This week, I have once again found myself writing about and recreating a discontinued sandwich from a fast-food chain. This time it’s from Wendy’s, and the sandwich concept has great components that are quick to be composed into a fairly easy and flavorful sandwich you can make at home.
What is this sandwich?
The sandwich I’m writing about today is Wendy’s Fresh Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich, and it’s a fairly unique sandwich created by corporate chefs in the test kitchens of a fast food conglomerate with components that turn out to be pretty easy to make at home.
Wendy’s Fresh Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich started with a grilled chicken breast, which was topped with a creamy basil pesto spread, fresh mozzarella, diced balsamic tomatoes, and spring mix between a lightly toasted brioche bun.
I have watched a few review videos of people trying this sandwich, and a few of them seem to have been given the option of grilled or crispy chicken. It does seem that the grilled option is the default, so that’s what I focused on in this sandwich blog post.
Fresh Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich pricing:
Wendy’s 2017 suggested retail price for this sandwich was the low cost of $5.29. You can see in the marketing promo in a Bluesky post just below that it was priced at $4.89 in some markets, and I’ve also seen other restaurant promos of it being $5.39. This is at a time when Wendy’s grilled chicken sandwich would cost around $4.99, and their spicy (fried) chicken sandwich was in the $4.59 range.
Fresh mozzarella in fast food?
2017 was a big year for fresh mozzarella cheese at Wendy’s. The restaurant chain launched what they called the “Fresh Mozz Duo” on more than 5,800 restaurant menus across the United States. This pair of menu items was a Fresh Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich and a Fresh Mozzarella Chicken Salad, and they were both introduced in April of 2017.
Wendy’s claims that they were “the first fast food restaurant to offer fresh mozzarella cheese on a national scale.” They partnered with a cheese company out of Wisconsin called BelGioioso to get the supply they needed to source the creamy cheese for thousands of restaurants.
The introduction of fresh mozzarella into the fast food world didn’t last very long. After 2017, Wendy’s no longer had it as an option in their restaurants, and we really haven’t seen much fresh mozzarella appear in other fast food chains across the United States. Subway did partner with BelGioioso in 2022 to bring fresh mozzarella to their menus, but that only lasted a year or so before they also stopped serving it.
Is Wendy’s fresh mozzarella chicken sandwich just a caprese sandwich?
Caprese salad was invented in Italy just over 100 years ago, in the 1920s. It’s a fairly simple salad, usually served as an appetizer, that contains sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil that have been salted and dressed with olive oil.
I wrote a bit more about caprese a few years back in a focaccia-focused format that should be worth a read if you like the idea of these flavors in a sandwich.
Basically, this Wendy’s Fresh Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich has all of the components of caprese tucked into a nice brioche bun. So, that’s what we need to make first. The bread.
Brioche bun
This is a bun that I’ve made before and have shared the recipe a few times. It’s a very soft bun, but it does require some effort to create the dough. I have made lots of buns, but I would say that this is the only bun recipe that I have made where I would only make it if I owned a stand mixer.
Brioche bread or buns are special because they are made from enriched dough. This means that the dough is enriched by some extra ingredients that affect the flavor and texture of brioche. One of those extra ingredients is fat in the form of butter. Fat inhibits the development of gluten, or the thing that gives bread its structure, and this is why the dough initially takes so long to knead.
There’s a great article over at Modernist Cuisine that discusses enriched dough or enriched breads. If you’re at all curious about this topic, they will be able to teach you a lot more than I can.
After about 20 minutes in the oven, you’ll have nicely browned and super shiny, slightly sweet and buttery brioche buns, ready for some grilled chicken.
The egg wash that you paint on each brioche roll just prior to baking is one of the keys to the expected appearance of this type of bun. The egg wash is made from a whole egg and a tablespoon of water that are beaten together and painted on the dough just before it goes into the oven.
The egg wash helps to brown the buns, and it also leaves them with a shiny exterior. You do not have to apply the egg wash if you don’t want to waste an egg because it doesn’t change the flavor, but the shininess is part of the expected look of brioche buns.
Below is my brioche bun recipe. I know a lot of folks do not think brioche is a good option for a burger, but I personally think it’s ok. It definitely works in this particular fresh mozzarella sandwich, though. If you don’t want to bake your own buns, do try to find a brioche bun substitute, or if that’s not available, I would next opt for a fairly simple potato bun instead.
Brioche buns
These are fantastic, buttery buns that work great for burgers or sandwiches. They are rich from the enriched dough, but still very soft in the middle.
Get RecipeFresh mozzarella
The first phrase in the name of this discontinued Wendy’s sandwich is “fresh mozzarella,” so we should probably start there when discussing the sandwich components. You can make your own mozzarella, and I have done that twice, but in my opinion, it’s not any better than the cheese you can buy at the store.
In the case of this particular sandwich, if you’re attempting to get as close as possible to the Wendy’s version, you might even be able to find BelGioioso brand fresh mozzarella at your local store, since it’s the national brand they partnered with to create this sandwich originally.
I cut my fresh mozzarella into half-inch thick slices and then cut those round slices in half. I would use one or two half slices per sandwich to create what was for me a pretty good mozzarella-to-chicken ratio.
Grilled chicken breast
Most, if not all, Wendy’s have stopped serving grilled chicken sandwiches altogether, but they had a “plain” one on their menu for decades, since at least 1990.
Wendy’s grilled chicken sandwiches used whole pieces of chicken breast. But I do not think they were using the whole breast; I think they were likely cutting a breast into two similarly sized pieces, so that is what I did. To do this, I butterflied the breast (cutting and then opening it up like a book) and separated it into two pieces. If any piece seemed weirdly shaped or not shaped to fit in a sandwich, I could pound it out to make the whole piece of meat consistently the same thickness.
Once I had the sandwich-sized pieces of chicken breast, I used a very simple marinade to add some seasoning and flavor to the meat. You could just salt and pepper the meat if you want to keep things simple, but I just whipped up a simple marinade and let the pieces of chicken rest and absorb in the fridge for a few hours.
Once the chicken has spent some time in the marinade, it’s just a simple process of grilling it until the breast meat is fully cooked. You can do this indoors like I did, or outside on your charcoal or gas grill—choose your own grilling adventure.
Creamy basil pesto sauce
Wendy’s calls this a creamy pesto, but to me, I’m pretty sure they were creating a pesto mayonnaise. The marketing photos of the sandwich, as well as parts of the marketing videos created for this sandwich, definitely display something that’s not just green pesto (see screenshot below).
I believe that Wendy’s was creating a pesto and then blending it with mayonnaise, so that’s what I did as well. Basically, I went 1 for 1, mayonnaise to pesto, which created a really good sandwich sauce that I will be making in the future.
To create a pesto, you’re going to need a whole bunch of basil leaves. Three ounces worth turned out to be about 5 small packages of basil from the store that we shop at. Then you’ll need some pine nuts (or other type of nut), olive oil, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. If you have a food processor, you can whip up pesto in just a few minutes. In fact, I think it takes longer to clean up than it does to make the sauce.
Pesto is a great condiment that can be used as a topping for pizza or a pasta sauce, so while you only use a little bit of the sauce in the recipe below to create the creamy pesto sauce, you should still be able to come up with some use for the remainder.
Add a bit of pesto to your next grilled cheese, or you could also just grill up another piece of chicken and drizzle some pesto on top for a boost of flavor.
Basil pesto
This basil pesto recipe creates a great option for a fresh, garlicy, and texturally fun spread for your next sandwich.
Get RecipeBalsamic tomatoes
Wendy’s marketing calls this component balsamic tomatoes. As I’ve said several times, I never actually tried this sandwich, so I’m guessing here, but I can’t imagine that someone at Wendy’s was making a dressing when prepping this sandwich. I believe they probably sourced a balsamic-focused dressing that was made off-site, and they simply added that to the diced tomatoes when making the sandwich.
Because I’m not making this in a restaurant and I didn’t want to buy a balsamic-focused dressing, I just tossed the diced tomatoes in balsamic dressing, a tiny bit of olive oil, and then salted and peppered all of them.
I also opted to use balsamic glaze instead of the balsamic vinegar on the tomatoes in one version of the sandwich I made. I think this was much better and brought more flavor to the final sandwich. You can choose to do either, but if you want to know what I would opt to use in this sort of sandwich in the future, it’s definitely the balsamic glaze with a tiny pinch of salt and black pepper.
Spring mix
Wendy’s marketing mentions that the fresh mozzarella chicken sandwich contains spring mix. But what exactly is that?
There’s not an official standard or group that designates what “spring mix” actually means, but it usually contains lettuces of the “baby” variety, plus sometimes some baby spinach or, in the case of what I bought, “baby kale.” Basically, a spring mix just means you’re getting some tender pieces of lettuce or greens that were picked before they had matured.
I often find lettuce to be the most difficult part of any sandwich project to write about because it’s sort of boring, but in many cases, it is an important piece of the puzzle. If you want to learn more about spring mix, you can read this long article from AllRecipes that explains spring mix and also provides substitutes if you can’t find the pre-packaged kind.
My fresh mozzarella chicken sandwich photos and recipe
Here are a bunch of photos of the fresh mozzarella chicken sandwiches that I made this week. It’s a good sandwich that blends the flavors of caprese salad and a piece of grilled chicken into one experience.
Scroll just a bit further for the full recipe, and you can make this discontinued sandwich in your own kitchen.
Fresh mozzarella grilled chicken sandwich (Wendy's copycat)
Take a trip back to 2017 when Wendy's brought fresh mozzarella to the fast food world with this grilled chicken sandwich with fresh mozzarella, creamy pesto, and balsamic tomatoes.
Ingredients:
Basil pesto- 3 to 4 ounces fresh basil (about 2 cups)
- 1⁄4 cup pine nuts
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2⁄3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1⁄2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- black pepper to taste
- 1 chicken breast, butterflied into 2 sandwich sized pieces
- 1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1⁄4 cup olive oil
- 1⁄4 cup soy sauce
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce (optional)
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons pesto (from above)
- 1⁄2 of a medium tomato, diced
- 1 teaspoon balsamic glaze (or balsamic vinegar and a tiny pinch of sugar)
- salt and black pepper
- brioche sandwich buns (or regular burger buns)
- grilled chicken (from above)
- fresh mozzarella, sliced and then halved
- spring mix or mixed lettuce greens
Directions:
Pesto: add basil, pine nuts, garlic cloves, and salt to a food processor or blender. Pulse to combine.
When things are chopped well, start slowly adding your olive oil while the processor/blender is running on low. This starts to form an emulsion and gives you the consistency you would want.
When the pesto is smooth and has a thickened consistency, remove from the processor/blender to a bowl, add parmesan cheese, and stir.
Taste the fully combined pesto and add any additional salt and pepper that you think it might need. Store in the fridge for a few days.
Grilled chicken: butterfly a large chicken breast and then cut it into two sandwich-sized pieces.
Add red wine vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce, garlic, honey, and salt and pepper to a medium-sized mixing bowl and thoroughly mix to combine.
Place all of your chicken in a zip-top bag or large container with a lid. Pour over marinade.
Leave in the marinade for at least an hour up to overnight.
Preheat the grill or grill pan on the stove for 10 minutes.
Pull chicken out of the marinade and cook on grill grates for 4 to 5 minutes per side for thighs and 5 to 6 minutes per side for chicken breasts. If you have very large chicken breasts, you might want to grill for 7 minutes. If you have a probe thermometer, you should be looking for 165 degrees F (73 °C). You should be able to pull the chicken off the grill 5 degrees less than your target temperature, and it will carry over cook those extra degrees.
Creamy pesto sauce: mix 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise with 2 tablespoons of the pesto that you made earlier to create the creamy pesto sauce.
Balsamic tomatoes: dice half of a tomato and add it to a small bowl with the balsamic glaze and a pinch of salt and black pepper. Taste a tomato to make sure it doesn't need anything.
Sandwich assembly: Toast your buns and then add some creamy pesto sauce to the bottom. Add the grilled chicken on top, and then place 2 or 3 half slices of fresh mozzarella on top.
Add a small amount of spring mix and a spoonful of balsamic tomatoes. Add a bit more creamy pesto to the top bun if desired.
Close the sandwich and serve.
Check back next week
Next week, we’ll begin our yearly process to come up with a creative use for Turkey-day leftovers. Check back on Monday, and I’ll tell you what to stock your pantry with to be ready for Friday.
