After the ruckus I caused a few weeks ago by posting the ~100 ingredients in a Chick-fil-A sandwich on my Facebook Page and writing an article entitled “Chick-fil-A or Chemical-fil-A” about the harmful effects of those ingredients….I did some thinking about one particular comment I received regarding how someone didn’t want to give up Chick-fil-A because they had already given up so many other food vices in their life.
I wanted to expose Chick-fil-A because I find it atrocious that companies can legally feed you a combination of chemicals that are known to have disastrous effects on your health. I find it even more disturbing when very smart people are easily fooled into thinking something may be a healthier option because of misleading marketing. Well I am here to tell you – You can have your Chick-fil-A and eat it too! Even on Sunday! All without any life threatening chemicals…. You don’t have to go in life without – I really think you can have it all – especially if you have the right tools and information to navigate through the food world. As a firm believer of this statement…..I found a way to make a Chick-fil-A sandwich with the least possible harm to your body. This Chick-Fil-A sandwich won’t give you a sugar high. Or destroy your brain cells from MSG. Or give you toxin induced sluggishness after you eat it. Or more cravings for food even though you are full. Or cause you life long struggles with autoimmune disorders, diabetes, or heart disease. IMO, this recipe isn’t the best thing you can put in your body, but it won’t slowly kill you overtime either. So if you really are craving Chick-fil-A and don’t want to give it up – Make my “Open on Sunday Sandwich.” It takes a total of less than 30 mins to prepare. It takes more time to drive to Chick-fil-A than to make this sandwich. And the best part – It tastes very close to the real thing. Pretty amazing, huh?
- 2 chicken breasts equaling about 1 pound
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 cup pickle juice
- 12 pickle slices
- 3 tbsp white or apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ tsp paprika
- 1 cup flour of your choice (I used spelt)
- 1 tbsp powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp dry mustard
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- olive oil or coconut oil
- 4 sprouted whole wheat hamburger buns or buns of your choice
- 1 tbsp butter
- Marinating:
- About 4 hours before or the day before – Cut chicken breasts in half making 4 similar size pieces
- With a meat tenderizer or small hammer pound the chicken to ½ inch thick
- Sprinkle salt, pepper and ½ tsp paprika to both sides of chicken
- Place chicken in 1 cup pickle juice and let marinate for at least 4 hours to one day prior to baking
- Baking:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees
- Place pickle slices in vinegar and let marinate while you prep the chicken
- In a bowl, combine and stir flours, sugar, baking soda, 1 tsp paprika, dry mustard and set aside
- In another bowl, whisk egg and almond milk together
- Remove chicken from marinade and dredge one piece of chicken at a time in egg bath, ensuring each side is wet and dredge in flour mixture coating each sidePlace each flour coated chicken piece on a wire rack with pan on bottom
- Spray each piece liberally with olive oil or coconut oil covering both sides
- Place tray of chicken in oven
- After 12 mins, turn each piece of chicken over mid way through baking
- After about 25 mins – 30 mins, chicken should be completely cooked and crispy
- Take out of the oven and let rest at least 5 mins
- While chicken is resting, butter buns and place in oven for 3-5 mins
- Take buns out of oven, place 3 pickles on bottom bun and chicken on top and ENJOY!
- If you really like white flour buns – pick ones with just the minimal ingredients, no harmful additives and organic if possible.
If you know a friend or family member who still frequents Chick-fil-A – please share this recipe with them, you could be a life saver!
Xo,
Vani
Thanks, Can’t wait to make this with my kids. They love cooking with Daddy, they will enjoy helping make healthy versions of CHick-fil-A that they love. (They are 3, 7, and 9). My 7 and 9 year old also love Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution
Now if only you could crack the spicy chicken recipe…. MmmMmmmmMMmmmMMmmmmM!!!!
I’m guessing if you sprinkled in some cayenne in the flour, or added some hot sauce to the egg mixture (or both), you would get something close to the spicy recipe.
I bet – great idea!
Thank you so much for your post about the harmful and numerous ingredients in this sandwich! Even more though, thank you for providing an awesome alternative, I cannot wait to try it with my family. We love Chick-Fil-A, but these ingredients are not worth it; furthermore, it is the reason I have avoided all other fast food restaurants. Your article caused me to think critically and allow the ingredients to speak for themselves. I do not want my children eating this anymore.
What if you don’t use the pickle juice–is there an alternative? I don’t like pickles anyway.
Maybe a lot of salt and spices?
I heard somewhere that one other main herb they use is dill. Which makes sense, because the pickles are dill pickles. So maybe if you eliminate the pickle juice and use dill it would work out well.
Made chicken nuggets tonight based on this recipe (yummy)…will have to try the sandwich next time!
Thanks for sharing Kelly!
Two questions– what can I use instead of almond milk? Regular milk? My kids are allergic to nuts. Also, if you’re going to make nuggets, do you cut them before or after you marinate the chicken? Thanks!!
You could certainly use regular milk. Also – you could cut up the chicken before marination. Good Luck!
Making a home made Chick-fil-A might be healthier, but knowing the Cathy family that owns Chick-fil-A I will still buy one there. They are an outstanding Christian company that offers free sandwiches to the highschool kids on prom night (to try to keep them sober), have an amazing camp in Rome GA where they allow underprivelidged kids to go and Truitt has adopted numerous children and has several houses on the campus with families he’s facilitated in the adoptions. They all call him “Grandpa”. He also used to go to camp and sit and visit with the kids during lunch and teach their Sunday service while there. He’s taught Sunday School for years and I admire how they don’t hold it open on Sunday, strong Christian values. Haven’t heard of another food company that has such an outstanding Christian base and does such an outreach to help others. So sometimes it’s OK to eat a few chemicals and support their mission. But I’m also going to try the home version in case I want one on a Sunday!
Karla,
I agree totally agree with you…love this company and what it stands for and for what they’ve done for the community. But just a thought…could you just maybe make a donation straight to the camp (maybe in honor of someone) and that way you’re still supporting them without ingesting all of the chemicals? Just a thought 🙂
My question is why is all that chemical junk needed to make good food? They are a Christian company that does alot to help others so why would they not ALSO want to help people be healthy and serve food that isn’t laidened with chemicals that are harmful is so many ways. My guess is profit, unfortunately even good Christian people/companies get caught up in consumerism and greed. People have been making healthy foods for years with out chemicals and my quess is when they started the company the food was made with far less junk additives. So why not return to a healthier option. Surely they can understand the basics of serving healthy food and how much MORE money they would actually make because health conscience people would flock (ha pun intended) to them. Me personally, I hold them to a higher standard being a Christian company they have an obligation to do the right thing. IMHO
AMEN !
Very well said.
Truitt Cathy looks pretty healthy to me. At least his sandwiches haven’t killed him. Get A Life. We all loves chicken.
What do they stand for? Feeding garbage to fat people everywhere to make them fatter? Giving money to groups that promote hate? Sounds like something you should be very proud of!
Are you going there to worship god? Because I think there are other places you can do that. I’m glad the Cathy family is doing good things in your local community (nobody ever said they don’t do good things). But don’t think they are doing good things in every community. They are just a fast food joint in Sacramento, CA. If they offered free sandwiches everywhere they have a franchise, they would be bankrupt in a day. Just sayin’.
But, as Amy says, maybe skipping a CFA meal and giving that money instead to a charity of your choice would be more effective than the 10 cents on the sandwich that CFA gives. Just a thought.
In my mind, any good things they might do are negated by their stance on homosexuality. That’s just my opinion. Obviously, the original poster has another feeling about the matter, but I guess we cancel each other out.
Agree completely. This company is morally bankrupt & doesn’t deserve anyone’s adoration. They give money to hate groups! Fat Americans & their love of fast food – so sad.
They also contribute money to hate groups, and to the obesity problem in America. I have no qualms about getting them out of my life and my kid’s diet.
Couldn’t agree more!
I agree 100%! Besides, one would have to consume a tremendous amount of these on a daily basis in order to be harmed by any of these chemicals. As for me, I will continue to support this fine organization.
What a ridiculous post. So because they have “Christian values”, i.e. they proudly discriminate against gays, that excuses the fact that they serve garbage to the already morbidly obese population of America? Oh, what humanitarians! They rake in billions of dollars, give a little to charity & so let’s excuse their totally archaic, misguided “values” & wolf down their very questionable “food”? Fast Food Nation. Look it up.
Don’t make me laugh. This is not a “fine organization”. It’s a fast food restaurant chain that makes tons of money off of fat, lazy, uninformed Americans who love to wolf down garbage. I guarantee a lot of these posters are very unhealthy & overweight & don’t hesitate to feed the “toxic waste dump of chemicals” to their overweight kids. It’s sad really. Also, you maybe believe they give money to charity but what they definitely do is give money to hate groups to promote their ridiculous biblical agenda. Why are Americans so ignorant? It’s 2013, catch up with the rest of the world.
Ugh, to the Christian values angle–come on really? I’m Christian and who cares how you pray to God or what you ‘do’ for others, if you are feeding crap to people and making them sick that is a sin. get a new perspective-
What does any of the family’s personal life or ventures have to do with the chicken ingredients? Good Grief man, stop with the religious fantasy crap!
Only problem on the above “Danger” picture is that it has a mighty good looking chicken on it. The actual chicken in the Chick-Fil-A sandwich most likely can’t even stand and is covered in poop.
Good one Katy!
Thank you so much!! This is such an awesome recipe and I can’t wait to try it. Food Babe, YOU ROCK!!!!!!!
How necessary is it to marinate for 4 hours? How about just one hour? Due to my time & schedule, if it does require the 4 hours, I may need to do it overnight or only make this only on weekends. 🙂 I’m anxious to try it!
Also, unfortunately, I do not have one of those cooking racks. I may have to invest depending on how good this turns out. 🙂
so…………..I have made this THREE times, each time better than the last. I have 3 teenage boys, we live in ATLANTA, so chick-fil-a is served at the friggin school :-(……………anyway, I marinated the chicken (free-range organic trader joes) for 4 days (only because my weekly menu was altered due to my birthday and going out to eat) So after marinating for 4 days the chicken was RIDICULOUS……I sprinkled cayenne pepper on after cooking on both sides for the “Spicy” ones………….and the boys asked for me to PLEASE MAKE THIS MORE OFTEN 🙂 my husband said it was BETTER than the fast-food poison version!!! SWEET!!! I cannot express enough gratitude to you FOOD BABE you are AMAZING!!!!!
I like your version of the spicy! I am glad I saw this, I was going to ask the same thing! 🙂
Vani/Foodbabe, Thank you so much for this incredibly clean version of that toxic chicken sandwich we all love to hate (love, but hate? hate, but love? ugh!) My 15 year old is hooked…thank GOD! I cannot believe how great it is and how similar in taste it is. We are doing a huge transformation at our house (and in our lives) of removing all chemicals, toxins, preservatives, etc… from our food and other things. I am inspired by your tenacity and tireless work/research and love that you always have a solution or recipe to offer! WE also live in Charlotte and I have been loving all the local finds as well! My favorite so far— Luna’s green machine juice– it’s cold pressed heaven!! Thank you, thank you!! xxoo
Thanks Amy – Love hearing this feedback.
The Breadsmith buns for the Chix Sandwich contains Canola oil which you claim is made cheaply by using Hexane to extract the oil, Do Breadsmith products use Hexane free oils?
I was disappointed to see the spray can in the recipe. What brand do you use? What does that brand use as the “propellant”? Have you done any research on the toxicity of propellants?
Don’t worry, I’m sure it wasn’t a store-bought spray can with propellants! To limit the amount of oil you use (rather than over-coating food or pans), you can buy a travel-size sprayer at any drug store for under $2, wash it, and fill it up with your own oil. It just uses your own finger’s power to spray the oil, so no additives!
It looks like the Misto sprayer from Bed, Bath & Beyond. You put your own olive oil in it & you pump it up with air to spray a mist of oil. It’s awesome!
We are a pretty healthy family with very low consumption of any processed food. And, like you mentioned in your article, CFA is the only fast food option I am ok with. Thankfully, my kids only like the grilled versions and I never let them have fries. I always opt for the grilled salad w/no dressing. So….question: if I want a grilled version, think this recipe will do it? I love the idea of doing this in a big batch, freezing, then having on hand for one of those busy days that creep up on me. So easy to throw a small bag of frozen nuggets w/some random fruit into a cooler to take w/us….would really eliminate any reason to drive thru CFA. I haven’t found a grilled nugget recipe that turns out as “juicy” as CFA’s (and I really really don’t want to know what makes their nuggets “juicy”..just thinking about that makes me want to hurl!) Thanks so much, saw your blog from “100DaysofRealFood” I am a follower of you now too!
I know it’s a pain but brining makes cooked chicken “juicy” but then you have to content with the sodium level in the cooked chicken. It is also important to not overcook chicken breasts. I think that we all tend to cook chicken to death because of a possible salmonella scare. Salmonella that is there because of the way chicken is processed in this country.
Oh My goodness… WE love CFA, but have recently been Trying our hardest to create a lifestyle change. I have no idea why it is ingrained in our heads that CFA is somehow healthier than other fast foods. I started following your blog, and I don’t know how I missed this post the day it came out.. I’ve been saying for awhile that I hope FOOD BABE goes to CFA soon! HA .. Cannot wait to try this recipe! Can I post it on my blog when I do??
I definitely want to try this. I’m curious about the olive oil spray. After hearing about the propellants and things being used in cooking sprays, I’ve been avoiding them. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a good substitute. Any ideas? Is this something you made?
The Pampered Chef sells a great oil sprayer. You put your oil of choice in it, pump it up and the pressure from the air you’ve just pumped into the bottle propels the oil out in a nice mist. I love mine and use it for everything. It is specially good to use on air popped popcorn as an alternative to butter. I fill it with olive oil, spray my popcorn and sprinkle some sea salt on it and it is a delicious and healthy snack! I also like it for frying eggs (and whatever else) because I tend to use far less oil when spraying than when pouring.
Love this! I have two children with severe allergies and we are trying to drastically change our eating habits to non-processed foods… any ideas on how to make this without using eggs or milk? Almond milk is not an option for us because my daughter with the egg allergy also has nut allergies… We have to avoid eggs, milk, peanuts, and treenuts. Thoughts? Help? 🙂
Could you please, please tell me how to make a similar version of their honey mustard? That’s what keeps me coming back. I get the nuggets with two packets, eat one and take the other one home to make my own chicken. If I could make/find honey mustard like theirs, I would never need to go back.
Where did you get your oil spray bottle? I had a Pampered Chef one that was no good, so I’m looking for an alternative. Thanks!
I love my Pampered Chef spray bottle. How old is yours? I wonder if they changed the design recently…Hmmm
Nevermind! I saw the other comment about this!
This is great! After my niece was diagnosed with a corn allergy, my sister started going all-natural cutting out all processed foods and completely changed not only her family’s lifestyle but others as well, including mine! I found your blog post about all the processed junk in chick fil a on “100daysofrealfood”! I had no idea they were so unhealthy! I love chick fil a so I am for sure going to try this recipe! Thank you so much! 🙂
I have lived in the Northwest my whole life and NEVER eaten at Chick fil A. I have heard about how passionate people are about it so I was curious. I made this for my family and another family (who has eaten CFA before and loves it) and it was great. I did forget to oil the chicken and much of the breading stayed on the pan but it was still good. I am looking forward to making it again and remembering to spray the olive oil! Thanks for the recipe and now I don’t think I will ever need to try the chemical version.
I made 6 of these sandwiches tonight and there is only like 2 bites left. My Family loved them. Thanks for putting this recipe up it was amazing
Foodbabe, please help!! I have made this a couple times now and both times my breading falls right off the chicken!! 🙁 What am I doing wrong?
Made this today and it is sooooo delicious! Thank you!
This was a decent chicken sandwich but I didn’t think it tasted anything like Chick-fil-A. Good effort, though. I don’t know how CFA’s sandwich could ever be copied- it’s just so good- all things in moderation for my fam.
just noticed those breadsmith buns have canola oil….that is a toxic oil! isn’t?
Yeah – I wouldn’t buy them again – but this was the best “store bought” option for a white bun that is light years ahead of the chick-fil-a bun.
I was so excited to make these. I’ve been planning for weeks. I made them tonight and I was disappointed that all my breading fell off. Part of it was was too crispy and was dry which was likely my fault since I may have not sprayed enough oil, but how might I keep it from falling off the chicken?
How do I share this article on facebook?
I have many friends who could greatly
benefit by reading this.
Great recipe! I LOVE your site. My son can’t have eggs. Do you have any suggestions on what to use in place of them? I use a flax meal/water mixture in baking as a substitute but it doesn’t seem to work the same for breadings etc. Any ideas? thanks!
You can use honey mustard sauce (or similar) to hold on the breading … it’s what I do for pretzel chicken also. I like to mix dijon mustard, a little less honey, and a tiny smidge of vinegar together to make the dressing. Then dredge like you would if it was eggs, using the honey mustard first, then the bread crumbs/flour mixture…
I tried this recipe for dinner last night and it was great! I read through the comments and tried the suggestions for preventing the breading from falling off (dip in flour, then egg/milk, then flour and really coating the racks with non-stick). My breading still came off a little bit but not much! Next time I will try letting them rest after breading in the fridge for 30-60 minutes before baking. My husband and 7 year old said it was delicious! Thanks!
try also using cornstarch although you will have to do organic which is pricey. My mom who has been cooking for years saw this trick and it works pretty good…you coat with Corn starch then dip in the egg and milk.
Saw this recipe in Southern Living magazine several years ago and tried it then. It’s amazing how closely it resembles the real thing! I will try your organic version though minus the almond milk as my son is allergic to them. I’m enjoying your website though I hate having all this new knowledge. Ignorance was bliss – haha!
Many years ago when we were all fast food worker slaves we determined that the batter had an incredible amount of black pepper which was easily visible in the finish product. Even of recent the finished product appears the same but I didn’t notice black pepper as a specific ingredient. (Could be buried under spices) The flavor is still there. Your recipe might benefit with a dose.
Well of course it won’t taste EXACTLY like it, you’d have to add all that crap back into it for that specific flavor those chemicals have fooled your brain into thinking tastes wonderful.
This recipe is what “chicken marinated in pickle juice and grilled with organic ingredients” is SUPPOSED to taste like. Duh.
This looks delicious! I really am enjoying getting to know more about what’s really in our food. I live in Atlanta and Chick fil A is everywhere I turn. Can’t wait to make this version at home!
Wow some of the commentors here hating on Chick fil a seem totally ignorant. I’m a Buddhist who is educated on food. The vast majority of the time I make food from scratch. We eat a healthy diet of organic produce. We even belong to an organic food coop. Things like sodas are not allowed in our home. I don’t agree with everything Mr. Cathy says. And even though I consider myself a big health foodie with juicing, smoothies and all, every now and again we still go out to enjoy lunch at chick fil a. Why? Life is not black and white. If I were you I’d be paying much more attention to the way the U.S. goverenment uses your tax dollars to murder kids in Gaza.
Thank You!!!!! I love Chick Fil A and the Company. However, the information you have brought to light has opened my eyes/and my family. We have known for a very long time that the fast food chain in America has caused diseases, and eventually death in a lot of cases, to the American people; all for the sake of profit (money). I’ve always cooked homemade as a rule. And I have avoided most of the fast food chains in my lifetime; I don’t even feed that food to my grandkids. But, I did give in to Subway and Chick Fil A. Now I’m quite upset at myself for not doing my own research. Thankfully you did! Today my 8 yr. old will be reading with me the ingredients in the food at Subway and Chick Fil A. I will be educating my grandkids and family with facts of what is in our food.
I am a tad confused by the pickle, pickle juice, vinegar part.
In the ingredients list it indicates pickles, and pickle juice.
In the directions you put pickles in vinegar.
Is the vinegar referred to as “pickle juice” once the pickles have finished marinading or do I use the actual pickle juice from the jar?
or
Where you indicate vinegar in the directions, you actually mean pickle juice from the jar of pickles.
Do I use bread and butter (sweet) pickles, or do I use dill pickles?
Either way I am sure it will be delicious but I would love to know…I HAVE NO CLUE what a
CHICK-FIL-A sandwich is. I believe I have made up a new tongue twister with my question
Use dill pickles… vinegar is a separate ingredient.
I believe I answered PART of my own question after looking at the photo steps on how to. Dill pickles are used, the vinegar in reference is the pickle juice form the jar.
I am still confused at the pickles marinading. Are further marinated in their own juice???
I am in love with bojangles cajun chicken biscuits…..i know i shouldn’t be eating this but i find myself at the mercy of this sandwich a few times a week…..could there be a healthier way to make a cajun chicken filet with the same taste as bojangles???
Hi Food Babe! Thank you so much for all that you do! I greatly appreciate it! Quick story for you and your readers. My dog has epilepsy, and my husband and I have learned that it is triggered by certain foods specifically artificial preservatives/ingredients. He ate several nuggets one evening from chick-fil-a and about 8-12 hours later began the first of multiple focal and grand mal seizures. I went online and read all the ingredients and that’s when I discovered you and your research. Even our pets are suffering from processed foods! Thank you again!
you’re my hero!
Great place to find recipes. You are amazing. Unfortunately also great for the hate gays who hate religious folk who hate not religious folk. I love food. No time for hate. Keep up the great work!
What would be a good substitute for almond milk? I would LOVE to try this but (because of the way food is processed now), my son has a horrid allergy to tree nuts. Thank you!
I am excited to try this recipee…thank you for sharing! I caught a glimpse of what looks to be a spray bottle of olive oil…is that a refillable can? I bake my own kale chips and have been wondering if they made such a product. Thanks!
This is nothing compared to the other food chains. Actually chick-fil-A is one of the least concerns of all the food chains. Don’t understand Why no research was done on the other food chains than chick-fil-A. It would a lot more shocking then chick-fil- A!!!!!! If you would have done your real research you would have a better article of shocking most shocking ingredients in food chain foods.
If you was to see all the ingredients in deli meat, you would never eat deli meat again or at least not give it to your children. (I have done years of research after having a child with health issues. And he is on a strict diet)
But the most shocking of all would be the GMF/GMO (Genetically Modified Food) that almost all our tomatoes, apples, grapes, squash, zucchini, corn and potatoes sold in the grocery store all around the United States. (England is the only country that has band GMF/GMO Foods)
Here’s a great website on harmful ingredients in our foods. It will really shock you!!!!!
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=ms-android-verizon&tbo=d&source=android-home&site=webhp&source=hp&q=genetically+modified+food&oq=genetica&gs_l=mobile-gws-hp.1.0.0l5.2695.5743.0.8611.9.7.0.2.2.0.428.1351.0j4j1j0j1.6.0.les%3B..0.0…1ac.1.yb2_mXRPTqITonya
here point was because people think CFA is healthy because of posts like while it may be healthier then other fast food places its NOT healthy
Food Babe’s Open on Sunday Sandwich-
Chicken Breast, egg, powdered sugar and butter? Not much better than the original.