The Persistent Myth Behind Chick-Fil-A's Chicken Preparation - Tasting Table

"Look at any copycat recipe for Chick-fil-A chicken, and you'll find they almost all utilize pickle juice as a brine. It's a long-running hypothesis that has evolved into fact for many people that pickle juice is the company's secret weapon. But it turns out that it isn't true, or at least it's not true anymore. One look at the sandwich's (long) ingredient list shows there is no vinegar in the chicken, only the pickles themselves and the bun."

"The most obvious guess for where the pickle brine rumor came from is that the pickles themselves, or maybe the vinegar in the bun, just trick people into thinking the chicken itself has more of a vinegar taste. However, there is also the possibility that one of the recipes actually did use a pickle juice brine at one point; after all, some celebrity cooks, including Ree Drummond, do add th"

Chick-fil-A's signature chicken flavor has prompted a widespread belief that the chain brines its chicken in pickle juice. Ingredient lists for the sandwich and nuggets show no vinegar in the chicken, only pickles and the bun. Chick-fil-A employees on forums like Reddit have repeatedly denied the pickle-brine claim. Many copycat recipes and celebrity cooks use pickle juice as a brine, which likely helped spread the rumor. An alternate explanation is that the pickles themselves or vinegar in the bun create a perceived vinegar taste rather than any pickle-brining of the chicken.

Read at Tasting Table