The Retro BBQ Chick-Fil-A Side Dish That Quietly Disappeared

Chick-fil-A used to serve a side dish that would likely feel unreal to anyone who's only familiar with the chain's modern lineup. For 40 years, the Carrot & Raisin Salad — a chilled, mayo-based mix of shredded carrots, pineapple, and raisins — sat on the menu without much fanfare. Carrot salads have long been a potluck and barbecue staple, but Chick-fil-A's version wasn't necessarily trendy, even if it was familiar in the way only old Southern recipes can be.

The salad made perfect sense in the chain's early years, back when its menu leaned harder into humble, regionally driven sides. Before Chick-fil-A became America's favorite fast food chain and started building its identity around efficiency and the rapid pace of a packed drive-thru, dishes like these helped round out customers' plates. By the mid-2010s, however, the labor-heavy recipe just wasn't economical in a system that increasingly depended on speed. Former employees on Reddit report that it barely sold — maybe a few portions per day at most — which didn't justify the time it took to prepare fresh. Even after its retirement in 2016, though, the salad never really faded; it lived on in fan-made nostalgia threads and even moved to a smaller corner of the Chick-fil-A universe.

The brief return of Chick-fil-A's Carrot & Raisin Salad at the original Dwarf House restaurant in May 2024 wasn't a hint at a wider revival, but a one-month tribute to the restaurant's founder, Truett Cathy, who opened the Dwarf House shortly after starting Chick-fil-A. Fans treated the event like a homecoming anyway, showing up for a dish that hadn't been available on the broader menu since 2016. Still, Chick-fil-A kept expectations grounded, reiterating on X that it had no plans to bring the dish back. This makes sense, as the best-selling item at Chick-fil-A — the Original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich — continues to define the chain's appetite.

The carrot salad is still served year-round at Truett's Grill and the Dwarf House, and Chick-fil-A released the original recipe on its website for anyone who wants to recreate it at home. Sharing recipes isn't unusual for the brand — Chick-fil-A even released its own digital cookbook in 2023 — so making this one public fits neatly into that pattern. The directions remain unchanged, and the generous yield mirrors the way it was always meant to be eaten: cold, sweet, and straight from the fridge. While you can't order this dish alongside waffle fries anymore, you can still make it yourself, find it in Atlanta, or watch fans reminisce online about the side they never quite forgot.