The 4 Potato Varieties McDonald's Uses For Its Fries

You can get french fries at nearly every fast food chain, but very few have managed to cement its version as one of its most iconic menu items. McDonald's, however, has long been successful at that. McDonald's fries easily rank as one of the very best and are known for being super thin, super flavorful, and (most importantly) fluffy on the inside yet super crispy on the outside. The chain doesn't make a secret out of how it makes its iconic fries and attributes some of the reason for their scrumptiousness to quality potato varieties. McDonald's mainly uses four types of potatoes: Russet Burbank, Ranger Russet, Umatilla Russet, and Shepody.

You'll immediately notice that three out of the four are Russet potatoes — the best variety for baking and frying. High in starch and low in moisture, Russet potatoes have the ideal texture for achieving peak exterior crispiness while maintaining the fluffy interior. The Russet Burbank variety is considered the golden standard for a french fry, kind of like an older sibling that the youngsters get compared to. Named after Luther Burbank, who first discovered it in the 1870s, this potato has a strong flavor and low sugar content. But it is a late variety, as the harvest season doesn't begin until mid-September. Umatilla Russet, named after the Native American Umatilla tribe, is a moderately late variety used by McDonald's, so it makes sense that the chain would also invest in earlier varieties such as Ranger Russet and Shepody.

Ranger Russet is ready for harvest two weeks earlier than Russet Burbank, while generally having a higher yield. This variety has only been around since the early 1990s but is equal in quality to the Russet Burbank. It's the Shepody, a potato variety first introduced in Canada in 1980, that has the earliest harvest amongst the four— it's ready in August and is slightly lighter when fried than a Russet Burbank.

There's something interesting that Ranger, Umatilla, and Shepody have in common — they're all primarily used for frozen french fries. Sometimes it's better to buy frozen french fries instead of making them fresh, and McDonald's certainly operates by this philosophy. All of its fries arrive frozen to the restaurants. The potatoes are peeled, cut, blanched, and partially fried by the suppliers, all before being frozen and shipped to McDonald's. Employees at the chain restaurant only have to fry the frozen potatoes and salt them. That's why it's so important for McDonald's to choose potato varieties that remain top quality even when frozen.

And yet, the flavor is not left up to potatoes and salt alone. The french fries at McDonald's are actually fried in oil that contains beef flavoring, giving them the unique flavor we're so addicted to — you might even be able to replicate it at home by using a dollop of beef tallow to flavor your homemade fries.