Is Chick-Fil-A Soup Made Fresh?

Chick-fil-A's customers love its signature chicken sandwich, but it offers the poultry in other ways too. The popular chain also sells chicken noodle soup year-round, and chicken tortilla soup when the colder weather returns. The seasonal tortilla option finished at the top of our fast food soups ranking, and the noodled original was close behind in third place. As good as they are, neither soup is made fresh at Chick-fil-A restaurants.

Each Chick-fil-A location receives the soups premade and frozen from an outside supplier. According to self-identified employees on Reddit, the soup is heated up and grated chicken is added. A Redditor commenting on r/ChickFilAWorkers explained, "We usually do like 4 ounces de-breaded and 3 ounces grilled, shredded per soup bag ... It's like a full batch. Maybe 6 to 8 bowls' worth." The chicken tortilla soup incorporates shredded spicy filets along with the original chicken to give it some heat.

The poultry in the soup is usually repurposed from the previous day. One Redditor who appeared to be privy to Chick-fil-A's methods laid out the process: "All the non-spicy chicken that's been in the warmer more than 30 minutes gets put in a bucket for it to cool off. It's later refrigerated and used to make chicken noodle soup the next day."

The first Chick-fil-A debuted in Atlanta in 1967, but chicken noodle soup wasn't on the menu until 1982. The soup includes egg noodles, carrots, and celery in a seasoned chicken stock, along with the added shredded poultry and saltine crackers on the side. The chicken tortilla soup was originally served at Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy's restaurant, Dwarf Grill (now known as Dwarf House), which opened in Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946. It was introduced to the fast food chain much later, in 2012. It has navy and black beans, corn, green chilies, and onions in a thicker base made with sour cream, the secret ingredient that makes Chick-fil-A's chicken tortilla soup so creamy. Separately served seasoned corn tortilla strips can be scattered on top.

Both versions are available in a cup or a bowl. Prices vary depending on location, but at a Chick-fil-A in the chain's home city of Atlanta, a cup of chicken noodle was priced at $4.29 and a bowl costs $6.49. Although the soups aren't made on-site, you can get them as fresh as possible if you time your visit right. Chick-fil-A stops serving breakfast at 10:30 a.m., so the first batch should be ready for the start of lunch. New batches are prepared as needed, but since that depends on demand, placing an order when lunch begins or soon after assures you'll get soup that hasn't been sitting for hours.