How McDonald's Makes Its Famous Fries (2024)

Don't act like you don't love McDonalds fries. If you don't like the company itself, and want to get those tasty golden strings without spending any McBucks, then Good Morning America has made it a bit easier for you by revealing how these delicious sticks of regret are made.

The show went behind the scenes of the fries, watching them go from spud to franchise frier. Yes, they're real potatoes, and not reconstituted ones. That perfect shape comes from putting them through a high-speed water cannon at 65 mph, which cuts the peeled spuds into the thin ribbons. They're then blanched to remove any starches that might lead to weird colorizations.

The fries-to-be are then dipped in a bath of sugar and a preservative called sodium acid pyrophosphate, meant to prevent the potatoes from oxidizing and going grey. At the next step some beef fat is added, as well as wheat byproducts and milk derivatives. They're then taken in for a "pre-fry," after which point they're quickly frozen for shipping out to the restaurant. At the restaurant, they're fried in canola, corn, soybean, and hydrogenated soybean oils, as well as in TBHQ, an anti-oxidant.

Okay, so perhaps DIY fries are still off the table, unless you happen to have a high-pressure water cannon and an industrial strength flash freezer in your basem*nt.

Source: Good Morning America.