The single sheet of yellowing paper had been in hiding at an undisclosed location while KFC upgraded security around its top corporate secret.
The recipe lays out a mix of 11 herbs and spices that coat the chain's Original Recipe chicken. Written in pencil and signed by Harland Sanders, it includes exact amounts for each ingredient.
Eaton describes the recipe's time away from the vault at KFC HQ as "very nerve wracking." He says he did not want to be "the only president who's lost the recipe."
It is now protected by an array of high-tech security gadgets, including motion detectors and cameras allowing guards to monitor the vault around the clock.
