This Is the Secret Ingredient Behind the Addictive Flavor of McDonald’s Fries (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret ingredient in McDonald's french fries? ›

McDonald's wanted to keep its signature beefy flavor but without the beef fat itself, so it came up with a solution. Now the fast-food chain adds “natural beef flavor” to its vegetable oil to give its fries their irresistibly meaty taste.

Yes. When our suppliers partially fry our cut potatoes, they use an oil blend that contains beef flavoring. This ensures the great-tasting and recognizable flavor we all love from our World Famous Fries®. The fries are cooked in our kitchens, seasoned with salt, and served hot to you.

There's no great mystery in terms of the oil used to cook at the Golden Arches either. McDonald's cooking oil is non-hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Chemicals on the list include dimethylpolysiloxane, sodium acid pyrophosphate, and tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) — which are all FDA-approved. So to end the clip, Imahara says, “At the end of the day it's not a 'Franken-fry' composed of chemicals — McDonald's french fries are made from potatoes.”

They don't add the sugar directly, but bathe the fries in sugar water before frying, so it only gives a very light film. It make them this way at home. Bathing them in the sugar water not only gives them the sugar film, it also removes most of the surface starch so the fries don't clump together.

The most famous example of hidden beef flavoring is McDonald's french fries. For decades, McDonald's french fries were cooked in a combination of cottonseed oil and beef tallow. This made them delicious, but also laden with saturated fat.

Burning wood breaks down molecules called lignans, and these turn into smaller organic molecules – including syringol and guaiacol – that are mainly responsible for the quintessential smokey flavor.

Malcolm Gladwell explored why McDonald's fries don't taste the same as when he was a kid. McDonald's changed the way it cooked its fries in 1992. It swapped beef tallow for vegetable oil when frying french fries.

The McDonald's secret menu is as real as you're willing to make it — because McDonald's probably won't make it for you.

Are McDonald's fries shoe string? ›

A: McDonald's can rightly claim that they are America's favorite French fries and they use a shoestring fry. They have more units than any other burger chain by far and fries were an important part of the limited menu they had for years.

No. Our fries are not coated in any fats or substances from an animal.

“Processed foods are mainly salt, sugar, fat and preservatives — all of which create a combination of different sensations in your mouth. Your brain is involved as well. Foods that rapidly vanish or 'melt in your mouth' signal to your brain that you're not eating as much as you actually are.

Well, technically there are only 14 individual ingredients; some are listed twice because they're used in two different stages of production. Some of the ingredients include potatoes, canola oil, soybean oil, natural beef flavor, hydrolyzed milk and citric acid.

To mimic the chain's original oil blend, the oil is laced with natural flavoring to replicate that mouthwatering smell. In other words, the delicious scent we know and love is actually the smell of potatoes cooked in beef fat, an aroma so powerful it makes the fries seem even tastier!

Overdoing it on greasy, fried foods can lead to weight gain and wreak havoc on your blood sugar. French fries, potato chips, and doughnuts are particularly bad choices for diabetics because they're made with carb-heavy, starchy ingredients, which can cause blood glucose levels to shoot up.

Typically comprising a blend of spices and high levels of free amino acids which trigger a similar pattern of taste receptors as real meat, artificial meat flavor is used as an inexpensive, consistent method of reproducing and enhancing meat flavor.

In the U.S., McDonald's French fry suppliers add a very small amount of beef flavor to the oil in the par-frying process at the potato processing plant before shipping the fries to individual outlets. Once at the restaurant, the spuds are cooked in vegetable oil.

Do McDonald's fries have beef in them? In the United States, McDonald's fries are flavored with 'natural beef flavoring'. The fast food chain is not required to disclose whether or not this contains actual meat or not. However, the company does state that the fries are not suitable for vegetarians.

Soak the fries in cold water to rinse off excess starch to help get the fries crispy. Make sure to heat oil to 125 Celsius for the first fry and to 175 Celsius for the final fry. Double fry your fries to first cook out the potatoes, and then to get them golden brown and crispy! Season with salt after the second fry!

How do you make french fries tastier? ›

Add herbs and spices for extra flavor.

"Add a bit of gourmet flair to your fries by sprinkling them with some garlic powder, fresh rosemary, seasoned salt, or fresh virgin-olive [oil] or truffle oil," Koeppe said. As well as adding flavor, a drizzle of oil can also help keep fries from sticking together in the oven.

At the beginning of the potato season, when we're using newer potatoes, the naturally-occurring sugar content is very low and we do need to add a small amount of sugar dextrose to our fries to ensure they maintain that golden colour.

According to McDonald's, blanching also eliminates enzymatic activity which prevents spoilage and develops a fluffy interior, similar to a baked potato, for better texture. French fries are seen in an ingredient bath in this video released by McDonald's showing how their food is made.

The golden rule says 'treat others the way you want to be treated'.

McDonalds stopped using the by-product, known in the industry as lean, finely-textured beef, in 2011, according to a statement the company made on its website around that time.

The Poor Man's Big Mac is a McDouble (a bargain at around $1.49 made up of two burgers and one slice of cheese) with special sauce (that's the Big Mac Sauce), extra lettuce and no ketchup.

The "Monster Mac" is a Big Mac with eight patties – the middle bun is optional.

A "Mcgangb*ng" is a McChicken sandwiched inside a double cheeseburger.

"In fact, at McDonald's Canada, we have always prepared our french fries in a blend of beef and vegetable oil.

Without sufficient moisture—either in the food itself or the environment—bacteria and mold may not grow and therefore, decomposition is unlikely. So if food is or becomes dry enough, it is unlikely to grow mold or bacteria or decompose.

Is the meat at McDonald's real beef? ›

Every one of our McDonald's burgers is made with 100% pure beef and cooked and prepared with salt, pepper and nothing else—no fillers, no additives, no preservatives. We use the trimmings of cuts like the chuck, round and sirloin for our burgers, which are ground and formed into our hamburger patties.

McDonald's Chicken McNuggets® are made with all white meat chicken and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. The chicken, which is cut from the tenderloin, breast and rib, gets mixed with a marinade for flavor and to help the Chicken McNuggets® keep their fun shapes.

The taste will be familiar to Americans 40 and older who visited fast-food restaurants before 1990, the year McDonald's stopped using animal lard to cook its popular fries.

“Pumping food full of sugar to the person with the sweet tooth is what junk food companies strive for. Having that sugar could release dopamine, the feel-good hormone in the brain, which associates that food with pleasure — causing the body to crave more.”

According to a new study, eating ultra-processed foods, such as ice cream, hot dogs, and french fries, for more than 20% of your caloric intake could lead to cognitive decline, especially with regards to memory and executive function–the part of the brain that helps us plan, focus, and make decisions.

French fries

The high-fat content will keep your body focused more on digestion than sleep, and it may also lead to heartburn or reflux if you are prone to either.” Instead, you'll want to try these bedtime snacks that help you sleep better.

Kroc contributed an essential ingredient to that ritual. Taking inspiration from his favorite Chicago hot dog stand, Sam's, he decided that McDonald's fries should be made using beef tallow, which gave them a delicious meaty flavor that millions came to love.

Sprinkle a few drops of water over the french fries, then cover them with foil. Heat the fries for 2-3 minutes. Uncover the fries and spritz them lightly with oil (shake them about if you're just using a baking tray). Heat the fries for another 1-2 minutes until crisped to your liking.

Are McDonald's fries real? ›

Yes, McDonald's fries are made from real potatoes. The fast-food giant uses what they call "premium potatoes" to make their fries. The potatoes consist of different varieties, like Russet Burbank, Russet Ranger, Umatilla Russet, and Shepody.

The soaking, Mr. Nasr said, is the secret to the crisp texture of the fries. It draws out the starch, making them more rigid and less likely to stick together. The cooks fry them twice, first blanching them until slightly limp in peanut oil heated to 325 degrees, and again in 375-degree oil to crisp and brown them.