What's The Best-Selling Item At Chick-Fil-A?

Chick-fil-A might offer a menu brimming with crowd-pleasers, but one item has consistently led the pack: the Original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich. In 2022, this classic secured its spot as the chain's most-ordered menu item, with an estimated 527 million sandwiches served that year.

This sandwich isn't flashy, but that's precisely the point. It's a seasoned, hand-breaded chicken breast nestled between a toasted, buttery bun and accented by two dill pickle chips. That simplicity has won over countless fans. There's no need for gimmicks or endless toppings when you have a recipe that delivers every time.

Whether it's your first bite or your hundredth, the experience never changes — and that's part of the magic. It's no surprise, really, considering its status as one of the top fast food items of all time. But this sandwich didn't just appear out of thin air. Its story began nearly 60 years ago, thanks to a determined founder and a stroke of good luck.

The origins of Chick-fil-A's signature sandwich date back to the 1960s when Truett Cathy, the chain's founder, was running a small restaurant in Hapeville, Georgia, called The Dwarf Grill. One day, a local poultry supplier approached him with a problem: They had a surplus of chicken breasts that were too small to meet airline requirements. Cathy saw an opportunity in the excess product and decided to experiment.

After countless tries, he landed on the perfect combination: A hand-breaded chicken breast, cooked in peanut oil for juiciness, became the centerpiece of his creation, served on a toasted bun with just enough tang from dill pickle chips. The feedback was instant and overwhelmingly positive. Customers loved it so much they begged him not to change a thing.

Decades later, that same recipe is still used, unchanged and kept under lock and key at Chick-fil-A's corporate headquarters. This level of consistency is no accident — over the years, Chick-fil-A has even become a record-breaking buyer of peanut oil – an ingredient essential to its signature sandwich. It's proof that one simple, well-executed idea can define a brand and keep people coming back time and time again.