After years of customers insisting the company’s Waffle Potato Fries got worse, Chick-fil-A confirmed this week that it has removed pea starch from the recipe and updated its website to reflect the change.
The pea starch coating first showed up in late 2024 as part of what Chick-fil-A called “a slight adjustment” meant to help the fries “stay crispier, longer.” The problem was, a lot of people did not come to Chick-fil-A for “crispier, longer.” They came for the classic waffle fry — no remixes required.
Customers complained the updated fries tasted different and felt “harder,” which is never a good review for a side dish. As of this week, the customer support page says what millions have been waiting for: confirmation that the Waffle Fry recipe no longer contains pea starch.
Online, the reaction has been exactly what you’d expect when a beloved food returns to factory settings. On Reddit, one commenter celebrated the update with, “I’m gonna miss that pea starch. Said no one,” while others claimed they’d already noticed the fries tasting like they “used to.”
In other words, Chick-fil-A just proved a foundational truth of American life: complaining works.
