The Old-School Side Dish Chick-Fil-A Quietly Discontinued

It's quite common for fast food chains to change up their menus. Some items come and go, like McDonald's famous McRib or Wendy's Crispy Panko Fish Sandwich. But other items, much to the dismay of some customers, are more permanently dismissed from fast food menus.

Even the most popular, high-volume restaurants, like Chick-fil-A, occasionally say "bon voyage" to long-term menu offerings. Some examples include the chicken salad sandwich and the Asian salad, but perhaps the most popular is the old-school carrot and raisin salad. This dish disappeared off the menu after four decades of being a staple – much to the dismay of some diners. "I was working there when they dropped it," said one self-described former Chick-fil-A employee on Reddit. "I had to break the hearts of the elderly for weeks."

Despite its following, the salad seems like it was a niche item. Another alleged former employee on a different Reddit thread said most customers just weren't buying it. During their time at Chick-fil-A, they explained, they typically sold no more than one or two carrot and raisin salads daily. That wasn't worth it for the prep time the side dish required.

Other than an occasional appearance at Truett's Grill and Dwarf House restaurants around Atlanta, the carrot and raisin salad is nowhere to be found. But if you were a fan, the good news is you can make the exact recipe for the dish at home. Chick-fil-A has released the official recipes for some of its most famous discontinued menu items — and the carrot and raisin salad is one of them.

The dish looks quite easy to make. It's a simple mix of shredded carrots (4 ½ cups' worth), a can of crushed pineapple, raisins, mayonnaise, sugar, and fresh lemon juice. The official recipe serves about 14 people, but you can easily do the math and make a smaller portion. The fast food chain also shares a few other recipes for discontinued items, including coleslaw, chicken salad, and lemon pie. Also, in the effort to reduce food waste, Chick-fil-A's Shared Table Program offers a free digital cookbook that reveals a few creative spins on mainstay menu items — like nugget fried rice, a Nashville Hot Chicken open-faced sandwich, and breaded chicken fajitas.

So if you've wondered where that old-school carrot and raisin salad went, now you know. Even if you can't taste it in the dining room, you still have a variety of ways to recreate it — as well as other discontinued Chick-fil-A items — on your own.