Ruby Tuesday, the casual dining chain with 729 locations, is featuring the Double Decker Chicken, which is two 7-ounce fresh chicken breasts grilled and layered with roasted baby bella mushrooms, strips of crispy bacon, Parmesan cream sauce and shaved Asiago cheese. It is served with a choice of two sides or one side paired with Ruby Tuesday’s signature Garden Bar.

“When creating this dish, we really wanted it to be an over the top experience,” says executive chef Peter Glander. “It has everything you are looking for in a hearty meal — great textural contrast, great flavors and overall, it’s just tasty.”

Glander notes that there are many ways to grill chicken, but for this dish he prefers to use the flat griddle. The griddle gives the best sear while allowing the meat to retain the most moisture, giving it the best flavor, texture and all around eating experience. “A traditional charcoal grill is often a bit too hot and can often dry out the chicken,” he says.

It also is important to select high quality chicken. “We feel it is very important to have great quality base ingredients to start with,” he says. “At Ruby Tuesday we have worked hard to find premium chicken options that showcase our menu offerings the best.”

Flyrite Chicken in Austin, Texas, offers a chicken sandwich called the Super Fly. Quirino Silva, chef and director of culinary operations, starts with a 4-ounce chicken breast, raised without antibiotics ever.  The chicken is also vegetarian-fed and cage-free. It is hand-breaded with his proprietary flour mix of spices. “The chicken then goes into our pressure fryer filled with 100 percent peanut oil for several minutes until it emerges golden brown, crispy and tender,” he says. “We place it on a locally made whole wheat bun that has been flavored with pure unsalted butter and toasted. We add our housemade pickles with fresh herbs, a slice of pepper jack cheese, two thick pieces of nitrate-free bacon, fresh kale slaw, freshly sliced jalapeños and top it with housemade sriracha mayo.”

The Super Fly is a variation of the restaurant's The Standard, which features crispy chicken breast served on a toasted whole wheat bun with homemade pickle chips and a choice of sauce. Flyrite does not use any MSG, artificial flavorings or coloring, or preservatives other than kosher salt.

Shake Shack, the New York-based fast casual chain, debuted its signature chicken sandwich, The Chick’n Shack, earlier this year. Dubbed the Chick’n Shack, the sandwich features a crispy 100 percent all-natural and antibiotic-free chicken breast.

“The introduction of chicken marks a new era for Shake Shack, staying true to our core menu while continuing to innovate new items our guests have asked for,” Shake Shack chief executive Randy Garutti says. “The Chick’n Shack also furthers Shake Shack’s commitment to serve fresh, simple, high quality food at a great value through the mission to Stand For Something Good®.”

The Chick’n Shack features a cage-free chicken breast — no hormones or antibiotics ever — flavored first in a creamy buttermilk marinade and then hand-dipped in Shack-made batter, dredged in seasoned flour and crisp-fried. The Chick’n Shack is topped with pickles, shredded lettuce and a Shack-made buttermilk herb mayo made with chives, parsley and thyme. The sandwich is served on a non-GMO potato roll. Customers have the option of adding Louisiana hot sauce.

Fitlife Foods, with 11 locations in Florida, offers all-natural chicken, turkey and other dishes for takeout. One of the chain's more popular items is its Tuscan Chicken, which includes tender grilled chicken and fresh broccolini paired with a roasted tomato pesto.

Chef Andrew Ruga, vice president of culinary operations and corporate chef for Fitlife Foods, says the preparation starts with hand-trimming the chicken breast, which he seasons with a proprietary mixture of herbs, spices and olive oil before flash grilling to develop a smoky char flavor.

“After activating the herb and char flavors on the grill, we then use modern technology in the form of a combi oven,” Ruga says. “The combi, unlike a traditional dry heat oven, allows us to control the heat and humidity environment that the product is cooked in so that we can produce a consistent product every time. This environmental control allows for maximum flavor development while retaining moisture within the product at a high level for a consistently juicy chicken breast.”

The Stand, which has four locations in the Los Angeles area, offers the Porchetta Standwich. The dish features slow-roasted pork, green apple and red onion slaw, bacon tomato jam, chimichurri, arugula, and ciabatta with the option to add a fried egg.

Jason Wishengrad, executive vice president and culinary director of The Stand, says the cooking process begins by setting the convection oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and cooking the pork for 40 minutes, which produces a deliciously crispy skin. After this first step, the temperature is decreased to 275 degrees Fahrenheit and the pork is slow-roasted for five hours to a medium rare doneness.

“A great tip for making something extra delicious when you’re going to slow roast it is to season the meat ahead of time,” Wishengrad says. “When we cook our porchetta, we season it 24 hours ahead of time and let the roast cure in our refrigerator. This allows the spices to infuse the meat, and the salt makes it extra juicy.”