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If you're familiar with Chick-fil-A you will know that fans of this fast food chain are passionate! So many people, my husband Jeff included, are completely fanatical about their chicken sandwiches! We love them so much that I make this copycat version whenever we get a craving.
I found that the key to getting an extra crispy and delicious coating on the chicken is double-dipping. That's right, “double dipping” in this instance is allowed and encouraged! You'll see what I mean when you read the recipe.
I hope you all enjoy this tasty fried sandwich as much as we did. And, the homemade Chick-fil-A sauce we smothered all over it is a must. That stuff is out of this world!
Here's how to make your own AMAZING Chick-fil-A Sandwich, at home!
1. Marinate the chicken. Place chicken breast halves in pickle juice/water marinade, in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
2. Combine dry ingredients. Combine flour, powdered sugar, paprika, black pepper, chili powder, salt, and baking powder.
3. Make egg wash. In another bowl mix the milk, and egg.
4. Coat the chicken: Dip the marinated chicken into the egg mixture, and then coat in the flour breading mixture. Then repeat this step and dip that same chicken tender back into the egg mixture and then back into the flour again! Yep, this double dipping is how we're making a super yummy, crispy sandwich.
5. Pan Fry. Place chicken in hot oil in a sauce pan and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove to paper towel to dry.
6. Assemble Sandwich. Toast the sandwich buns. Grab the Chick-fil-A sauce and smooth it on both sides of the buns. Top with lettuce, cheese, and crispy chicken! Enjoy!
Homemade Chick-fil-A Sauce:
All you need to make homemade Chick-fil-A sauce is:
- Mayonnaise
- Dijon mustard
- Yellow mustard
- Honey
- BBQ sauce
- Garlic powder
- Paprika
- Lemon juice
Make the Chick-fil-A sauce by combining all ingredients in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.
Air Fryer Chick-fil-A Sandwich:
Preheat fryer to 370ºF. Grease the inside basket/rack of the air fryer and place two coated chicken breasts in the air fryer. Lightly spray the top of the chicken. Cook the chicken for 11-13 minutes, flipping halfway through cook time. Assemble sandwich as instructed below.
Baked Chick-fil-A Sandwich:
Preheat oven to 450ºF. Place a wire cooling rack on top of a baking sheet. Place your coated chicken breasts on the wire rack and spray both sides lightly with olive oil. Bake the chicken for 12 minutes, flip and bake for another 15 minutes or until it's cooked through.
For a Spicy Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich:
We love spicy chicken at our house! If you'd like to add a little heat to your chicken sandwich, add 1-2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper to the flour mixture when making the breading. I like to coat my kids sandwiches in the flour first, then add the cayenne for spice, and make mine and my husbands.
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Chick-Fil-A Crispy Chicken Sandwich Copycat
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breast halves
- 1/2 cup pickle juice
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 large egg
- oil for frying
- 4 hamburger buns
- Pickle, lettuce, tomato and cheese slices, , for topping
For the breading:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper , *optional, for a spicy chicken sandwich
For the Chick-fil-A-sauce
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 3 teaspoons yellow mustard
- 2 teaspoon barbecue sauce, (hickory tastes the best)
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken: combine the pickle juice and water in a ziplock bag. Add the chicken breast halves and marinate for 30 minutes.
- Make the sauce: Make the Chick-fil-A sauce by combining all ingredients in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.
- Next, in a large bowl mix the breading ingredients together: flour, powdered sugar, paprika, black pepper, chili powder, salt, and baking powder.
- In another bowl mix the milk, and egg.
- Add 2-3 cups of oil to a large saucepan and heat oil to about 350 degrees F.
- Coat the chicken: Dip the marinated chicken into the egg mixture, and then coat in the flour breading mixture. Now "double-dip" by repeating this step and dipping that same chicken tender back into the egg mixture and then back into the flour again!
- Pan fry: Place chicken in hot oil and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove to paper towel to dry.
- Assemble Sandwich: Toast the sandwich buns. Grab the Chick-fil-A sauce and smooth it on both sides of the buns. Top with lettuce, cheese, and crispy chicken! Enjoy!
Notes
Air Fryer Chick-Fil-A Sandwich:
Preheat fryer to 370ºF. Grease the inside basket/rack of the air fryer and place two coated chicken breasts in the air fryer. Lightly spray the top of the chicken. Cook the chicken for 11-13 minutes, flipping halfway through cook time. Assemble sandwich as instructed below.Baked Chick-Fil-A Sandwich:
Preheat oven to 450ºF. Place a wire cooling rack on top of a baking sheet. Place your coated chicken breasts on the wire rack and spray both sides lightly with olive oil. Bake the chicken for 12 minutes, flip and bake for another 15 minutes or until it's cooked through.For a Spicy Chick-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich:
We love spicy chicken at our house! If you'd like to add a little heat to your chicken sandwich, add 1-2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper to the flour mixture when making the breading. I like to coat my kids sandwiches in the flour first, then add the cayenne for spice, and make mine and my husbands. Gluten-free Adaptations: use gluten-free BBQ sauce, all-purpose flour, and buns.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Recipe adapted from here.
The material in this blog post references the trademarked brand “Chick-fil-A.” The use of this trademark is for informational and editorial purposes only and does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by Chick-fil-A, Inc.
I originally shared this recipe May 2013. Updated November 2019 with process photos and improved instructions.
This was SO good! My husband is a picky eater and he LOVED this! He tasted the sauce beforehand and commented how delicious it was.
We don’t eat out much at all – so this is a great recipe to have on hand! Thank you so much!
Great tasting chicken sandwich. My family really enjoyed them.
Thank God 😇❤️🐔🍔Chicken sandwich came out sooo Good ❤️❤️❤️ my family told me 9.5 out of 10 5 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and juta add another ingredient extra it’s called Knorr Shelf-Stable Granulated Chicken Flavor just add a lil
Was excellent, I was really craving more of a sriracha chicken sandwich, so fallowed it exactly except put a ton of sriracha and a few drops of our favorite ghost pepper sauce to the sauce was PERFECT
THE BEST CHICKEN SANDWICH EVER!!!! My husband brags to everyone about this recipe.
I love this recipe. I’m gluten free and I switched the flour to gluten free flour (cup4cup) & now I can enjoy Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich again.
This was a great copy cat recipe! My family loved it. Thanks. Ill be using this sauce for everything!!!
This did not taste like a chick fil a sandwich at all. There was no flavor. The sauce was great however.
No copycat recipe will taste exactly like chick fil la unless you use MSG. It is in both the chicken and breading and is the reason they are so addictive.
Good recipe. I forgot about the chicken marinating in pickle juice & ended up marinating for 3 days, which made it very tender. However, definitely not a copycat for Chick Fil A.
EASY AND YUMMY!
I made this tonight…After marinating in a 1/2 jar of Claussen dill pickle juice for 3 hours; I pounded the breasts down some. THEN… I made some “tweaks” for the breading and the egg-wash so that this recipe was also KETO-friendly! I used unswtnd. coconut 🥥 milk (w/ a squirt of Stevia) instead of milk and used finely ground almond flour instead of white flour. I oven baked in some melted coconut 🥥 oil and cut each breast in half and melted colby-jack cheese on each serving; then placed in a low-carb tortilla wrap because I didn’t have enough ingredients for my low-carb buns. I added shredded lettuce, bacon 🥓 (optional), a Claussen pickle slice, and a lil’ sugar-free honey 🍯 bbq sauce. Supper was a huge success!
I’m 100% trying this but I just don’t know what to substitute the pickle juice with
I made this for my family and it was great I never knew Chick-fil-A use pickle juice for the nuggets.It taste just like it! This is great for quarantine.I would totally recommend this!
I also haded Hawaiian bread rolls to make a mini sandwich my twins loved it!
I made this and it was a big hit! The only substitution I made was I used buttermilk instead of water with the pickle juice. (Only because I had extra and wanted to use it up) And then, I let it marinate for two days because I forgot about it. It was amazing!!! Sauce was right on, if not better, since it lacked the chemically taste in packaged sauce.
The chicken was delicious! But… Don’t you want to first put the marinated chicken in the flour then egg and repeat? I did egg first like you said and all the batter fell off.
I’m making this tonight. But we only have ground chicken so I hope it will be equally great !
That sounds like a really bad idea. I really hope whatever you did turned out well, but if not, please don’t judge this recipe by your experience using ground chicken. It’s more or less the equivalent of trying a steak recipe with ground beef. It’s never going to be anywhere close. Like I said, I hope it turned it well, but I implore you to do this the right way in the future.
Sauce was on point! and we baked the chicken but wished we fried it. The flavor was still good but it stuck to our wire rack (our fault forgot to spray with oil) next time we will fry it.