Chick-fil-A served their coleslaw for 49 years before pulling it on January 18, 2016. The backlash was immediate. In December 2015, ahead of removing it, the chain published their official recipe publicly — an acknowledgment that the replacement wasn’t the same thing and fans would want to make it themselves. This recipe follows that released formula exactly.
The Official Recipe — and What Most Copycats Get Wrong
The most common mistake in Chick-fil-A coleslaw copycat recipes is adding ingredients that weren’t there. Buttermilk, celery seed, and lemon juice appear in many versions floating around cooking sites, but none of them are in the official released recipe. The actual ingredient list is simpler:
- Cabbage and carrot
- Mayonnaise
- Granulated sugar
- Distilled white vinegar
- Dry mustard powder
- Kosher salt
That’s it. The dry mustard is the ingredient that most home cooks substitute or leave out entirely, and it’s the one that matters most. It doesn’t read as mustard — at 1/4 teaspoon per batch, it dissolves into the background and registers as warmth and depth. It’s the flavor people can’t quite identify but would miss if it were gone.
The Dressing: Sugar First
The order of operations in the dressing matters. The official recipe calls for whisking the vinegar, sugar, dry mustard, and salt together first — until the sugar fully dissolves — then whisking in the mayonnaise. This ensures the sugar is completely incorporated rather than settling in granules that create uneven sweetness.
The ratio of sugar to vinegar is noticeably sweet: 1/4 cup sugar to just 4 teaspoons of white vinegar. This leans significantly sweeter than most homemade slaws, but the mayonnaise tempers the sweetness and the dry mustard keeps it from tipping into candy territory. If you find the official ratio too sweet, reducing to 3 tablespoons of sugar produces a more balanced result most people prefer.
The dressing uses no dairy beyond the mayo itself. No buttermilk, no cream. The tang comes entirely from the distilled white vinegar.
The Shredding Cut
Chick-fil-A’s official recipe specifies cabbage “chopped to 1/8-inch thick” — a fine, confetti-like cut that is much smaller than the strip shreds you’d get from a standard coleslaw. This is the texture people remember from the restaurant.
To achieve it at home: quarter the cabbage, remove the core, slice each quarter as thinly as possible with a sharp chef’s knife, then gather those slices into a tight bundle and chop across repeatedly until the pieces are 1/8-inch or smaller. A mandoline set to 1–2mm does it in one pass. Food processors produce an inconsistent chop — some pieces go to paste — so knife or mandoline is better here.
The carrot should match the texture: use the small holes of a box grater for fine, almost powdery strands rather than the thick shreds the large holes produce. Fine carrot strands blend into the slaw; large shreds create hard pockets of carrot that interrupt the texture.
Why the Rest Time Is Not Optional
Fresh from the bowl, this slaw tastes sharp and disjointed — the sweetness, tang, and mayo are distinct and separate, the cabbage is crunchy and harsh. Two hours in the refrigerator transforms it. Salt and sugar draw moisture from the cabbage through osmosis, the strands soften to the texture Chick-fil-A actually served, and the flavors marry into something cohesive and rounded.
The official recipe specifies a minimum 2-hour chill. Overnight is better — the dry mustard blooms further and the sweetness mellows. Beyond 12 hours it begins to release more water, which you can drain off before serving. This is a normal part of the process, not a sign something went wrong.
CFA Coleslaw vs. KFC Coleslaw: A Direct Comparison
| Chick-fil-A (official recipe) | KFC (classic copycat) | |
|---|---|---|
| Fat base | Mayonnaise only | Mayo + buttermilk (1:1) |
| Sweetener | 1/4 cup sugar | 1/3 cup sugar |
| Acid | White vinegar | White vinegar + lemon juice |
| Signature spice | Dry mustard | None |
| Celery seed | No | No |
| Buttermilk | No | Yes |
| Dressing texture | Rich, thick | Thin, creamy |
| Sweetness level | High | Higher |
| Minimum chill | 2 hours | 4 hours |
KFC’s version is sweeter and thinner; CFA’s is richer and drier with that mustardy undertone. Both require a fine shred. Neither uses celery seed (a common copycat addition that isn’t authentic to either chain).
What Replaced the Coleslaw
The Superfood Side debuted the same day the coleslaw disappeared — January 18, 2016. It was the first Chick-fil-A side developed with an outside chef (Ford Fry, the Atlanta restaurateur behind King + Duke and JCT. Kitchen). The dish: hand-chopped kale and broccolini tossed in a maple vinaigrette, topped with dried sour cherries and a roasted nut blend of walnuts, almonds, and pecans. About 140 calories per serving.
It is a good side dish. It did not fill the same role. A creamy, sweet-tangy coleslaw that cuts through fried chicken is doing a specific job. A kale salad in maple vinaigrette is doing a different one.
Serving
- On a CFA chicken sandwich. Add a spoonful directly to a copycat Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich before closing the bun — the slaw’s sweetness against the pickles and the fried crust is the combination people actually miss.
- Alongside nuggets. A bowl of this next to Chick-fil-A-style nuggets replaces any dipping sauce.
- With barbecue. Pulled pork, brisket, smoked ribs — the sugar-vinegar balance of this slaw cuts rich, smoky meat the same way it cut fried chicken.
- Fish tacos. The clean, uncomplicated dressing works on fish tacos without competing with lime and cilantro.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Stir before serving each time — liquid settles to the bottom. The texture is best at 2–24 hours after mixing. Drain accumulated liquid from day 3 onward before serving.
Do not freeze — the mayonnaise separates on thawing and the texture turns grainy and unappetizing.
More Chick-fil-A Copycat Recipes
- Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich — the fried chicken sandwich this coleslaw was built to accompany
- Chick-fil-A Nuggets — pickle-brine chicken, bite-sized; serve with the slaw on the side
- Chick-fil-A Sauce — the honey-mustard-barbecue dipping hybrid
- Chick-fil-A Waffle Fries — peanut-oil-fried ridged fries; complete the CFA side dish spread
- KFC Coleslaw — the other great fast-food coleslaw; same fine shred, very different dressing
See all Chick-fil-A copycat recipes →
