{"id":750821,"date":"2018-08-07T10:59:02","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T15:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/origin-www.tasteofhome.com\/?p=750821"},"modified":"2023-01-19T02:18:39","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T08:18:39","slug":"secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is the Secret Ingredient Behind the Addictive Flavor of McDonald\u2019s Fries"},"content":{"rendered":"There are matchstick fries and steak fries; crinkle-cut fries and waffle fries; cheese fries and sweet potato fries. But among all the rest, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/collection\/facts-not-know-about-mcdonalds-french-fries\/\">McDonald\u2019s French fries<\/a> are an old standby. There\u2019s something about the flavor that we just. Can\u2019t. Stop. Eating. Actually, there's science behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/scientific-reason-mcdonalds-fries-good\/\">why Mcdonald's fries taste perfect<\/a>.\r\n\r\nNo, it\u2019s not just in your head that fast-food fries are one of the most addictive foods. One secret ingredient keeps you coming back for more. If you want to get more fries, then make sure you know about this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/mcdonalds-large-vs-medium-fries\/\">McDonald\u2019s French fry hack<\/a>.\r\n\r\nTo make McDonald\u2019s fries, fresh potatoes are washed, peeled, cut, and blanched in a factory, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=256&amp;v=2w_OxdmoiDQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">video<\/a> from the company. The plant also adds chemicals to keep the potatoes a uniform light yellow color (but no, that\u2019s not behind their addictive flavor). After that, the cut potatoes are fried for less than a minute before getting frozen and sent to McDonald\u2019s locations. At the restaurant, those frozen strips are cooked in oil and salt before getting landing on your tray in that red box.\r\n\r\nThat all sounds standard enough, so why are they so exceptionally scrumptious?\r\n\r\nIt all started in the 1950s, when the shortening company that gave McDonald\u2019s vegetable oil couldn\u2019t afford the equipment needed to hydrogenate the oil, which would extend its shelf life. So the supplier gave a blend of oil and beef fat instead, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=7031384\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NPR<\/a>.\r\n\r\nOver time, McDonald\u2019s and other fast-food joints made the beef fat part of their signature fry flavors. But in the 1980s, fast-food restaurants took the ingredient out when health advocates criticized how much \"bad\" saturated fat it added.\r\n\r\nMcDonald\u2019s 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 \u201cnatural beef flavor\u201d to its vegetable oil. But vegetarians don\u2019t have to write off their guilty pleasure just yet. Despite the name, the flavor actually doesn\u2019t contain any meat. Instead, the fries get their taste with \u201chydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients,\u201d according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcdonalds.com\/us\/en-us\/product\/small-french-fries.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">website<\/a>. Together, those ingredients create that meaty taste that makes the fries so irresistible. Next, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rd.com\/culture\/mcdonalds-facts-trivia\/\">these 75 mind-blowing McDonald's facts<\/a>.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No, it&#8217;s not the salt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":750816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[303719],"categories-v2":[308324],"coauthors":[99575],"acf":{"long_pin_file":false,"long_pin":"","ncv_override_generic_settings_option":false,"ncv_autoplay_option":"","ncv_stickyplay_option":"","ncv_ads_option":"","ncv_mute_option":"","ncv_comscore_option":"","ncv_moat_option":"","ncv_autoplay_mobile_option":"","ncv_viewable_threshold_option":"","ncv_sticky_offset_option":"","ncv_autopause_option":"","ncv_sticky_offset_mobile_option":"","ncv_autopause_mobile_option":"","ncv_sticky_mobile_option":"","ncv_remove_player_option":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.3 (Yoast SEO v23.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This Is the Secret Ingredient Behind the Addictive Flavor of McDonald\u2019s Fries | Taste Recipes<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Is the Secret Ingredient Behind the Addictive Flavor of McDonald\u2019s Fries | Taste Recipes","description":"Learn why McDonald's fries are so addicting. There's a reason why you can't just eat one!","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Is the Secret Ingredient Behind the Addictive Flavor of McDonald\u2019s Fries","og_description":"No, it's not the salt.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/","og_site_name":"Taste Recipes","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tasteofhome","article_published_time":"2018-08-07T15:59:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-19T08:18:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":625,"url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marissa Laliberte","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"This Is the Secret Ingredient Behind the Addictive Flavor of McDonald\u2019s Fries","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft.jpg","twitter_creator":"@tasteofhome","twitter_site":"@tasteofhome","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marissa Laliberte","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/"},"author":{"name":"Marissa Laliberte","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/56604837a232556a5debe44481be375b"},"headline":"This Is the Secret Ingredient Behind the Addictive Flavor of McDonald\u2019s Fries","datePublished":"2018-08-07T15:59:02+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-19T08:18:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/"},"wordCount":396,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft.jpg","keywords":["News"],"articleSection":["Food News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/","url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/","name":"This Is the Secret Ingredient Behind the Addictive Flavor of McDonald\u2019s Fries | Taste Recipes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft.jpg","datePublished":"2018-08-07T15:59:02+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-19T08:18:39+00:00","description":"Learn why McDonald's fries are so addicting. There's a reason why you can't just eat one!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft.jpg","width":1000,"height":625,"caption":"fries"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/secret-ingredient-mcdonalds-fries\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"This Is the Secret Ingredient Behind the Addictive Flavor of McDonald\u2019s Fries"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/","name":"Taste Recipes","description":"Find Recipes, Appetizers, Desserts, Holiday Recipes &amp; Healthy Cooking Tips","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#organization","name":"Taste Recipes","url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/toh-logo-red.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/toh-logo-red.png","width":166,"height":125,"caption":"Taste Recipes"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tasteofhome","https:\/\/x.com\/tasteofhome","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tasteofhome\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/taste_of_home\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/tasteofhome"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/56604837a232556a5debe44481be375b","name":"Marissa Laliberte","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/0a8c1f8656264f5134b35ccbb0374416","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3b8ba10434e0889c6f7449c5e079adfb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3b8ba10434e0889c6f7449c5e079adfb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Marissa Laliberte"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.rd.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/author\/m-laliberte\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2025-03-23 19:36:35","action":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"canonical_url":"https:\/\/www.rd.com\/article\/mcdonalds-fries-ingredients\/","tmbi_first_associated":[{"term_id":145997,"name":"RD.com","slug":"rd-com","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":145997,"taxonomy":"tmbi_first_associated","description":"2","parent":145947,"count":359,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"}],"author_details":{"970669":{"ID":"970669","display_name":"Marissa Laliberte","first_name":"Marissa","last_name":"Laliberte","user_login":"marissa-laliberte","user_email":"sw-81077@skyword.com","linked_account":"M.Laliberte","website":"","description":"None entered","twitter":"","instagram":"","facebook":"","public_email":"","linkedin":"","tiktok":"","youtube":"","location":"","school_and_year":"","education":"","highlights":"","expertise":"","short_bio":"","user_nicename":"marissa-laliberte","type":"guest-author","nickname":""}},"images":{"750816":{"image_url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft.jpg","post_data":{"ID":750816,"post_author":"7025","post_date":"2018-08-07 10:45:11","post_date_gmt":"2018-08-07 15:45:11","post_content":"","post_title":"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-jelena990shutterstock-ft","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"inherit","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-jelena990shutterstock-ft","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2018-08-07 10:45:11","post_modified_gmt":"2018-08-07 15:45:11","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.rd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft.jpg","menu_order":0,"post_type":"attachment","post_mime_type":"image\/jpeg","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},"post_meta":{"_wp_attached_file":["2018\/08\/theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft.jpg"],"_wp_attachment_metadata":["a:5:{s:5:\"width\";i:1000;s:6:\"height\";i:625;s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"2018\/08\/theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft.jpg\";s:5:\"sizes\";a:11:{s:9:\"thumbnail\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft-150x150.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:150;s:6:\"height\";i:150;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:6:\"medium\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft-300x188.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:300;s:6:\"height\";i:188;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:12:\"medium_large\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft-768x480.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:768;s:6:\"height\";i:480;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:20:\"collection-thumbnail\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft-300x300.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:300;s:6:\"height\";i:300;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:14:\"featured-image\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft-680x400.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:680;s:6:\"height\";i:400;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:25:\"article-featured-image-lg\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft-800x450.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:800;s:6:\"height\";i:450;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:23:\"listicle-featured-image\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft-696x625.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:696;s:6:\"height\";i:625;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:26:\"listicle-featured-image-sm\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft-348x348.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:348;s:6:\"height\";i:348;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:17:\"featured-image-lg\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft-700x625.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:700;s:6:\"height\";i:625;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:14:\"home-thumbnail\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft-400x400.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:400;s:6:\"height\";i:400;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}s:12:\"recirc-thumb\";a:4:{s:4:\"file\";s:127:\"theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft-180x180.jpg\";s:5:\"width\";i:180;s:6:\"height\";i:180;s:9:\"mime-type\";s:10:\"image\/jpeg\";}}s:10:\"image_meta\";a:12:{s:8:\"aperture\";s:1:\"0\";s:6:\"credit\";s:0:\"\";s:6:\"camera\";s:0:\"\";s:7:\"caption\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"created_timestamp\";s:1:\"0\";s:9:\"copyright\";s:0:\"\";s:12:\"focal_length\";s:1:\"0\";s:3:\"iso\";s:1:\"0\";s:13:\"shutter_speed\";s:1:\"0\";s:5:\"title\";s:0:\"\";s:11:\"orientation\";s:1:\"0\";s:8:\"keywords\";a:0:{}}}"],"_wp_attachment_image_alt":["fries"],"_syndication_rights":["1"],"_image_licensor_id":["605785967"],"_image_licensor_name":["Shutterstock"],"photographer_credit_name":["Jelena990\/Shutterstock"],"_original_source_meta":["https:\/\/www.rd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/theres-a-secret-ingredient-in-mcdonalds-fries-that-makes-them-taste-so-darn-good-605785967-Jelena990Shutterstock-ft.jpg"],"image_keywords":["junk food,tray,big,chips,fast food,snack,portion,illustrative editorial,illustrative,shallow depth of field,french fries,selective focus,mcdonald,napkin,potato,unhealthy,popular,editorial,salty,chain,product,salt,large,fast food chain,restaurant,eating,fry,food,meal,dish,choice"],"mdd_hash":["bec765bf31aedbb304642e521e2f2d56"],"mdd_size":["46782"]}}},"current_site_slug":"toh-com","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Learn why McDonald's fries are so addicting. There's a reason why you can't just eat one!","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","dek":["No, it's not the salt."],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750821"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750821"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1832118,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750821\/revisions\/1832118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750821"},{"taxonomy":"categories-v2","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories-v2?post=750821"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=750821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}