no specific company or farm is always used for their chickens, which ensures your favorite chicken sandwich is always available.
Chick-Fil-A does however guarantee that all chicken is from the United States and not imported from other countries. The farms providing chickens to Chick-FIl-A span across the entire United States, from California all the way to Florida.
Many consumers are still concerned about the treatment of animals by fast-food restaurants, so they have been moving towards a plant-based diet.
However, they still want the taste of their favorite fast-food restaurant, so many restaurants have started offering plant-based meats as an alternative in the past few years.
Does Chick-Fil-A Have Plant-Based Chicken?
Chick-Fil-A offers a variety of options for vegan or vegetarian customers. However, they do not provide plant-based chicken in any form. Your options at Chick-Fil-A without meat are simply their wraps and salads minus the meat.
Chick-Fil-A has previously discussed plant-based chicken and other meat-less options. However, nothing has been done since 2019, when this was initially addressed. So, I wouldn’t expect a plant-based chicken from Chick-Fil-A soon.
This may make some consumers unhappy, as they’re craving the taste of Chick-Fil-A. The process of what Chick-FIl-A does to their chicken to make it taste so good is simple, so it’s unknown why that same process can’t be done to meat-less options.
What Does Chick-Fil-A Do to Their Chicken?
Most Chick-Fil-A chicken options come in two ways, either breaded or grilled. All chicken is soaked in a pickle brine which ensures tender and juicy chicken no matter what option you pick. The chicken is further seasoned with a variety of spices to give you a unique Chick-Fil-A taste.
Grilled chicken options are further seasoned with a blend of sea salt, lemon, savory herbs, and garlic. They are then grilled on both sides simultaneously using a unique grill to ensure the chicken doesn’t dry out.
Your favorite breaded options at Chick-Fil-A are fully prepared at the restaurant, and they are dipped in an egg and milk wash, breaded by hand, and then pressure cooked in peanut oil to ensure a juicy and tender chicken breast. The breading is a proprietary blend of herbs and seasonings.
With all of this work, consumers may be wondering how processed and handled all of the chicken really is. Consumers today are expecting unprocessed and minimally handled products, even in their favorite fast-food restaurants.
Is the Chicken at Chick-Fil-A Highly Processed?
Chicken at Chick-Fil-A is minimally processed and handled, ensuring you get high-quality and tasty chicken breast in everything you eat at Chick-Fil-A. You don’t need to worry about how many people or different packages processes have been used on your Chick-Fil-A chicken breast.
Chicken breasts are only handled and prepared to the point of making the product. Nothing special is done to the chicken or added to the processing of it.
All chicken breasts are delivered to stores frozen, and they are thawed and then prepared. Chick-Fil-A does not pre-bread their chickens and delivers six times a week. It’s only Sunday that chicken doesn’t get delivered to the restaurant.
There have many many issues in the news of restaurants over-processing their products, which can often lead to health and safety issues for consumers.
Is It Safe to Eat Chick-Fil-A Chicken?
Chick-Fil-A restaurants provide safe products to eat. They do not store their ingredients, including chicken, for long periods, so it’s always fresh and prepared at the restaurant rather than at large processing facilities that could introduce health issues.
Chick-Fil-A is however a fast-food restaurant, so you need to ensure your personal health and safety when consuming products, such as how much salt, oil, and other potentially unhealthy things you eat. You can’t eat in any restaurant all the time and not consider why it may taste better than at home.
Does Chick-Fil-A Use Fake Chicken?
Chick-Fil-A only uses premium, real chicken in all of their products. They use the same chicken breasts for their sandwiches, salads, and chicken nuggets.
They have a rigorous and hands-on quality control process to ensure only the best chicken is used in your food. Therefore, you should have no concerns about fake chicken or where the chicken has come from that is used.
Both the grilled and breaded chicken options originate in the same locations, and it’s simply the preparation of them that differs.
If you’re looking for a high-quality and tasty chicken sandwich, then Chick-Fil-A is likely your best option because that’s all they do.
