Chick-fil-A Is About to Sell Its New Chickenless Sandwich. What's In It?

Starting next week, the chicken chain will test its 'plant-forward' sandwich in three cities.

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ByJonathan Small

Good news for those who want to experienceChick-fil-A精彩而不实际的鸡。

Starting on February 13, the chicken chain will start selling its first "plant-forward entrée" — the Chick-fil-A Cauliflower Sandwich.

The latest menu item is made with a cauliflower filet that's marinated and breaded in Chick-fil-A seasoning, pressure cooked, topped with two dill pickle chips, and served between buttery toasted buns.

"Cauliflower is the hero of our new sandwich, and it was inspired by our original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich," said Leslie Neslage, director of menu and packaging at Chick-fil-A. "Guests told us they wanted to add more vegetables into their diets, and they wanted a plant-forward entrée that tasted uniquely Chick-fil-A."

Chick-fil-A's first meatless sandwich will go on sale for a limited time in three markets: Denver; Charleston, and the Greensboro-Triad region in North Carolina.

A company spokespersontold CNNthat the starting price is $6.59, which could vary by market.

Related:'We've Been An Elite Restaurant': Chick-fil-A Manager Started Offering a Three-Day Workweek. It Now Has 100 Percent Management Retention.

Meatless food goes mainstream

Plant-based options have infiltratedfast food restaurantsfor the past few years, with chains such asKFC,McDonald's, andTaco Belloffering meatless menu items.

Last summer,Burger King introduced a plant-basedversion of its Original Chicken Sandwich, replacing the chicken with Impossible Chicken Patties.

But this is the first-ever veggie offering from Chick-fil-A.

Why cauliflower?

斯图尔特·特蕾西菲尔的主要烹饪开发eloper, said the company has been experimenting with various plant-based options for the past four years.

"Our culinary team brainstormed and explored everything from mushrooms to chickpeas to chopped vegetables formed into patties, but we kept coming back to the cauliflower filet," he said.

Tracy added that many taste testers mistook the cauliflower sandwich for the original.

"When most people think about a plant-forward sandwich, they might picture a patty molded from chopped vegetables, but this sandwich is what you could call a cauliflower steak. It's real cauliflower," Tracy said.

But is it vegetarian?

While the new Chick-fil-A Cauliflower Sandwich is "plant-forward," it is not vegetarian.

"This is made with cauliflower, pickles, bread, milk, and eggs. If that works for your definition of vegetarian, awesome," Neslage toldUSA Today. "But it is not isolated in our kitchens. We have chicken all day, every day, and that's not going away, so we want to be very candid and open and honest with our customers."

Jonathan Small

Entrepreneur Staff

Editor in Chief of Green Entrepreneur

Jonathan Small is editor-in-chief ofGreen Entrepreneur, a vertical from Entrepreneur Media focused on the intersection of sustainability and business. He is also an award-winning journalist, producer, and podcast host of the upcoming True Crime series, Dirty Money, andWrite About Nowpodcasts. Jonathan is the founder ofStrike Fire Productions, a premium podcast production company. He had held editing positions atGlamour,Stuff,Fitness, andTwistMagazines. His stories have appeared inThe New York Times, TV Guide,Cosmo,Details, andGood Housekeeping. Previously, Jonathan served as VP of Content for the GSN (the Game Show Network), where he produced original digital video series.

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