The Chick-Fil-A Sandwich Recipe Is Older Than You Might Think

Chick-fil-A earns that uppercase "A" in its name for many reasons. For starters, the chicken sandwich chain has been named "America's favorite restaurant” for eight years running, according to a tweet by the American Customer Service Index. Americans might not be as enamored with fast-food restaurants as they once were, but Chick-fil-A once again earned a score of 83, the highest score among fast-food restaurants and a couple points ahead of second-place finisher Jimmy Johns (via the New York Post).

Chick-fil-A has said its successes in the fast-food universe are directly linked to its customer service, which gives top priority to communicating with customers and focusing on the quality of food served over the number of stores, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But, let's not overlook the importance of the chain's original chicken sandwich. It has spawned legions of imitators, and fans of the reigning fried chicken sandwich empire would surely give it an A. The sandwich has been around a long time — long before the existence of the modern-day Chick-fil-A secret menu.

You could call the Chick-fil-A original chicken sandwich a golden oldie. It has been a menu superstar for nearly 60 years. After much experimentation and trial and error, S. Truett Cathy introduced the forerunner of the fast-food chicken sandwich at his Dwarf House restaurant near Atlanta, Georgia, in 1964 (per Chick-fil-A). The recipe and the ingredients for building the sandwich haven't changed since then (per Reader's Digest).

According to Chick-fil-A, Truett Cathy spent several years tinkering with and tweaking the breading and approximately 20 seasonings to get it just right. What we now know and love as the original chicken sandwich pre-dates the Chick-fil-A of today: The first Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in an Atlanta mall in 1967 (per Insider).

Beyond the toasted and buttered buns and two dill pickle slices that go on each sandwich, the recipe is a secret. This much is known: Each chicken filet is cut by hand, dunked in a mixture of egg and water, and dredged in seasoned bread coating before being pressure-cooked in peanut oil, (via Chick-fil-A). Many food bloggers and recipe websites have tried to crack the code to create copycat chicken sandwich recipes, but only Chick-fil-A insiders know the ingredients as the recipe is stored in a safe at company headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.