Chick-Fil-A Soup: What To Know Before Ordering

Chick-fil-A is one of America's most popular fast food restaurants. The chain, founded in 1946 by Truett Cathy is known for its breaded chicken sandwiches, waffle fries, and secret sauce. The restaurant has had its share of controversies surrounding past contributions to anti-LGBTQ organizations, according to Vox, but that doesn't stop it from taking the number five spot in QSR's Top 50 Fast Food Restaurant Chains in America rankings, beating out giants like Wendy's and Burger King — even though all locations are closed on Sunday. The reason why you can't get a delicious chicken sandwich on Sunday, by the way, is so that the restaurant's employees could set aside one day to rest and worship, if they chose, according to the restaurant's site. 

Though Chick-fil-A is known for its sandwiches, there's a whole range of food available on the menu. Guests can choose from salads, grilled nuggets, fruit cups, macaroni and cheese, and breakfast items. The restaurant even offers a comforting bowl of soup. 

In keeping with its chicken lover's theme, Chick-fil-A offers chicken noodle soup on its menu. The soup is available in a cup or bowl, and comes with saltine crackers on the side. Although prices may vary by location, a cup of soup costs around $2.65 and a bowl of soup costs about $5.29. Extra crackers can be ordered on request. 

Though the chicken noodle soup remains on the Chick-fil-A menu year round, a seasonal chicken tortilla soup usually returns to Chick-fil-A during the fall and winter months, according to the Chicken Wire, a blog dedicated to Chick-fil-a news. 

Soup at Chick-fil-A starts with the same chicken used in all its products. According to its website, the chicken is boneless, skinless chicken breast meat, without rib meat. Grilled chicken is also used in the soup, which is prepared with chicken broth). 

Vegetables in the soup are a mirepoix base of carrots, onion, and celeries. Other ingredients include egg noodles, salt, monosodium glutamate, sugar, mustard, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, sugar, vinegar powder, chicken fat, potato flour, yeast extract, lemon juice extract, soybean oil, butter, salt, citric acid, sulfites, milk wash, and other ingredients.

A bowl of warm chicken noodle soup is the ultimate comfort food. But how healthy is it? Per Chick-fil-A's website, a bowl of Chick-fil-A chicken noodle soup contains 255 calories, 5.5 grams of gar, 34 grams of carbs, and 16 grams of protein. Meanwhile, a cup of Chick-fil-A chicken noodle soup contains 145 calories, 3.6 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs, and 9 grams of protein. 

The soup also contains a lot of sodium: 1,130 mg in a cup, and a little less than 2,000 mg of sodium in a bowl. According to FDA guidelines, an adult should limit their daily sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg a day — and much less for children under 14. While enjoying a bowl of Chick-fil-A soup once in a while is considered an indulgence, you should consider your overall sodium intake when enjoying your meal. 

People with severe peanut allergies should be aware that the soup also contains peanut oil, according to the company website's nutritional information.

According to the Chicken Wire blog, people have been enjoying Chick-fil-A's chicken noodle soup since 1982. It wasn't until 2017 that Chick-fil-A changed its flat egg noodles found in the soup to curly noodles. The noodles, known as mafalda noodles (or mafaldine noodles), have curly, ribbon-like edges. The flat noodles have ridges on both sides and are designed to hold onto sauces and originated in Naples, Italy. The noodles, also known as reginette noodles, are usually served with light sauces, making them perfect for soups.

In this case, the curly noodles are favorable because they don't fall off the plastic spoons as easily. With a noodle that can cling to the spoon, soup lovers can now enjoy spoonfuls of noodle-and-soup together. 

The noodle transition actually started in 2016, but became nationwide in 2017. The actual taste of the soup remain unchanged, according to Angela Wadlington, Chick-fil-A chef and culinary manager. 

If you crave Chick-fil-A's chicken noodle soup but like the convenience of cooking at home, there are a host of different "copycat" recipes online. Sunday Supper Movement offers a recipe that uses a whole chicken, carrots, celery, egg noodles, onions, olive, oil, fresh parsley, and garlic cloves to make a fragrant soup. The easy recipe takes just a few minutes to prepare and a few hours to simmer. Sarah Halstead also has a recipe that saves even more time by using a store-bought lemon pepper rotisserie chicken.

If you're craving the seasonal Chick-fil-A chicken tortilla soup and your local restaurant isn't carrying it now, there are plenty of "copycat" recipes to choose from. Recipe blog Sunday Supper Movement offers a recipe that takes under an hour to make. The recipe, which claims to be even better than the restaurant version, uses two kinds of beans, corn, and rotisserie chicken to make a hearty soup for your family.