Original Chick-fil-A Cole Slaw Recipe (2024)

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Chick-fil-A Cole Slaw, now discontinued, still remains a much-loved side dish. You can make it at home with their original recipe!

Fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A got into some deep doo-doo with many longtime customers Jan. 18, 2016.

The eighth largest fast-food chain in the U.S. ditched its iconic, sugar-heavy Cole Slaw — beloved for 49 years for its ability to pair nicely with their spicy fried chicken sandwich and waffle fries.

What happened after Chick-fil-A Cole Slaw was discontinued?

Apparently it wasn’t selling as well as they wanted. It’s hard for us mere mortals to believe, because if you went to Chick-fil-A, you got the cole slaw. AmIright?

In its place was put a brand new item developed for them by star chef Ford Fry: a side called Superfood Side. It was an on-trend-at-the-time kale salad, with kale, Broccolini (skinnier and milder than regular broc), dried sour cherries and roasted nuts — walnuts, almonds and pecans — in a tangy maple dressing.

While that new side salad sounded absolutely thrilling to me, since I love kale salads in general and salads with dried fruit and nuts in particular, not everyone was amused by the change.

• • People took to social media with funny, profane, brutally honest reviews of the new salad (which had people choking on their green leafies), and they bombarded Chick-fil-A so much (#bringbackcoleslaw) that Snopes even felt the need to weigh in to confirm the discontinuation wasn’t all just an ugly rumor.
  • Why did they 86 the cole slaw? “The decision to remove Cole Slaw from the menu was a difficult one, but we have heard from guests that many of them are looking for new tastes and healthier side items,” the company said on its Facebook page.
  • The company even made a solemn 1-minute “An Ode to Cole Slaw” video memorial to it. “To the side that was never just a side item. Gone but not forgotten.”

If you want NEED, this cole slaw, the company released, for the first time, the original Chick-fil-A cole slaw recipe. I hunted it down for you, because I’m a giver like that.

Here it is. This is what my version looks like! I know you want it in that little black plastic bowl, but hey, we work with what we have.

How to make Chick-fil-A Cole Slaw

It is so, so easy. Gather your ingredients (cabbage, carrot (or a pre-sliced bag of cole slaw mix), mayo, vinegar, sugar, dry mustard, salt).

Either buy bags of pre-shredded cabbage, or slice the cabbage you have on hand. Since I had a head of cabbage on hand from St. Patrick’s Day (don’t judge! It was still good!), I opted to slice my own.

Add the carrots, for color. I used a y-shaped vegetable peeler and then stacked up all the peels and chopped them. Easy peasy.

Once you have it all mixed, put it in a pretty bowl, and away you go!

You can store it in a takeout container in the refrigerator if that makes you feel better and more authentic.

And one other idea, but it’s going rogue. You could add a sprinkle of celery seed if you have it in your stocked spice rack like I do. It’s not authentic, but it’s good!

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Tagged as:cabbage, carrots, Chick-fil-A, cole slaw, restaurant, Salad