McDonald's has got to have the best hash browns hands down. However, there’s a lot more
to this universally loved food than meets the eye. Not only has this piece of fried
potato gotten itself into some wacky situations, but there are also some little-known ways
of eating them that will change life as you know it. So here are 10 untold truths about
McDonald’s hash browns.
The Hash Browns Aren’t Gluten Free
Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or for whatever reason simply choose not to
consume gluten, we have some bad news for you. McDonald's hash browns do not fit your
dietary restrictions. This is an easy mistake to make, because potatoes are in fact gluten-free.
Other than that, you would expect there to just be oil and some seasonings, which would
all fit the bill. There’s one sneaky ingredient that stops this food item from being safe
for those with gluten-intolerances to consume. McDonald's chooses to add a natural beef flavor
seasoning to their Hash Browns, which unfortunately does contain gluten, since it is made from
wheat and milk derivatives. So, it’s a bit of a trade-off. If you have a gluten problem,
it’s important that you avoid cross-contamination, meaning that even gluten-free foods can be
dangerous if they’re prepared with the same kitchen tools as food containing gluten. Hash
browns don’t fit that criteria either. Until McD stops stops adding the beaf flavor seasoning,
they still don’t pass as gluten-free. McDonald's is pretty transparent about this sort of thing,
but if you don’t think to ask, it can be easy to be misled. It is worth noting that
in some countries such as Canada, the beaf seasoning is not used, and therefore these
McDonald’s hash browns are indeed gluten free.
McDonald's Hash Browns Aren’t Vegetarian Either
Just like you’d think they would be gluten-free, you would think that McDonald's hash browns
would be vegetarian as well. Because, potatoes. And just like with the gluten-free assumption,
you would be wrong. McDonald's hash browns have never been a vegetarian-friendly product.
They were originally fried in a mixture of vegetable oil and beef tallow. They stopped
using the latter ingredient after a push for healthier hash browns, but, since they didn’t
want to sacrifice the product’s iconic taste, they decided to add natural beef flavoring
instead. This is actually true of their french fries as well. After McDonald's stop using
beef tallow to cook their fries, they advertised them as being cooked in 100% vegetable oil.
Somehow they forgot to mention that they were replacing beef tallow with beef flavoring.
This led people to assume that the fries were vegetarian, and when the truth came out, it
resulted in several lawsuit from Hindu & vegetarian groups. Many countries have stopped using
the beef flavoring altogether, but the USA isn’t one of them. This is definitely an
issue, since McDonald's doesn’t have very many vegetarian options on its menu. The fast
food chain has come out with a plant-based burger, but isn’t only available at a few
locations. As a vegetarian or vegan, you might think you can at least enjoy some fries or
a hash brown when your non-vegetarian friends suggest a McD’s run, but unfortunately even
that isn’t an option.
The Hash Brown Ingredients
These days, people tend to be pretty wary around McDonald's food. And can you really
blame them after that whole pink slime scandal? Thanks to that, it can be difficult to eat
anything off the McDs menu without spiraling down the rabbit hole of the possible ingredients
that it just might contain. Fear not, we’re not here to ruin hash browns for you. Quite
the opposite, in fact. The hash brown ingredients are pretty much limited to those you’d expect
any fried potato to contain. There’s also corn flour, salt, black pepper, and, sure,
maybe a couple of things we can’t quite pronounce. They’re still not the healthiest
thing out there, since they’re, you know, fast food and a fried potato, So, hopefully
it gives you peace of mind to know that you don’t have to worry about pink slime or
the likes contaminating your beloved hash browns. All ingredients are listed on the
McDonald's website. It can be good to know, especially if you have any dietary restrictions.
The Birth of the McDonald's Hash Brown
It’s hard to imagine McDonald's without hash browns. However, there was such a time.
After its opening in the 1950’s, McDonald's strictly sold lunch and dinner food items.
There was no Egg McMuffin, no Hotcakes, and, worst of all, no hash browns. This continued
for the remainder of the decade, and throughout the sixties, until 1970, when McDonald's got
the okay to start incorporating breakfast foods into their menu. In 1977 they pulled
out all the stops, and introduced a full breakfast menu, the precursor to the one we all now
know and love. One of the newly added food items was, you guessed it, the hash brown.
A few years ago, McDonald's realized that we shouldn’t be discriminating against breakfast
foods based on the time of day and blessed us with All-Day-Breakfast. This was a game
changer because it meant that hash browns were now available to satisfy your cravings
at any hour of the day.
200 McD's Hash Browns Still Won't Cure a Hangover
Greasy food is a time honored hangover cure. But does it really do anything to make you
feel better? Probably not. Do we love the excuse to fill up on some of our favorite
fried foods? Absolutely. However, some people take this practice to the extreme. At nearly
five o’clock in the morning, a young man, who was still clearly very inebriated after
a night of drinking, pulled in at a McDonald's Drive-Thru in Sydney, Australia. He first
tried to order a serving of chicken nuggets. Unfortunately, McNuggets aren’t available
at all hours. In an epic overreaction, he got incredibly angry and ordered no more than
two hundred hash browns. He then proceeded to circle the parking lot as he waited for
his order to be prepared, which obviously took quite some time. Finally, he picked up
his two hundred hash browns and hit the road. Apparently, the hash browns didn’t sober
him up as effectively as he hoped they would. When he was picked up by the cops, a breathalyzer
test put him at three times the legal blood alcohol limit. Before you say there’s no
such thing as too many hash browns, remember to think about this story.
Do It Yourself Hash Brown Recipes
You know a food item is famous when people start pinning copycat recipes on their Pinterest
boards. If you ever find yourself craving McDonald's hash browns but are too lazy to
change out of your pyjamas to go get them, you can try your hand at whipping some up
from scratch. You’d be surprised to see just how many DIY recipes are floating around
on the Internet. Do a quick Google search and choose whichever one strikes your fancy.
You won’t need a deep fryer to get that perfect crispy outside and soft, delicious
inside. You can more-or-less achieve the desired texture with just a frying pan and some oil.
The best part about making hash browns yourself is that you can control the amounts of oil
and salt you use. Which is particularly useful if you’re trying to live a healthier lifestyle.
Competing with French Fries
Hash browns and french fries are two sides of the same coin. Sure, they’re both forms
of deep-fried potatoes, but they somehow manage to have very little in common. Some people
who love hash browns hate fries, and vice versa. In fact, its opinions like those that
fueled this competition, which sent McDonald's scrambling for a couple of years. The thing
is, hash browns and french fries are both cooked in the same deep fryers, meaning that
they’re competing for limited real estate. French fries are the most ordered item on
the McDonald's menu, so they’re being cooked pretty constantly. Hash browns infringing
on their turf turned out to be more of a problem than was anticipated. When All-Day-Breakfast
was first introduced, McDonald's didn’t have the resources to keep up with the never-ending
demand for fries, while also trying to fill the orders for the people who decide to eat
their breakfast at four o’clock in the afternoon. But now they’ve pretty much got their rhythm
down.
Level Up Your Sandwiches
McDonald's breakfast sandwiches are pretty amazing on their own. But do you know what
the key to greatness is? Throwing a hash brown into the mix. It adds a bit of greasiness,
a bit of crispiness and a whole lot of flavor. Order your favorite McDonald's breakfast sandwich
and pair it with a delicious hash brown for an out of this world experience. Whoever thought
of this combination is a bit of a genius, and McDonald's should definitely take a leaf
out of their book. The franchise really needs to step up their game and incorporate a sandwich
with a hash brown as one of the fillings to their breakfast menu. Odds are it would be
a massive money maker. All in all, the hash brown and breakfast sandwich combination is
life changing, and the ultimate meal for any breakfast food fans out there.
Rare, Medium or Well-Done?
Typically, it’s only steak that gets ordered as well done. However, McDonald's hash browns
can be ordered well-done as well. And, unlike steak, a well-done hash brown is actually
good. All it takes is a couple of extra minutes in the deep fryer. The resulting product is
extra crunchy and extra salty. It’s a win-win situation. By looking at them, you can barely
see a difference between a well-done hash brown and one that has been cooked regularly.
However, once you bite into it, the difference will be made clear. Fair warning: once you
go well-done, there’s no turning back. And fear not, the inside is still as soft and
flavorful as ever – if anything, it’s just slightly saltier. Don’t deprive yourself
of well-done hash browns any longer.
Don’t Eat and Drive
We all know drinking and driving is bad. We all know texting and driving is bad. And so,
technically, we should probably all realize that eating and driving isn’t all that great
either. Yet, many of us still do it all the same. It’s not something you get in trouble
for, right? Well, according to this Connecticut man, Jason Stiber, who was enjoying his McDonald's
hash brown on the go, that would be incorrect. He was pulled over by the police and issued
a three hundred dollar ticket for talking on his cellphone while driving. Stiber posited
that what the policeman thought was a telephone was – you guessed it – a McDonald's hash
brown. It sounds a bit ridiculous, but his phone records didn’t show any calls at the
time in question. To be fair, they are very similar in size and shape. In the end, Stiber
was acquitted, but he was quoted as saying that he had kind of lost his affinity for
hash browns. We can all learn a little something from this situation. One: eating and driving
can come back to bite you (pun intended). And two: if you do decide to enjoy your hash
browns while driving, be subtle about it.
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