The Freezer Item That Will Make Your Homemade Fries Taste Like They Came From McDonald's
McDonald's Fries
McDonald’s french fries certainly have a cult following. They're thin, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, salty with a rich flavor—what's not to love?
But what if we told you that you could have McDonald's-style fries without ever leaving your house? TikTok creator Chef Mike Haracz recently shared a video showing how to make a copycat version at home with a secret ingredient: Great Value Thin Cut French Fries from Walmart.
“Do you wanna buy McDonald’s French fries from the store? I’m a former McDonald’s corporate chef and I have an answer for you,” says Haracz in his viral TikTok video that has over 200k likes and 70k saves.
It all starts with a trip to Walmart to grab the fries. “I looked at the McDonald’s website, at their ingredient statement. I looked at the [Great Value Fries] ingredient statement and they are almost identical,” he says.
Related: Everything You Need to Know About McDonald's Breakfast
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Next up, the cooking. If you want an authentic McD's experience you really need to deep fry them, though that doesn't mean you can't experiment with your air fryer.
“One interesting thing, though, is there are no deep fryer cooking instructions on the bag so you are gonna have to do a little R&D yourself,” he says.
And the oil you use is key too. “McDonald’s adds beef flavor to their fryer oil, which is in the ingredient statement on McDonald’s website,” he explains. He reveals that they used to deep fry in 100% beef tallow, “so if you wanna deep fry these in 100% beef tallow, which is how they used to do it, excellent—those are gonna be great but will be different from current McDonald’s French Fries.”
“Here, we are not making better fries than McDonald’s, we are trying to replicate them.” The secret formula? According to Chef Haracz, you should add two tablespoons of beef tallow per two cups of vegetable oil for frying.
Related: 9 Better-Than-the-Burger French Fry Recipes
Haracz says that the fries will still be good without beef tallow, so if you're vegetarian or vegan, or don't want to track down beef tallow, these are still worth making. If you're all in and up for the beef tallow option, look for it in the meat section, ask your butcher or buy some online.
Once you have your oil ready, he recommends deep frying the fries at about 360° to 370° for about two minutes but also notes there are a lot of variables, depending on your home setup. He also cautions against overloading the pot or fryer with fries: “McDonald’s fryers are incredibly efficient and they only fry a certain amount at a time so you’re gonna wanna do it in small batches until it reaches the color that you want.”
Once the fries come out of the fryer, he says to toss them with regular Morton's Salt: “That is what McDonald’s uses.”
“I think you’re gonna be pretty happy,” says Chef Haracz. Few things make us happier than freshly cooked French fries, so we agree.
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