10 Hacks For Ordering Chick-Fil-A Everyone Should Know

While Chick-fil-A has the fast food fried chicken market largely cornered with its signature recipes and friendly service, its food doesn't naturally lend itself to a good menu hack. A lot of this is because the restaurant's fried chicken sandwiches, strips, and nuggets are so consistently tasty that they don't need a whole lot of sprucing up. That said, there's nothing wrong with dreaming a bit bigger when it comes to any fast food menu — as Abraham Lincoln reportedly said, "Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way."

After a bit of Reddit-based research, it appears as though plenty of fast food fans have left their menu hacking mark on this particular restaurant chain. Once the momentum was there and the true possibilities of hacking the Chick-fil-A menu presented themselves, it wasn't too hard to pull together a few more menu hacks for good measure. While not as obvious at first as the best Taco Bell menu hacks, these 10 hacks for Chick-fil-A are definitely worth trying.

Simply called "The Bowl" in social media circles, this hack was first popularized by TikToker babydoll_247. In her how-to video, she starts with a bed of Chick-fil-A Waffle Potato Fries in a container and then proceeds to toss in a side order of Mac & Cheese and a pile of Chick-fil-A Nuggets. From there, she adds a cup of Garden Herb Ranch Sauce and a packet of Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce. The video cuts out before she gives everything a shake to combine, but it's important not to skip this crucial step.

The hack went viral, which is no surprise because it combines some of the restaurant's best items into a bowl of Southern goodness. The Waffle Potato Fries add a great crunchy texture to the bowl at the beginning, and they're even tasty when they soften a bit from being soaked in ranch and Mac & Cheese. It's the kind of dish that can become one note with all the fatty richness from the fried chicken and macaroni, but the barbecue sauce does a great job of cutting through those heavy flavors with a welcome kick of acid. As the sauces contribute greatly to this dish, there's definitely some merit to experimenting with other Chick-fil-A dipping sauces for bigger and brighter results.

Chick-fil-A's Mac & Cheese ranks pretty high on Chowhound's list of fast food mac and cheese dishes, so incorporating it into other areas of the menu makes sense. If you don't have the time or table space to create The Bowl at Chick-fil-A, piling your side of Mac & Cheese onto your favorite chicken sandwich is a good way to get decadent. Though this hack works well on both the grilled and the fried chicken sandwich, the latter is definitely the way to go.

One regular side of Mac & Cheese will typically do the trick for this hack, and since you can swap this in for fries in any combo meal, there's not a whole lot of hassle to put things together. Scooping all that creamy, cheesy goodness onto the sandwich is a straightforward affair, though it helps to think of the Mac & Cheese as a spreadable condiment to make sure all your edges are even. The flavor and texture combination that comes from the creaminess of the macaroni and the crunchy, seasoned flavors of the fried chicken breast is a thing of beauty.

There is nary a bone to be found within a Chick-fil-A restaurant, but that doesn't mean fans of Buffalo wings can't still have a good time here. By ordering a box of Chick-n-Strips or Nuggets and using the restaurant's Zesty Buffalo sauce as a drizzler instead of a dipper, you can recreate the same heavily sauced vibe of your favorite wings place. The Zesty Buffalo sauce tends to be a bit more runny than some of the restaurant's other sauces, which means it pours well enough to coat every inch of your chicken.

Depending on how much you order, one cup of the Zesty Buffalo sauce will typically do the trick. By dumping it right in the Nugget or Chick-N-Strip box and giving the meaty morsels a quick shake, you get an even coat of the spicy sauce. Those who really like sauced-up wings will want to add another cup of Zesty Buffalo Sauce to the party. Plus, mixing it up with the Sweet & Spicy Sriracha sauce isn't a bad way to get a little extra kick out of your Chick-fil-A experience.

The salad menu at Chick-fil-A also ranked high on Chowhound's fast food salad list. The Cobb Salad in particular is a satisfying way to pack in the protein while keeping things low-carb. As good as the salads are, however, they're also a bit on the spendy side. Those who want to get a similar salad experience while spending about $3 less in the process will want to give the discount salad hack a try.

For this veggie-forward approach, you just need to order a Side Salad or Kale Crunch Side and an eight-count order of Chick-fil-A Nuggets — go grilled if you're looking for something more health-conscious. Add the latter to the former and voila! A protein-packed salad that could stand on its own for a quick lunch or easily be a buffed-up side dish for one of the restaurant's entrees. This hack tends to work a bit better with the Side Salad as opposed to the Kale Crunch, but that's mainly because it's a tall order to make kale palatable.

It's hard to improve upon Chick-fil-A's Mac & Cheese, but this is a situation in which the restaurant's roster of sauces can come in terribly handy — especially for those who like spicy food. By liberally applying some of Chick-fil-A's Zesty Buffalo Sauce to an order of Mac & Cheese, you get an elevated version of the classic side dish that really works. The Zesty Buffalo sauce is, well, saucier than a lot of the restaurant's other options, which helps it really blend itself with the Mac & Cheese. A similar spicy effect can be had with the Sweet & Spicy Sriracha, but the creaminess of the Zesty Buffalo makes it the ideal condiment for this particular hack.

Keep in mind that a deft hand is key with this endeavor. One cup of sauce per size ordered usually does the trick, but don't get crazy and use too much. Unless you really, really like that acidic Buffalo flavor, it's the kind of sauce that can very easily overwhelm the flavors that make the Mac & Cheese such a popular item.

The Chick-fil-A breakfast menu is an unsung delight in the world of fast food breakfasts, so it makes sense to see what hacks are available to the early morning diner. When ordering from the usual suspects, anything with a fried chicken breast is going to be a winner. But what if one was to combine that signature protein with a savory sausage patty, a fluffy egg, a few strips of bacon, and a slice of American cheese?

Such a combination is possible, and it's indeed worth it. Assembling this monstrosity of a sandwich can be done by ordering one of the egg and cheese biscuits — from among sausage, bacon, and chicken — and then asking for the two missing proteins to be added. It's usually not a problem to do this at the counter, but if you'd rather not get a side eye for such an excessive order, ordering online is the way to go.

It's hard to improve upon the Chicken Biscuit, but combining classic breakfast proteins like sausage, bacon, and egg with fried chicken is nothing short of a farm-fresh miracle. This sandwich also works with an English muffin, but it's the buttermilk biscuit that makes it a true farmboy.

Like the Chicken Biscuit, Chick-fil-A's Chick-n-Minis are just about perfect as is. The little nuggets stuffed into mini rolls and brushed with honey butter are not only adorable, but they're delicious too. When you order this in a combo meal with a box of the restaurant's hash brown medallions, you can't help but notice how nicely those little taters would fit on a Chick-n-Mini. By popping a hash brown into each Mini, you get a crispy textural contrast that is quite satisfying.

Though Chick-fil-A's hash browns ranked mid-tier on Chowhound's list, they make a great complement to the Chick-N-Minis. The nuggets have that classic light crunch that makes the restaurant's fried chicken so popular, but the hash browns bring a level of toasted flavor and texture to the mix. On top of that, assembling these together like a pack of breakfast Lunchables is a bit more fun than it should be.

Chick-fil-A's dessert menu isn't quite as fleshed out as that of other fast food restaurants with signature desserts, but it does provide you with the means to recreate a few fun treats. One of the easiest — and tastiest — is the brownie sundae that can be made with a Chick-fil-A Chocolate Fudge Brownie and a cup of the restaurant's Icedream. Some people like to put the brownie into an empty cup and then plop the Icedream on top; others prefer crumbling the brownie on top of the Icedream like a chocolatey garnish.

Regardless of your preferred assembly method, this hack improves both desserts considerably. The Icedream's vanilla flavor is fine, but adding brownie chunks to each bite recreates the classic chocolate/vanilla flavor combination that works so well. Since Chick-fil-A's Icedream contains less fat than traditional soft serve, the dessert does lack a creaminess that would pair a bit better with a brownie.

If chocolate chip cookie sundaes are more your jam, the same process can be applied to the Chocolate Chunk Cookie for equally tasty results. The cookie lends itself more to crumbling or dipping instead of sitting at the base of the sundae, but it's a flavorful addition to any Icedream experience.

Any fast food restaurant that offers both soft serve and coffee can create a good opportunity to whip up your own affogato. The process for creating this classic Italian dessert is similar to the brownie sundae — just order a coffee and an Icedream cup and pour the coffee over the dessert. Chick-fil-A gets its coffee from Georgia-based Thrive Farmers, which is admittedly pretty tasty for fast food coffee, so the affogato experience here is better than it would be at other fast food restaurants.

This hack is a bit temperamental as the Icedream doesn't quite have the creamy heft to stand up to a hot cup of coffee. It adds a tasty vanilla note to the coffee, but it melts pretty quickly with the hot stuff. Those after the affogato flavor combo will be better suited with Chick-fil-A's iced coffee, which fixes the melting issue while keeping the vanilla flavor. Putting the Icedream in the coffee works a bit better than pouring the coffee on the dessert — nothing wrong with a little iced coffee float as a midday pick-me-up.

When it comes to Kid's Meal toys, Chick-fil-A simply has nothing on McDonald's. The toys from Chick-fil-A are perfectly serviceable for kiddos younger than 7 or so, but once kids hit third grade, they seem to lose interest in what the restaurant has to offer. If this is the case for younger diners, it's possible to ask for a small Icedream instead of the toy with the Kid's Meal. It's hard to find a kid who will say no to a cool, creamy dessert with their nuggets and fries, so this can be a go-to strategy as soon as your kids start rolling their eyes at the Kid's Meal toys.

Those looking to use this particular hack can take things to the next level by ordering a fruit cup as a side and then combining it with the Icedream for a fruit parfait. If your kid's mature enough to skip a Chick-fil-A toy, then they just might appreciate the chilly delights of fresh fruit with a creamy vanilla dessert. It's a fun dish to create since it involves some clever engineering, and it'll also make parents feel good about getting fruit as a side as opposed to fries or macaroni.