Chick-Fil-A Bottled Parmesan Caesar Salad Dressing Review: Is It Worth Buying?

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Chick-fil-A is known for many things: Its beloved chicken sandwiches and waffle fries, its conservative corporate values (which have led to many Chick-fil-A bans), and even its humorous (but contentious) "Eat Mor Chikin" marketing campaign. The fast food chain isn't satisfied with just selling chicken sandwiches, though — since late 2020, it has expanded its reach to the retail space, offering its fan-favorite Chick-fil-A sauce in grocery stores across the country. On the review docket today is its Parmesan Caesar salad dressing, the newest addition to its line of bottled condiments. In a press release from March 24, the brand claimed the new dressing boasts the "bold, savory taste of Parmesan, with a zesty lemon finish and a hint of garlic." The product is slated to appear on store shelves over the coming weeks.

Drop into any supermarket and you'll likely find at least one Chick-fil-A salad dressing on the shelves. With such varied flavors as Avocado Lime Ranch, Garden Herb Ranch, Creamy Salsa, and Zesty Apple Cider Vinaigrette already available, the new Parmesan Caesar dressing has a high bar to clear. We're going to unpack every aspect of this new offering, from its price to its nutrition, and even how it compares to the brand's other flavors, before conducting a taste test with a bottle provided by Chick-fil-A. Following this taste test, we'll provide some context for how we assessed this sauce and answer a pivotal question: Is this Chick-fil-A salad dressing worth buying?

Many recipes for Caesar dressing start with a mayonnaise base and fill out the flavor profile with ingredients like garlic, anchovies, and Worcestershire sauce, just to name a few. Our homemade Caesar dressing recipe, on the other hand, uses an olive oil base, though it still includes classic additions like Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and anchovies, among others. So, how does Chick-fil-A's new Parmesan Caesar dressing stack up?

A glance at the bottle's ingredients list reveals that the biggest component of this dressing is soybean oil — it's mentioned first, and food manufacturers are required to list ingredients in descending order based on weight. Soybean oil is considered vegan, and its unobtrusive taste makes it useful in countless culinary applications. Unfortunately for those who follow a vegan diet, Chick-fil-A's new dressing does contain animal products like eggs and milk, as well as anchovies, a common component of Caesar dressing. Water appears directly after soybean oil on the list, followed by Parmesan cheese, the condiment's star ingredient. Other noteworthy inclusions are red wine vinegar and lemon juice concentrate, though the mixture also features garlic, salt, distilled vinegar, soy sauce, molasses, and (of course) anchovies in small quantities, among other additions.

Chick-fil-A sells its new Parmesan Caesar salad dressing in a 12-ounce bottle, though the press release announcing the product's arrival failed to provide an estimated price. This was also absent from the information Chick-fil-A sent us along with the sauce, so our closest current estimate comes from the brand's other salad dressings, which are already available in stores.

On Walmart's website, a 12-ounce bottle of Chick-fil-A's Creamy Salsa salad dressing costs $6.75, or about $0.56 per fluid ounce. Target, on the other hand, sells a 12-ounce bottle of the brand's Avocado Lime Ranch salad dressing for $4.89, or $0.41 per fluid ounce. Safeway's website lists both flavors at $4.99, or $0.42 per fluid ounce, so we can surmise that the fast food chain's newest salad dressing will be priced somewhere between $4 and $7 per bottle. Worth noting, however, is that these prices are likely to change based on your location and each store's availability, so keep that in mind when trying to grab a bottle.

As we learned from investigating the potential price of Chick-fil-A's new salad dressing, the brand's condiments are available at plenty of U.S. grocery stores, though, be aware that availability will vary depending on your location. We found multiple Chick-fil-A salad dressing varieties at Walmart, Target, and Safeway, but where else can you potentially snag the fast food chain's new offering when it hits shelves in the next few weeks?

Florida-based grocery chain Publix sells Chick-fil-A's dressings on its website, as does Safeway's parent company, Albertsons (bottles there retail for $5.49 each). Big-box warehouse retail chain Costco, however, does not carry the brand's products, nor does the Cincinnati-based chain Kroger. Ralphs, one of Kroger's subsidiaries, does offer Chick-fil-A's dressings and sauces, however, so your options are far from limited. If you're unsure whether or not the brand's dressing is available at your local supermarket, a quick search of its website should fill you in. Chick-fil-A's website does specify that participating restaurant locations do sell its bottled sauces, though it's unclear whether or not this extends to its salad dressings, and the company's press release announcing the new dressing specified that it will be sold "exclusively in retail stores."

We've already covered the fact that Chick-fil-A's new Parmesan Caesar dressing isn't vegan-friendly, as it contains animal products like milk, eggs, and anchovies, but what else can we learn about this condiment based on its nutritional info? The back of the bottle specifies that a serving size is 2 tablespoons, which is approximately the same amount we added to a bowl of salad for our taste test. The entire bottle contains approximately 12 servings. (If you're interested, this divides out to just over $0.56 per serving if you purchase the most expensive Chick-fil-A dressing we found, while the cheapest bottle costs just under $0.41 per serving.)

A single serving of this Parmesan Caesar salad dressing contains 150 calories and 16 grams of total fat. The saturated fat content is 3 grams. Eating 2 tablespoons of this dressing will give you 1 gram of protein, as well as 5 milligrams of cholesterol and 260 milligrams of sodium. One serving contains less than 1 gram of carbohydrates, and the fiber and sugar content are both listed at 0%. Keep these factors in mind if you're concerned this dressing won't fit into your particular diet.

To taste test Chick-fil-A's Parmesan Caesar salad dressing, we started with the basics and poured just a few drops onto a spoon. By itself, this dressing was vibrant, sharp, and a bit sweet, which we found surprising considering its lack of sugar. This sweetness may have come from the red wine vinegar, which was among the most prominent ingredients. Still, the top-level tasting note was undoubtedly a strong tanginess familiar to even the most casual Caesar salad fan (as the dressing contains both red wine vinegar and distilled vinegar, this is understandable). The Parmesan — which placed third on the ingredients list — did provide a noticeable but pleasant unctuousness, and this cheesy flavor proved to be the most lasting on the palate. We also noted a hint of garlic on the first bite, though this was subtle.

We continued our taste test by pouring approximately 2 tablespoons of Chick-fil-A's Parmesan dressing over a bowl of Caesar salad. Comprising this base was a bed of romaine lettuce (naturally), grilled white meat chicken, a few croutons, and some shredded Parmesan cheese, similar to what you'll find in our simple Caesar salad recipe. With Chick-fil-A's dressing, this salad was savory, hearty, and smooth, and the dressing's Parmesan notes were definitely noticeable thanks to the added cheese. Both the sweetness and garlic we tasted in the dressing's solo test were even less obvious on the salad, though they did come through after a few bites. While this condiment was hardly mind-blowing, it did successfully adhere to each ingredient in the salad.

While we didn't try any other Chick-fil-A salad dressings for this taste test besides its new Parmesan Caesar, we have ranked all of Chick-fil-A's salad dressings in the past. Topping that list is the brand's Avocado Lime Ranch flavor, which our reviewer described as "incredibly creamy, blending together the texture of avocado and ranch into one smooth and rich dressing." Flavor-wise, they also highlighted the "mild herbs and tang of ranch," as well as the lime's citrus. While these two dressings are no doubt very different in taste, we can confirm that the Parmesan Caesar dressing delivered a pleasant tang, cheesy bite, and creamy-smooth texture, indicating that it can hold its own against the brand's other offerings.

Our lowest-ranking Chick-fil-A dressing available in bottle form was its Garden Herb Ranch flavor. While this variety ranked fifth out of seven dressings (several of which are only available in small fast food packets), our reviewer still reported a positive tasting experience, noting the dressing "was thin enough to easily coat the lettuce but thick enough to stick to the leaf and carry its flavor." The same was true of the brand's Parmesan Caesar dressing during our taste test — each romaine leaf received a decent coating, and the dressing's flavor was pleasant without overpowering the other ingredients. The one area where this new offering falls short, however, was also noted in our Garden Herb Ranch review: "[T]his ranch dressing likely won't set the world on fire," our reviewer wrote. Chick-fil-A's Parmesan Caesar dressing, while tasty, lacked any distinctive qualities that you couldn't find in other store-bought options.

At last, the time has come to answer this review's all-important question: Is Chick-fil-A's new Parmesan Caesar dressing worth buying? Our answer is yes — with a few asterisks.

This dressing delivers on its name in a big way: It's super cheesy and undoubtedly Caesar. It seems tailor-made for Parmesan lovers (which describes us to a T), so if that's you, you'll probably enjoy it. Aside from the dressing's slight boost in cheesiness, however, it was practically indistinguishable from any other store-bought Caesar dressing we've tried. Was it bad? No, certainly not — in fact, it was quite tasty — but in our opinion, this product's biggest shortcoming is its lack of originality. Extra cheese does not a unique dressing make. Still, if you're a die-hard Chick-fil-A fan and want to give it a try, we say it's worth a shot.

While the price of this dressing remains to be seen, we did estimate that it will likely cost between $4 and $7 depending on where you find it. If, for example, you're shopping at Walmart, where we found other Chick-fil-A dressings for $6.75 a bottle (the highest price among the grocery stores we checked), you could instead get a 16-ounce bottle of Great Value Caesar dressing for $2.08, which is just $0.13 per fluid ounce. If you prefer name brands, you can snag a 16-ounce bottle of Ken's Creamy Caesar dressing for $3.38 or a 16-ounce bottle of Kraft Classic Caesar for $3.13. Your dressing preference is subjective, of course, but if you're looking for a Caesar dressing that's not just high-quality but also affordable, Chick-fil-A's new offering might not be the bottle for you.

To assess this Parmesan Caesar salad dressing sent from Chick-fil-A, we first tried the condiment by itself. After jotting down a few notes, we then poured some of the dressing over a Caesar salad, adhering to the bottle's recommended 2-tablespoon serving size. Finally, we tossed the components thoroughly to ensure an even coating before taking our first bite.

Our primary metrics for this test were taste and texture. We were looking for a salad dressing with a tangy, slightly sweet flavor profile that was smooth and creamy without feeling too heavy. We also noted whether or not the dressing successfully clung to the salad's other ingredients — after all, no one wants to finish a salad only to find a pool of unused dressing at the bottom. We didn't account for price during our taste test, though we did consider it before making our recommendation.

If you're curious about this Chick-fil-A dressing, keep an eye out for it in your local supermarket. In the meantime, you might want to grab a bottle of the brand's Avocado Lime Ranch dressing — our favorite flavor from this fast food brand. If you're more of a DIY type, it's surprisingly simple to recreate this Chick-fil-A salad dressing at home.