4.69 20 Published Nov 01, 2019, Updated Aug 13, 2024
Where My Love For Chick-Fil-A Sauce Began
I was also hooked on fast food and my favorite restaurant was Chick-Fil-A. My go-to order was a large pack of chicken nuggets, waffle fries and of course, the Chick-Fil-A sauce. As an adult, I’ve added the kale crunch salad to my Chick-Fil-A order. I loved the sweet and savory flavor and would basically drown my whole meal in the sauce. The closest Chick-Fil-A to where I grew up (Orange, Virginia) was in Fredericksburg, VA and as it turns out that’s where Chick-Fil-A sauce was invented. Before it was packaged up and distributed throughout all the Chick-Fil-A locations, the Fredericksburg location was the only Chick-Fil-A where you could get the “special sauce” and it was in a pump container near the ketchup rather than in little packets.
Pregnancy Cravings = Chick-Fil-A
Honestly, before becoming pregnant this year I hadn’t eaten at a Chick-Fil-A since college, but throughout this pregnancy I’ve had some interesting cravings, one of those being Chick-Fil-A. With this I was reminded of how much I used to love Chick-Fil-A sauce and decided it was time to make a homemade, healthy Chick-Fil-A sauce with no mayo and no weird preservatives.
Making a Healthy Chick-Fil-A Recipe
To get started with making the copycat sauce recipe, I looked up the ingredients and got to work testing the recipe. It took quite a few attempts, but at this point I think I’ve created a sauce that tastes pretty darn similar to the real deal. I’ve had some friends/family do a side-by-side blind taste-test to confirm that it does indeed taste like the packaged sauce and several people have said they like it better because it doesn’t have the “artificial taste” you get from the packaged, preserved sauce. Woot woot!
Copycat Chick-Fil-A Sauce Ingredients
Now that I’ve nailed the homemade version and know how simple the recipe is, I may or may not be making this on the regular! Here are the ingredients we’re using:
soaked cashews – instead of mayo, I decided to use soaked cashews as the base (which is what I did with my vegan ranch and vegan sour cream!). BBQ sauce – look for a low sugar version! My homemade BBQ sauce is amazing or I love Primal Kitchen’s low sugar BBQ. mustard – both dijon and yellow mustard. honey – the sauce has a slight sweetness to it so I used honey, but maple syrup is also delicious if you want to make this vegan. lemon juice salt and pepper
Healthy Chick-Fil-A Sauce Pairings
So far I’ve been using this sauce as a dip for homemade chicken nuggets (recipe coming soon) and frozen waffle fries, but it can be used as a dip, sauce or even a salad dressing!
As a dip: Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets, Baked Paleo Chicken Tenders or these Easy Crispy Baked Tofu As a sauce: Veggie Burger or Tempeh Tacos As a dressing: If you add a little water to the sauce, you can use it as a dressing for this Vegan Power Bowl, other grain bowls or this Chicken Avocado Club Salad.
