The Worst Ways To Make A Cauliflower Sandwich, According To A Chick-Fil-A Chef - Exclusive

If you've been lucky enough to get your hands on a cauliflower sandwich from Chick-fil-A, then chances are, you get the hype. If you're like most of the country who has to wait until the brand-new veggie-forward sandwich makes its way to locations nationwide, then let us be the first to tell you — you're in for a treat. This sandwich is Chick-fil-A's first foray into plant-based entrees, and after nearly five years of development and testing, the chicken chain has achieved quite a feat: creating a vegetable sandwich that is completely on par with its famous original chicken sandwich.

How exactly did the chain do it? "A lot of trial and error," according to its Lead Culinary Developer, Chef Stuart Tracy, who spoke with Mashed during a recent visit to Chick-fil-A's test kitchen to be one of the first to try the new menu item. Tracy confirmed that the company tried and tested nearly every veggie imaginable before determining that cauliflower was the best base for a Chick-fil-A plant-forward entree. But if you're familiar with this trendy vegetable, then you know just how versatile it is, which is both a blessing and a curse when you're designing a new menu concept from the ground up. "It's tricky because it's such a natural product, and it grows how it wants to grow," said Tracy, adding that there were lots of things to consider when it came to turning this sandwich from idea to reality.

It wasn't a simple task determining the best way to prepare cauliflower to delight the taste buds of Chick-fil-A fans. But somehow, the chain figured it out. Along the way, Chef Tracy confirmed he also discovered the worst possible ways to make a cauliflower sandwich.

There are so many ways you can feature cauliflower in your recipes with delicious success. There are also a lot of ways that it can go horribly wrong. The chefs in the Chick-fil-A test kitchen are arguably experts at all things cauliflower, after spending years testing every possible way to cook the veggie for the chain's first plant-forward sandwich.

For starters, Chef Stuart Tracy says "just using a raw head of cauliflower" to make a cauliflower sandwich is not going to end well: "Free advice — it does not work." The cruciferous veggie is very crunchy and quite mild in flavor, and if you're going to bite into it like a filet of chicken, it needs to be tender. Chick-fil-A achieves the perfect flavorful bite by pressure-cooking whole pieces of cauliflower and marinating them in a secret blend before they get breaded, fried, and nestled between toasted buns.

While fresh cauliflower takes some extra effort to make it sandwich-worthy and has a shelf life to consider, Chef Tracy noted that this is definitely better than opting for frozen cauliflower in almost any scenario. He said trying to work with this veggie in frozen form "doesn't work because it's kind of sweaty and smelly and wet ... It's not great most of the time." Bottom line: For your best cauliflower creations, stick with fresh, don't skimp on the seasoning, and don't try to fry it raw. Or better yet, just save yourself the trouble and try out Chick-fil-A's tried-and-tested cauliflower sandwich.

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