Is Chick-fil-A chicken different now? Customers convinced recipe ‘changed’

Several TikToks have gone viral claiming that Chick-fil-A’s chicken changed, and it could be down to their new antibiotic regulations.

A TikTok user made a video in April 2024, that now has over 6 million views, showing her throwing her Chick-fil-A meal in the garbage with the caption, “Me after Chick-fil-A changed their chicken.”

This video sparked a conversation amongst chicken fans, with them feeling that Chick-fil-A was different now, and that they had dropped their standards as of late.

That being said, Chick-fil-A is still the most popular fast food chain amongst Gen Z, with chicken-based meals being the big hitters of 2024. But, is Chick-fil-A’s chicken really different?

People in the comments were going off about the quality of their chicken, with one person saying: “That’s why my last sandwich was a weird texture?! I thought it was just a one-off thing.”

According to the comments under this TikTok, the main complaints about Chick-fil-A’s new chicken is that it is too chewy and stringy and that it has a different taste; with some saying it “tastes too much like chicken.”

Did Chick-fil-A really change their chicken?

Yes, Chick-fil-A did recently make changes to their chicken. According to their website, from Spring 2024, “Chick-fil-A will shift from No Antibiotics Ever (NAE) to No Antibiotics Important To Human Medicine (NAIHM).” This means that until now, they used meat from chickens that had never been treated with antibiotics, now, they do use antibiotics, just not those that are important to humans.

Research shows that chickens are treated with antibiotics to make them grow bigger, at a faster rate so that meat production can be sped up. However, experts have found that some chicken meat grown in this way becomes stringy due to muscle fibers not forming properly. This is ‘fondly’ referred to as, ‘spaghetti meat.’

Although Chick-fil-A did not put an exact date on this change, the timeline suggests that these changes have officially rolled out, and people seem to be able to taste the difference.

Chick-fil-A has made it clear that high-quality food is at the center of their business, and states that their commitment to this is rooted in three simple things. They are, “selective about the chicken we serve, maintaining high animal wellbeing standards, and continuing to evaluate our approach.”

Chick-fil-A is yet to comment on the customer backlash about their chicken changes.

That being said, Chick-fil-A’s chicken nuggets did rank pretty well on our definitive ranking of the best chicken nuggets.