Chick-fil-A Brings Back Bacon-Filled Menu Item

Chick-fil-A has welcomed back one of its most flavorful menu items: the Smokehouse BBQ Bacon Sandwich. The fast food chain, known for its impressive lineup of chicken dishes and delicious waffle fries, is bringing the mouth-watering sandwich back nationwide for winter 2022. Given that the sandwich is just a seasonal menu item, it will only be on the Chick-fil-A menu for a limited time.

First introduced back in 2015, the Smokehouse BBQ Bacon Sandwich ups the ante on the traditional Grilled Chicken Sandwich. It begins with a boneless breast of chicken, which is marinated with a special blend of seasonings and grilled for a tender and juicy backyard-grilled taste. It is topped with bacon that has been hand-tossed in a brown sugar and pepper blend, a slice of Colby-Jack cheese, lettuce, tomato and a smoky, tangy sauce, all of which is nestled on a toasted, buttered sweet yeast bun. According to Chick-fil-A, the sandwich "pulls together all the familiar flavors of a family cookout."

The sandwich was created through a collaboration between chef Christy Cook and renowned chef Ford Fry as a new take on the Grilled Chicken Sandwich that began in 2014. Seeking a sandwich packed with flavor, the pair began by settling on a bun "hearty enough to hold its ingredients," which they found from Highland Bakery in Chicago, which crafted a sweet yeast bun, reminiscent of a Hawaiian sweet roll. Next, they began working on unique BBQ sauce, with Fry turning to is Texas upbringing to create a BBQ sauce that had "a little bit of bite, along with a smoky flavor." The pair next turned to the black pepper brown sugar bacon, which Fry created himself.

"I love the effect the Smokehouse BBQ sauce has on the hot-off-the-grill chicken," Cook said. "In that first bite, you get the sauce and the cheese all melting into the bun. The texture is important too, so when you combine all of it with the crunch of the bacon and the lettuce, it just makes your mouth water."

Following several months of work, the Smokehouse BBQ Bacon Sandwich debuted on select menus in North Carolina in 2015, and it became an instant hit. It later rolled out nationwide in 2017. The sandwich was last on the menu in 2019. Customers can now order the Smokehouse BBQ Bacon Sandwich at participating Chick-fil-A locations nationwide for a limited time.