Chick-fil-a: GFCF Fast Food

GFCF dining on the run is a challenge if you don’t know where to look. And with recipes and preparation practices constantly changing, it’s tough to keep track of it all. Luckily some places seem to stay pretty consistent and are open with their ingredients and prep – Chick-fil-a being one of them. The Chick-fil-a website is wonderfully laid out, with easy to read allergen lists for all possible allergens, including Gluten and Dairy. Go to this page and click the “Quick Reference Guide” button to see a whole, easy-to-read list of all allergens at Chick-fil-a.

And here’s Chick-fil-a’s Gluten Allergy PDF which outlines what to eat and how to order of all their possible gluten-free items (which is only half of our battle…. but it’s a well written, easy to use document, so I figured I’d link to it…).

And for my future reference, I’ve made my own short list of all the things with which I’ve had consistent success at being reaction free. (I’m very sensitive to Gluten and Dairy and my reactions starts within an hour of being exposed. So as of May 2010, I’m confident I’m being GFCF when I order any of the below items.)

My GFCF Go-To Order:

• Waffle Cut French Fries – one of the few places where you won’t get cross contaminated through the frying process – they have separate friers for the fries.

• Chargrilled Chicken Garden Salad – I fastidiously pick off the cheese, which the only dairy item in it. (I’m usually just starting by the time my co-diners are just about done! 😛 ) You can ask them to make it for your fresh without the cheese, but I’ve yet to find one that will do it.

• Thousand Island or Light Italian Dressing

Here are the other items that are listed as GFCF on the Chick-fil-a website:

Fruit Salad

Carrot & Raisin Salad

Cole Slaw

Chargrilled Chicken Filet without bun (This is listed in the Gluten PDF on the Chick-fil-a website, but I haven’t tried it so I don’t know about any CC issues you might have… Honestly, I just can’t bring myself to order it yet. The way it’s handled and prepped.. with so much gluten on hands/gloves from handling the buns… I just don’t want to take that chance. But if you’re not too sensitive and don’t have issues with cross contamination, perhaps you could try it and let me know about your experience.)

GFCF Dressings and Sauces: Reduced Fat Berry Balsamic Vinaigrette, Thousand Island Dressing, Light Italian Dressing, Fat Free Honey Mustard Dressing, Polynesian Sauce, Barbeque Sauce (but this is odd, since so many BBQs have gluten, so I haven’t tried this yet), Honey Mustard Sauce, Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce, Chick-fil-a Sauce.

NOTE: The Honey Roasted Sunflower Seeds and Tortilla Strips that come with salads are NOT GFCF. I made this mistake once – I quickly read the ingredients and tried them – big mistake! There’s wheat in the sunflower seeds and (big surprise:) dairy in the tortilla strips.

The only item on the breakfast menu that is GFCF are the hash browns. I don’t go out for breakfast, so I’ve never had them, so I can’t vouch for them. But I’m assuming they’re cooked in the same way the french fries are, so I’d assume they’d be safe.

There’s nothing on the Dessert Menu that’s GFCF…

While the above list is not a whole lot of items to choose from, Chick-fil-a is one of the few fast food places I’ll go and know I have a very good chance of coming out reaction free. And I’ll happily take a few good, solid GFCF choices over a whole menu of “maybe GFCF” food.

So even if you’re GFCF, you can still do as the Chick-fil-a Cows direct their loyal followers and “Eat Mor Chikin”!