Every Chick-Fil-A Sauce, Ranked Worst To Best

Chick-fil-A is a beloved restaurant that continues to dominate the fast food scene, and after some positive changes at Chick-fil-A this year, it may bring in an even larger crowd of customers. The chain is best known for chicken, those adorable marketing cows, being closed on Sundays, and their range of unique dipping sauces — but you only get to choose two sauces when you order nuggets. How do you know which Chick-fil-A sauces are your best options, and which would be a total waste of your time?

Thankfully, I was given the opportunity to review every Chick-fil-A sauce, so you can get the answers you need right now. Once I'd tasted each of them with fries and a grilled nugget, I ranked each from worst to best based on personal preference and how well it worked with the foods. I'm uniquely suited to do this thanks to a food industry background and a great love of Chick-fil-A generally. You can learn more about my methodology at the end of this article.

Before we dive into the meat of the article, I wanted to give one word of advice about ordering sauces. While they may be among the friendliest staff in fast food, Chick-fil-A employees want you to stop vaguely ordering "extra" sauce. Instead of that, ask for one or two extra sauces so they know exactly how much to give you. With that public service announcement out of the way, let's get into it.

I think this is supposed to be your standard barbecue sauce. It's seasoned with onion, garlic, and other spices for a "rich and bold" flavor. When you open the packet, you're greeted by a dark red sauce with tiny, barely visible flakes of what I assume are those spices. The one good thing I can say about this Chick-fil-A Barbeque Sauce is that it contains no major allergens, making it a good option for anyone. Unfortunately, I don't actually think anyone will want to choose this dipping sauce for their next meal.

Let me preface my taste test by saying I am a huge fan of this type of sauce generally, with my favorite being a classic Texas barbecue sauce. This meant I had really high hopes this would rank well. Unfortunately, the very first taste was kind of musty and off in a way I can't quite describe — the combination of those two elements had me wrinkling my nose in disgust. The texture was also a nightmare. Somehow it felt almost too thin and too thick at the same time, with the deliciousness of my waffle fries and nuggets not being enough to salvage this taste test. I definitely won't be ordering it again, and recommend you avoid this option at all costs.

The Chick-fil-A Sweet and Spicy Sriracha Sauce is basically like a Chinese sweet and sour sauce but with garlic notes and spicy tones courtesy of chili flakes. Before choosing this as your next dipping sauce, know that it's the only sauce that's not one of Chick-fil-A's gluten-free options, and also contains an allergen warning for soy.

As odd as it sounds, the one thing I really enjoyed about this sauce was the visual appeal. Honestly, it's very pretty. When you open the container, you're greeted with a light red sauce that's mildly translucent, speckled with obvious orange and barely noticeable red flakes that add visual interest. The smell is pretty good too. A mildly spicy scent with sweet tones and something almost citrusy. I just wish that smell had been more indicative of the taste.

My main issue with this sriracha sauce can be boiled down to one thing — it's too sweet. While the smell was more balanced and teetering towards spicy, the sauce is sickly sweet with only the mildest heat. This isn't what I was expecting and I didn't enjoy it. Because of this, I wouldn't order this sauce again, and can't recommend it.

Here's where we start getting into slightly better sauces. The Chick-fil-A Garden Herb Ranch is your standard ranch sauce sprinkled with some fresh herbs for extra flavor. It does have allergen warnings for eggs and milk, but appears to be free of other major allergens (including wheat and gluten). 

Opening the container, you're greeted with a milky white sauce speckled with black, orange, and brown specks. It's another pretty sauce, but the smell was a little weird. I'm not sure how to describe the weirdness other than to say it just wasn't what I was expecting.

When I tasted this ranch, it was flavorful and creamy, with strong notes of earthy herbs that really elevated the flavor profile. The one issue I had was that there was a slightly weird aftertaste. Thankfully, that didn't linger very long, so it didn't totally ruin my experience. However, it was enough of a downside to place this dipping sauce in fifth place. I won't order this again, and I can't really recommend it, although hardcore ranch enthusiasts may still enjoy it.

The Chick-fil-A Zesty Buffalo Sauce is the chain's offering to hot sauce enthusiasts. It has an allergen warning for egg and milk, which is something for those with allergies to be aware of. Opening the container, you're greeted with an almost milky orange sauce with no discernible bits inside — although mine did have quite a few air bubbles. The smell was a giant kick in the face of pure heat that made my eyes water a little.

I'm a huge fan of buffalo sauce and regularly use it to make buffalo chicken dip, hot wings, and other dishes. So, once again, I had high hopes this sauce would taste good and rank well. Unfortunately, once again, this sauce just wasn't what I was expecting, so I was a little taken aback when I used it for my waffle fries and grilled nuggets.

When I eat buffalo sauce, I expect very faint sweet tones and heavy buttery notes with a kick of vinegar amongst the general heat. Those flavors are what make a buffalo sauce, well, buffalo sauce. This didn't have most of that. There was a definite kick of vinegar, but overall this tasted more like Tabasco. It wasn't terrible, and I do like Tabasco, but as a buffalo sauce, it was kind of disappointing. I wouldn't order it again, but diehard heat enthusiasts may still enjoy this.

You've finally reached the part of the list where the good sauces reside — and I have only good things to say about the top three sauces, making any one of them your best choice for your next Chick-fil-A meal. The Chick-fil-A Polynesian Sauce is a type of sweet and sour sauce that comes with an allergen warning for soy, but appears to be free of other major food allergens.

Opening the packet, I was greeted by a mildly sweet and somewhat tangy smell with the faintest hints of a citrusy scent. The sauce itself is a vibrant purplish-red that's slightly translucent and speckled with tiny white dots. Although this sauce was at the core of one of the biggest Chick-fil-A recalls due to a labeling issue, that issue's been corrected, so there's no need to worry about it now.

I'd never tried the Polynesian sauce before and was happily surprised with my first taste — it's truly delicious with a unique flavor profile that worked really well with both the nuggets and fries. A generally sweet profile carries notes of mustard and vinegar with a kick of honey and garlic tones. Although there are two sauces I prefer, I have zero doubts I'll order this sauce again and highly recommend it.

After trying the first barbeque sauce, I was a little afraid of trying this one, but I pushed on and I'm glad I did. This one is much better! Although this dipping sauce does contain egg, it appears to be free of other major allergens. Upon ripping open the Chick-fil-A Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce packet, I was greeted by a thick, yellow sauce vaguely reminiscent of honey mustard. The scent was a little sweet with the tiniest kick of spice — I caught heavy notes of mustard, tomato, and honey — and this scent ended up being a perfect representation of the taste. 

The primary flavor notes here were mustard and honey, with middling tones of tomato and the tiniest hint of spice. I found this combination delicious. It especially paired well with the waffle fries, and I ended up eating several with it. The sweet notes paired with the starchy notes in a way I just couldn't get enough of. I'll definitely be ordering this again. On future trips to the chain, I'll likely alternate between this and the Polynesian sauce as accompaniments to the top-ranking sauce. I highly recommend giving this BBQ sauce a try.

Even when compared side by side with other options, Chick-fil-A-Sauce easily came in first, and by a landslide. There's just something about this sauce that's both delicious and addictive. If you didn't already know, the sauce is a combination of BBQ sauce and yellow mustard with natural hickory smoke tones — it's the smoky notes that really elevate this unique sauce, in my opinion. The sauce is free of most allergens, but does contain eggs. When you open the little dipping cup, you'll find a medium-thick sauce that's a rich yellow with well-defined brown tones and a scent reminiscent of honey mustard.

The taste carries strong notes of yellow mustard and sweet tomato, laced with smoky tones and a very light honey-esque flavor. I'll definitely be ordering this again on every future trip to Chick-fil-A, and highly recommend you try this for yourself. Once you do, you'll have zero doubts about why this ranked as my top Chick-fil-A sauce.

I chose every Chick-fil-A sauce available during my trip to my local restaurant in Vineland, New Jersey, for inclusion on this ranking list. Note that availability of sauces may vary slightly from one location to the next, so your chosen restaurant may have more or less than what was ranked here. I tried each sauce with one waffle fry and one grilled nugget, tasting them all in one sitting for the most comprehensive, fair test taste. 

Once tested, I ranked the sauces based on personal preference and how well I believed each sauce paired with the nugget and fry. To make my decisions, I relied on more than fifteen years of food industry experience, during which time I spent almost two years working in fast food. For full disclosure, I've never worked at Chick-fil-A, so I was able to keep my opinions as unbiased as possible.

If all of this has you craving more fast food articles, check out our ranking of fast food cheeseburgers to see which chain came in first place. Or, if you're craving a sweet treat after your Chick-fil-A meal, learn which Hostess Donettes ranked best (and worst) in a recent taste test.