October 11th, 2025 – It’s Coffee Time, Let’s Talk!
So, I stumbled upon something online recently: a Chick-fil-A sandwich has over 50 ingredients. My first thought was, “Wow, really?” So, I naturally headed to their website, and sure enough, it’s packed with all sorts of things.
I personally like Chick-fil-A. I’ll admit, I’d completely forgotten about the LGBTQ+ controversy they went through a while back and I did boycott them during that time. But it makes me wonder why so many people absolutely adore Chick-fil-A. Seriously, the location near my house can handle four drive-through lines at once, and they deliver your order on the other side of the building almost instantly. It’s truly madness! Oh, and my dog, Sasha, loves to stick her head out the window and bark at them if she doesn’t get a pup cup too. But that’s a story for another time.
Growing up in Atlanta, where Chick-fil-A originated, I mostly saw them in malls. I’ve always really enjoyed them. I’m primarily a burger person myself, but I do appreciate a Chick-fil-A sandwich with just mayonnaise and pickles.
Anyway, I got curious about what exactly is in this sandwich. It’s like a scientific experiment on a bun! I’m talking about ingredients you’d typically see on a cereal box. I went to their website and looked them up listed them below.
Ingredients of a basic chik-fil-a sandwich from chick-fil-a.com
Chicken (boneless, skinless chicken breast with rib meat, water, enriched bleached flour [with malted barley flour, niacin, iron thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], fully refined peanut oil [with dimethylpolysiloxane {an anti-foam agent} added], sugar, salt, monosodium glutamate, pasteurized nonfat dry milk, leavening [sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate], spices, soybean oil, paprika, pasteurized egg), bun (bleached and unbleached enriched flour [wheat flour {malted barley flour, reduced iron, niacin, thiamin mononitrate (Vitamin B1), riboflavin (Vitamin B2), folic acid}], water, sugar, yeast, soybean oil, vital wheat gluten, salt, cultured wheat flour, vinegar, calcium propionate [preservative], organic acids, monoglycerides, sesame flour, DATEM, soy lecithin, enzymes, wheat flour, calcium carbonate, ascorbic acid [dough conditioner], wheat starch, citric acid, potassium iodate, buttered flavored oil [soybean oil, palm kernel oil, soy lecithin, natural flavor, beta carotene]), pickles (cucumbers, water, vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, potassium sorbate [preservative], turmeric extract [color], natural flavor, dill pickle spice, beta carotene [color], garlic emulsion)
Just glancing over this list, it’s pretty wild. I like how the last thing is garlic emulsion. You’ve got aluminum phosphate, bleached and unbleached enriched flour (and yes, this includes the bun, pickle, and everything else). Monosodium glutamate – MSG! Now, before alarm bells start ringing, I don’t subscribe to the MSG myth, but that’s a topic for another blog post. Then there’s vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, enzymes, soy lecithin, niacin, and even nonfat dry milk. But thankfully, the first ingredient is boneless, skinless chicken breast with rib meat. Phew!
There’s so much to it, including malted barley flour. I’m fairly certain that when S. Truett Cathy, the founder, made the first Chick-fil-A sandwich, it didn’t have all of these extras. (Now I’m going to have to look up his name to make sure I got it right!) …I did.
Despite all that, I still like Chick-fil-A. But the absolute best “chicken thing” thing they have? I love their mac and cheese. It’s incredibly good, and has some sort of baked cheese topping. I could honestly just eat that all day.
So, there you have it. This morning, over coffee, I’m reflecting on all the different things that go into a Chick-fil-A sandwich. How many did you count? Did you Google DATEM like I did?
Have a great day, love one another, be good to yourself, and, of course, obey all traffic signals!
Love,
Mark