Is Chick-fil-A’s new cauliflower sandwich vegetarian?
William Brown
Updated on March 24, 2026
Chick-fil-A is testing a new cauliflower sandwich which it stresses is a “plant-forward entrée,” rather than a vegetarian or plant-based offering – what does this mean, and where and when can you buy it?
The fast food outlet is testing its new sandwich in three distinct markets. Feedback will determine whether or not it gets a nationwide rollout, per USA Today.
“We really want to make sure it’s the right thing for our customers,” the outlet quotes Chick-fil-A’s director of Menu and Packaging, Leslie Neslage, as saying. Meanwhile, publicly available information regarding Google search trends suggests that people are trawling the Internet for any information regarding nutritional information for Chick-fil-A’s new cauliflower sandwich. Such information is not yet forthcoming. But it likely will be from next Monday.
Where to buy Chick-fil-A’s new cauliflower sandwich, and when is its release date?
Chick-fil-A is testing its new cauliflower sandwich in three markets: Denver, Colorado; Charleston, South Carolina; and the Greensboro-Triad area of North Carolina.
The official release date is Monday, February 13, 2023.
During its testing phase, Chick-fil-A invites customers in Denver, Charleston and the Greensboro-Triad area to use the app or contact their local restaurant to find out if it will be participating.
In other words, it looks like customers can’t assume that all restaurants in the designated areas will be vending cauliflower sandwiches. Best to check first.
Is the Chick-fil-A Cauliflower Sandwich vegetarian?
Not technically, but not as a result of it containing meat as an ingredient. The ingredients of the new Chick-fil-A cauliflower sandwich are cauliflower, pickles, bread, milk and eggs, plus seasoning, meaning it is, in theory, vegetarian – though not vegan.
But the chain isn’t advertising its latest offering as such, and for good reason.
Chick-fil-A has chosen not to reserve areas of its kitchen for the preparation of vegetarian or vegan food. It is not isolating cauliflower prep from meat prep. This means its cauliflower sandwich may contain meat contaminants, rendering it, according to most people’s definition of the word, decidedly not vegetarian.
“This is made with cauliflower, pickles, bread, milk and eggs,” USA Today quotes Neslage as saying. “If that works for your definition of vegetarian, awesome. But it is not isolated in our kitchens. We have chicken all day, every day, and that’s not going away. So we want to be very candid and open and honest with our customers.”
‘Plant-forward’ meaning explained, and what is the price of the new Chick-fil-A cauliflower sandwich?
The price of Chick-fil-A products varies depending on market location, but the starting cost of a Cauliflower Sandwich is reportedly $6.59.
“Plant-forward,” meanwhile, is a style of cooking and eating that emphasizes plant-based foods, but doesn’t stick to them exclusively.
It’s an ethos that reduces meat intake but doesn’t eliminate it entirely. And it’s in this vein that Chick-fil-A is offering its not-technically-vegetarian cauliflower sandwich.
For meat eaters, it’s a more sustainable, healthier option with a vegetable as its key ingredient. Meanwhile, for those who consume a mostly vegetarian diet, but who allow for a certain degree of leeway, it’s a way to consume fast food at Chick-fil-A without having to eat chunks of meat.
