Good news for those who want to experience Chick-fil-A awesomeness without the actual chicken.
Starting Feb. 13, the chicken chain will begin selling its first “plant-forward entrée” — the Chick-fil-A Cauliflower Sandwich.
Today Chick-fil-A announced the trial of a unique plant-forward appetizer, the Chick-fil-A™ Cauliflower Sandwich. From Monday, February 13, the sandwich will be available in three selected markets. Read more: https://t.co/rqX4FrUsEy pic.twitter.com/wSERDJloTL
— Chick-fil-A News (@ChickfilANews) February 9, 2023
The newest menu item is made with a cauliflower fillet that’s marinated and breaded in Chick-fil-A seasoning, pressure-cooked, topped with two dill pickle chips, and served between buttery toasted buns.
“Cauliflower is the hero of our new sandwich and is inspired by our original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich,” said Leslie Neslage, director of menu and packaging at Chick-fil-A. “Guests told us they wanted to add more veggies to their diet, and they wanted a plant-forward entree that tasted uniquely Chick-fil-A.”
Chick-fil-A’s first meatless sandwich will be available for a limited time in three markets: Denver; Charleston and the Greensboro-Triad region of North Carolina.
A spokesperson for the company told CNN that the starting price is $6.59, which may vary by market.
Related: “We’ve Been an Elite Restaurant”: Chick-fil-A Manager started by offering a three-day work week. It now has 100 percent management retention.
Meatless food is becoming mainstream
Plant-based options have infiltrated fast food restaurants in recent years, with chains such as KFC, McDonald’s and Taco Bell offering meatless menu items.
Last summer, Burger King introduced a vegetable version of the Original Chicken Sandwich, replacing the chicken with Impossible Chicken Patties.
But this is Chick-fil-A’s very first vegetarian offering.
Why cauliflower?
Stuart Tracy, Chick-fil-A’s lead culinary developer, said the company has been experimenting with different plant-based options for the past four years.
“Our culinary team brainstormed and explored everything from mushrooms to chickpeas to chopped vegetables formed into patties, but we kept coming back to the cauliflower fillet,” he said.
Tracy added that many taste testers mistook the cauliflower sandwich for the original.
“When most people think of a plant-forward sandwich, they might picture a patty formed from sliced vegetables, but this sandwich is what you might call a cauliflower steak. It’s real cauliflower,” Tracy said.
But is it vegetarian?
Although the new Chick-fil-A Cauliflower Sandwich is “plant-forward,” it’s not vegetarian.
“This is made with cauliflower, pickles, bread, milk and eggs. If that works for your definition of vegetarian, great,” Neslage said. USA today. “But it’s not isolated in our kitchens. We have chicken all day, every day, and that’s not going away, so we want to be very upfront and open and honest with our customers.”
