Chicken sandwiches want for sauce. Chicken breast, even when fried, tends to be a bit dry and fast food brands know this, which is why they almost always slather their chicken sandos with mayo, comeback sauce, or special sauce — and then there is Chick-fil-A. All of Chick-fil-A’s sandwiches are completely sauceless, but their chicken is so tender, juicy, and expertly cooked that you don’t need it.
Does Chick-fil-A make our favorite chicken sandwich? No, but they come close, so what would happen if they actually did release a sandwich that comes all sauced up? Enter the new Smokehouse BBQ Bacon Sandwich. This new seasonal sandwich contains your choice of Chick-fil-A’s original, grilled, or spicy filet topped with bacon, Colby Jack cheese, green leaf lettuce, and a thick layer of smoky BBQ sauce.
It sounds like it’s going to be the brand’s messiest and most flavor-packed sandwich to date, so we had to find out. We tried the Smokehouse BBQ Bacon Sandwich to see if it’s worth taking a trip to Chick-fil-A, here are our thoughts.
Smokehouse BBQ Bacon Sandwich
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
I’ve tried all three variations on this sandwich, and they aren’t different enough to warrant separate reviews for each, so I’ll just say — go with the spicy filet. It’s hands down the best choice. The spicy filet is tender, juicy, and well-seasoned with a mix of black pepper, salt, and a hint of garlic and onion with a strong cayenne-pepper-backed hit on the backend.
That strong rush of spiciness that lingers on the palate is further elevated by Chick-fil-A’s very good, very smokey BBQ sauce. The sauce is fragrant and appetizing and begins sweetly before the smokey notes take over. Coupled with the seasoning of the chicken, this sandwich takes your tastebuds on a journey of shifting flavors that is impossible to deny.
All of that would be enough to significantly elevate the experience of eating a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich, but we haven’t even gotten to the bacon! The bacon here is dusted in coarse crushed black pepper and brushed with brown sugar. The bacon doesn’t do much to add crunch to this sandwich (it’s pretty floppy as far as bacon goes), but that blend of brown sugar and pepper further deepens a lot of the flavors that are already present in the sauce and chicken seasoning, and adds some additional sweetness, and ups the savory aspect.
This is a near-perfect sandwich, the only real change I’d make is subbing out that Colby Jack cheese in favor of Pepper Jack.
The Bottom Line:
Smokey, sweet, spicy and savory, Chick-fil-A’s Smokehouse BBQ Bacon Sandwich is hands down the best sandwich on the entire menu. It’s a must-pick up and we hope it sticks around for a long time.
