McDonald’s became the pioneer of fast food restaurants because they have reasonable prices and most people cannot get enough of their food. Although, have you ever wondered why McDonald’s is so good? If yes, then here you will get 16 reasons behind it.
McDonald’s is as good as it is for several reasons, like:
- The fact that they use real meat
- They carry out multiple quality checks
- They use flash-freezing techniques to preserve the flavor of their food,
- They use Coke syrup delivered in stainless steel cans to retain freshness!
McDonald’s menu offers a delicious selection of fast food items everyone loves. Although quite a few people may counter-argue that McDonald’s food can be bad for the human body, there is no denying that McDonald’s still has a huge fan base across the globe.
So yes, whether you believe McDonald’s food is good for you or not, there are plenty of reasons to make McDonald’s the top fast-food restaurant chain in the world! In this informative and fun blog post, you will learn why McDonald’s is as good as it is and what makes it the top fast-food restaurant chain in the world!
Why Does McDonald’s Food Taste So Good?
There are many measures that McDonald’s has taken to make sure that their food quality remains top-notch ever since they first opened their doors. Here, we will look at all the reasons McDonald’s food tastes as good as it does!
1. Their Burgers Are Made with 100% Beef.
One notable fact about McDonald’s is that they use the freshest and best quality meat to make all their burgers. Although many have claimed that McDonald’s meat is fake and loaded with MSG, the chain has proven authentic!
For all their beef-based burgers, McDonald’s has had a dedicated supplier for the meat for over three decades now! The suppliers ensure that the meat is of its best quality when delivered to McDonald’s factories.
Moreover, McDonald’s burgers are not laced with additives and preservatives, which makes them taste even better. Lastly, the burgers are made with a combination of different cuts of meat, like chuck, sirloin, and round, giving the burgers more flavor depth.
2. They Don’t Use The Same Bun For All Their Burgers and Sandwiches
Another great thing about McDonald’s is that they have taken the phrase “variety is the way of life” seriously. Keeping that in mind, McDonald’s has always ensured they don’t use the same buns for all their burgers and sandwiches.
Sure, you will find a few buns repeated between a few of their burgers and sandwiches. But overall, if you take a closer look, they don’t use the same bun for every sandwich but instead offer a variety based on the type of patty.
3. They Offer An Array Of Sweet Treats
Along with its fantastic menu with comprehensive savory food options, McDonald’s also offers a delicious range of sweet treats. The company started with just ice cream; its sweet treat menu has expanded ever since!
Now at McDonald’s, along with their regular options of soft serves, you will also find McFlurrys, milkshakes, and a bunch of baked goodies! Lastly, their McCafe menu offers a range of delicious coffee-based beverages, which can be sweet!
4. McDonald’s Coke & Sprite is Better
Have you ever wondered why the Coke & Sprite at McDonald’s tastes so good? It is as good as it is because McDonald’s has excellent relations with the Coca-Cola company. Unlike other places, the syrup given to McDonald’s is packed in stainless steel tanks.
This ensures the temperature of Coca-Cola and Sprite stays cool and keeps the flavor fresher for longer. They also use a water filtration system for both soft drinks and use longer straws to improve the experience.
5. They Use Real Chicken and Fish
Like their burger meat, the chicken nuggets, chicken sandwiches, and fish sandwiches at McDonald’s are also made with the best quality meat. Their chicken and fish are both sourced from quality meat handlers.
Moreover, even the suppliers who provide McDonald’s with chicken and fish have been the same for over three decades. They ensure that the restaurant chain only gets the best quality meat, which plays a massive role in their sandwiches’ deliciousness and adds more taste.
6. They Flash-Freeze Their Burgers
McDonald’s is known for its flash-freezing technique, of course! With this technique, they essentially freeze the meat to a cold temperature, ensuring that no air enters the meat and the natural flavor remains intact. This plays a huge role in why McDonald’s burgers always taste fresh and delicious!
7. They Ensure Food Safety
While meat processing happens at McDonald’s once they get their meat from their suppliers, one non-negotiable thing for the company is ensuring that food safety standards are met. Food safety measures are much stricter than you, and I could ever imagine!
For example, the quality is thoroughly checked before the meat is processed and even after it is formed into delicious patties! The employees are asked to follow strict protocols regarding their hygiene and are not even allowed to wear any jewelry!
8. They Don’t Alter Recipes
If you have been enjoying McDonald’s for over 2-3 decades now, you may have noticed that their burgers taste the same and are just as delicious as they did back in the day. The reason behind this is that they don’t often alter recipes.
Some recipes have worked wonderfully for McDonald’s and have been a hit since their first debut. Keeping that in mind, the company has ensured that their burgers taste the same, just as everyone likes them. Unless it is essential to do so, you won’t see any recipes being updated.
9. They Season Their Burgers On The Grill
A big reason why McDonald’s food, especially their burgers, tastes so good is that they are seasoned while getting cooked. As the patties are grilled right when cooking, it releases all the meaty flavors, making them moist, juicy, and delicious. This also applies to other items on their menu, which are seasoned right when cooked to bring out their best flavor.
10. Their Recipes Cater To Every Region
Another great thing about this fast food chain that makes it as loved as it is is that they cater to the local people’s taste with every restaurant of theirs. You will never find the same McDonald’s menu in two different countries.
They constantly alter the menu based on what those in that area enjoy. For example, you won’t find a beef-based burger at McDonald’s in India. Similarly, almost every McDonald’s you would find in a Middle Eastern country serves halal meat.
Moreover, some countries like the US and the UK offer a similar range of menu items. But people in the US prefer their food to be slightly more salty than those in the UK. So, McDonald’s has updated their recipes for quarter pounders, Big Macs, etc., to cater to the customers accordingly in the UK.
11. They Come Up With Special Menu Items Now and Then
Another primary reason why people love McDonald’s, and it has managed to be one of the top-fast food chains in the world through all these years, is that they come up with special menu items. These limited menu items are a favorite for so many people that they eagerly wait for them to return to the menu.
The perfect example would be the McRib sandwich, the most popular limited-time sandwich on the McDonald’s menu. So many customers look forward to enjoying this treat all year long!
12. They Have Meat Suppliers In Different Regions
Along with ensuring that they get their meat from reliable suppliers, McDonald’s worldwide also makes sure that the meat is as locally sourced as possible. They have a handful of suppliers in the US and for their restaurants in the US.
Those are the only places they get their meat from. Similarly, they have meat suppliers worldwide, so they have to rely on imports as little as possible. This, in turn, ensures the meat is as fresh as possible before processing.
13. They Test Their Burgers For Quality
An essential aspect of McDonald’s as far as meat is concerned is its multiple quality checks. They check the meat before it is processed and even after the burger patties are formed to ensure there are no bones or other unwanted portions in the patties.
However, their quality check does not end just there! McDonald’s goes a step further and cooks some of their prepared beef patties! This step is done to ensure that the burger’s quality is just right, even after it is cooked.
14. Only One Item On Their Menu Contains Preservatives
McDonald’s has often seen backlash from many people, with them saying that their meat is loaded with additives and preservatives. But that is not the case at all! They instead use the freshest ingredients and make sure not to add any preservatives.
Over the years, McDonald’s has taken as many measures as possible to remove additives or preservatives from their products. They have been pretty successful at it, and now, their pickles are the only thing that still has any preservatives.
15. They Are Masters At Toasting Buns
McDonald’s are the masters of toasting buns! Although they stopped the process for a while, later, McDonald’s made sure to change this experience. As a result, they spent a lot of money to get perfectly toasted buns and also started toasting them for five extra seconds, making the buns and burgers so much better than you may have had at any other place!
16. Their Food Is Reasonably Priced
Last but surely not least, how can we ever forget the utterly reasonable prices at which McDonald’s offers all their food? The fact that McDonald’s food is much cheaper than what any other fast food restaurant chain has to offer makes one more reason why the food is as great as it is.
Is There A Scientific Reason Why McDonald’s Food Tastes So Good?
Yes, a few scientific reasons make McDonald’s food taste as good as it does.
While the quality of meat, how it is processed, and the quality checks play a huge role in the overall quality of their food, the reason behind the delicious taste goes way beyond just that! Over the years, McDonald’s has worked to make their food irresistible, all with science backing them up!
This may sound bizarre to so many people, but science plays a huge role in food tasting better than you would expect. This is one of the reasons why you can’t stop at just a single French fry and constantly want more! Here are the scientific reasons behind McDonald’s irresistible food options.
1. Salt, Sugar, and Fat
Salt and fat are common ingredients you would have expected McDonald’s food to have. But did you know that most of their food items are also topped with dextrose, a sugar derivative?
If you have ever made fries at home, you would know that the combination of fat and salt is often enough to taste delicious. But, the combination of salt and fat with just the right amount of sugar creates a perfect equilibrium of flavors, known as the “bliss point.”
This equilibrium of flavors creates the perfect symphony of flavors and releases dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is the happy hormone in the brain that makes you want more of that hit. This is why you keep reaching for more McDonald’s food, to get that dopamine!
2. The Smell Of Oil
Another scientific reason McDonald’s food tastes as delicious as it does is the lovely scent of oil. Every time you are at McDonald’s or even pass a drive-thru, you may have been hit with that delicious smell of them frying something.
While the oil for most food remains a canola-blend oil, they also add an added ingredient to the oil while making fries. This ingredient is natural beef flavoring, which tends to have an irresistible smell!
When McDonald’s opened, they used beef tallow for their French fries. But ever since they switched to canola-blend oil, they wanted to retain the flavor of the fries as they were when they were fried in tallow.
This simple addition of some natural beef flavoring to the oil significantly impacts the fries’ overall flavor. The smell is rich and lingering, so you cannot stop finishing all their fries in one go!
3. Their Beverages Are Better
As mentioned in the previous section, Coca-Cola and Sprite taste better on the McDonald’s drinks menu because they get the syrup delivered in steel cans. This makes sure that there are no sudden temperature changes in the cola and keeps its flavor fresh.
But it does not end there with their beverages! McDonald’s has cracked the scientific code to ensure all their drinks taste much better than any other place! One of the reasons is that they use a water-filtration system that makes the soda taste even better.
Lastly, they have also cracked the code to serve perfect beverages using suitable straws. Yes, you read that right! McDonald’s straws are longer. This makes more carbonation hit the tongue and improves the flavor of any fizzy drink.
4. Their Chicken Is Very Moist and Juicy
Before we get to the details, the chicken is not injected with artificial flavoring, additives, or preservatives to keep it moist! Instead, the chicken is injected with a saltwater mixture.
This mixture is straightforward and moistens the chicken once it is done grilling, making it taste juicy and delicious.
The Tastiest Items On The McDonald’s Menu
We had a detailed look at scientifically what makes McDonald’s food taste as good as it does, and also why in general, McDonald’s is so good. Now, let us look at the best and tastiest items at McDonald’s. These will help you decide what you must buy on your next visit to the fast food chain!
1. French Fries
McDonald’s French fries are indeed a force to be reckoned with! You may have tried fries from many places before, but I can bet that none of them tasted even close to the delicious fries that McDonald’s offers.
A few reasons for their popularity are, of course, the addition of natural beef flavoring and the fact that the fries are perfectly seasoned. But even the potatoes McDonald’s uses are just the right kind, making their French fries a top seller for decades!
2. Big Mac
Whenever hunger calls, and you’re at McDonald’s, I bet many of you may immediately think of ordering their classic Big Mac. Considering this burger’s size, it fits perfectly for enormous appetites!
The meat used to make their burger patties for Big Mac is fresh and checked and also perfectly seasoned with just salt and pepper. The Big Mac sauce adds a delicious tangy flavor, which makes the whole experience even better.
3. Chicken Nuggets
Another menu item from McDonald’s that always makes it to the best McDonald’s menu items is their chicken nuggets. McDonald’s is almost like the pioneer of chicken nuggets, and the McNugget made this popular food as famous as it is today.
Their chicken nuggets are made with fresh chicken, which is ground and then converted into their four classic shapes. The nuggets are also served with lovely dipping sauces, enhancing their flavor even further.
4. Hash Browns
If McDonald’s breakfast is something you genuinely enjoy, I am sure you must be more than familiar with their delicious hash browns. You can find hash browns at just about any place, but somehow no one makes them as great as McDonald’s does!
The reason behind such delicious-tasting hash browns also has to do with the fact that they use the best quality potatoes. Moreover, the oil for hash browns is also seasoned with natural beef flavoring, making this breakfast classic taste irresistible.
5. Quarter Pounder with Cheese
Are you in the mood for a big burger for meat but also not too loaded with carbohydrates? Then the quarter pounder with cheese at McDonald’s is the perfect choice!
This burger may seem like a Big Mac in many ways, but the two have a significant difference. The patty for the quarter pounder is much bigger, and it also has a different set of condiments, making it a unique burger on its own!
6. Egg McMuffin
Another popular item from the McDonald’s breakfast menu is their egg McMuffin. When they first introduced this breakfast item. McDonald’s tried to go for something similar to a classic Eggs Benedict.
Although the McMuffin was unlike Eggs Benedict, it received its fair share of fans! The combination of a perfectly cooked round egg with hot McMuffins and American cheese makes this a hearty and delicious breakfast sandwich to devour.
7. Oreo McFlurry
If you have a massive sweet tooth that needs to be satiated occasionally, McDonald’s offers an array of delicious desserts! Their most popular sweet treat has to be the Oreo McFlurry!
This sweet treat is an excellent combination of sweet, cold, fluffy soft serve with little crumbs of Oreo cookies. The base is made with vanilla soft serve, which is a classic McDonald’s sweet treat to enjoy!
Conclusion
That was a very informative post about why McDonald’s tastes so good. The article also covered scientific reasons behind the same and the best McDonald’s menu items to buy. The best items include a collaborative list of different menu items.
But you can also specifically choose to see the best breakfast items, burgers, slushie flavors, coffee drinks, desserts, and best-iced coffees to order from the McDonald’s menu with the given links.
I am sure that you have picked up all the reasons that make McDonald’s food so good and what makes the specific menu items the best to order. All in all, McDonald’s has put in a lot of effort to make their food taste delicious, which is one of the primary reasons why they are still the world’s most popular fast food chain!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Does McDonald’s use meat with preservatives?
No, the meat used by McDonald’s is completely free of any preservatives.
How strict is the hygiene protocol at McDonald’s?Â
Hygiene protocol is essential at McDonald’s, so their food goes through multiple quality checks.
Does McDonald’s add natural beef flavor to their chicken nuggets?
McDonald’s does not add natural beef flavor to their chicken nuggets.Â
Does McDonald’s have reliable meat suppliers?Â
Yes, McDonald’s has had very reliable meat suppliers, and the same ones for over three decades now!Â