Yep. The most common potatoes we use for McDonald's fries include the Russet Burbank, Russet Ranger, Umatilla Russet and the Shepody—varieties known for producing a flavorful fry that's crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
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.
View Ingredients & Allergens
Ingredients: Potatoes, Non-Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed), Dextrose (predominantly added at beginning of the potato season). Prepared in the restaurants using a non-hydrogenated vegetable oil. Salt is added after cooking.
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!
Unfortunately for vegan American McDonald's fans, the fries there aren't plant-based. This is because one of the ingredients is “natural beef flavoring,” which contains milk. “When our suppliers partially fry our cut potatoes, they use an oil blend that contains beef flavoring,” the McDonald's website states.
The company has clearly said that French fries at McDonald's India are 100% vegetarian and do not contain any animal extract and that all the vegetarian and non-vegetarian products are fried separately.
Are French fries vegan? Short answer: Yes! Most fries are 100 percent vegan—but in some (rare) cases, they aren't.
Fried foods contain extra trans fats
That oil likely contains trans fats, an especially unhealthy kind of fat that's cheap to make and helps food last a long time. Trans fats are overwhelmingly bad for your health, so much so that the FDA banned them in 2015.
On its website, McDonald's explains that when its “suppliers partially fry our cut potatoes, they use an oil blend that contains beef flavoring.” “Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients,” the company notes on its site. In hydrolysis, water breaks chemical bonds.
The social media savant revealed that McDonald's secret ingredient for its fries is beef flavouring mixed with vegetable oil. “I know why McDonald's fries taste different from everybody else's fries, and I'm gonna tell you guys today,” Howlett said in a TikTok video that has since gone viral with millions of views.
The cooked Fries will therefore end up being approximately 86% potato - the remaining 14% being vegetable oil.
The nutritional statistics
Take a good look and you'll probably find that the nutritional stats of their fries are nothing short of horrifying. A medium portion of fries includes 340 calories, 16 grams of fat and 44 grams of carbs.
Our Potatoes
We use varieties such as Pentland Dell, Russet Burbank, Ivory Russet, Innovator and Shepody potatoes which all make our world-famous fries. And as they're bigger spuds, it means the fries we cut from them are long enough for you to nibble and dip.
Yep. The most common potatoes we use for McDonald's fries include the Russet Burbank, Russet Ranger, Umatilla Russet and the Shepody—varieties known for producing a flavorful fry that's crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
Lay's® potato chips continue to be made with quality, homegrown Canadian potatoes. Simple, wholesome and real. After carefully washing, peeling and slicing the potatoes, we cook them until they are perfectly crispy, bringing out the wonderful potato taste that Canadians know and love.
"These are mainly contract farmers in Deesa (North Gujarat) and Kheda (Central Gujarat). We continue to contribute in the growth of these farmers. McDonald's remains steadfast to its commitment of working with local suppliers and farmers to source all its requirements in India."
"It's because McDonald's cooks their fries with beef flavoring mixed within their vegetable oil," divulged the content creator.
The fries are not coated in any fats or substances from an animal. Once at the restaurant, our fries are simply cooked in dedicated frying vats in a non-hydrogenated blend of sunflower and rapeseed oil which is 100 percent suitable for vegans.
Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]*), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. *natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.
To contextualise, a McDonald's hamburger packs 250kcal and 13g of muscle-building protein, while a medium portion of fries comes in at 337kcal, 3.3g of protein and 42g of carbohydrates, a macronutrient often linked to weight-gain. Looking for a good reason to go big on your next cheat day?
Do you use real potatoes for your fries? Yep. The most common potatoes we use for McDonald's fries include the Russet Burbank, Russet Ranger, Umatilla Russet and the Shepody—varieties known for producing a flavorful fry that's crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
KFC chips are not vegan due to their cooking process, which involves frying them in a non-vegetarian oil. While the chips themselves may not contain any animal products, the oil used to fry them does. This means that any KFC chips are not suitable for vegans.
No. Our fries are not coated in any fats or substances from an animal.