The Vegetables That Didn't Make The Cut For Chick-Fil-A's Plant-Based Sandwich - Exclusive

With plant-based foods rising in popularity, perhaps it was only a matter of time before Chick-fil-A hopped on the veggie train. Now, the chain is making waves with the announcement of its brand-new cauliflower sandwich, which just hit test markets around the country. Regardless of how you feel about Chick-fil-A's first non-chicken sandwich, you've got to admire the feat: a whole breaded and fried piece of cauliflower nestled between pickles and two toasted buns that looks, feels, and tastes like a Chick-fil-A classic.

So how did they do it? The chain admits that it spent years developing this plant-based sandwich, from imagining the concept to working with suppliers to testing until the new recipe met Chick-fil-A's flavor and quality standards.

Mashed recently took a trip to the Chick-fil-A test kitchen in Atlanta, Georgia, to get an inside look at the new cauliflower sandwich before it became available to the public. The folks on the inside made it clear what an interesting journey it's been to create a veggie-forward menu item, noting that they basically tried every piece of produce under the sun until they determined that cauliflower was the way to go. They also told us which veggies didn't make the cut and why Chick-fil-A chose to make its plant-based debut with cauliflower.

Chick-fil-A is confident they're putting forth the best possible plant-forward sandwich you can get your hands on. That's largely because, according to the company, they tried and tested every possible veggie-based entree imaginable until they landed on a winner.

We asked Chick-fil-A's Lead Culinary Developer, Chef Stuart Tracy, what went into consideration in the test kitchen until the right recipe was achieved. "Go to the vegetable aisle in the grocery store, and we probably looked at it," he said. "Mushrooms, chickpeas, black beans, red or white beans ... artichokes, green tomatoes, anything that you could either fry or bake or grill. Zucchini, squash, bell peppers."

Seemingly nothing could stand up to cauliflower in terms of flavor and execution — but that's not to say that cauliflower wasn't also run through the gamut before a decision was made. "At one point, I even had a cauliflower falafel thing that was ... we'll call it 'ahead of its time,'" Tracy said.

While a whole cauliflower sandwich wasn't initially top of mind, he said he was introduced to the idea by a Philadelphia chef, Mike Solomonov of Zahav-Goldie. "The fried cauliflower has been on his menu forever. That was the first place I tried it, and I was like, 'Dude, this is insane,'" Tracy said. Considering that cauliflower is already "used as a chicken replacement in a lot of ways," Tracy said all that was left was to "sprinkle some Chick-fil-A coating on it, and it's super delicious."

After testing a whole garden's worth of vegetables, cauliflower was the clear winner for Chick-fil-A's first plant-based menu item. Not only did it prove its inherent durability and versatility in the kitchen, but it was also the most obvious way to please Chick-fil-A fans. "We had some early encouragement at Chick-fil-A," from both corporate staff and taste testers, said Stuart Tracy. "Several hundred people ... told us, 'Hey, this is tremendous and you need to pursue this.'"

Chick-fil-A's Director of Menu and Packaging, Leslie Neslage, agreed, noting that customer preference was always the focal point in selecting the brand's first veggie-forward option. "When we started this journey, we started with ... what does our customer want from Chick-fil-A," she said. "In all of the research and focus groups that we did across the country ... they wanted whole vegetables, and they wanted the unique and craveable taste of Chick-fil-A. That was our guiding light to develop this recipe." 

Chick-fil-A's new cauliflower sandwich is available starting February 13 at select locations in Colorado, North Carolina, and South Carolina.