Wait, McDonald’s French Fries Aren’t Vegetarian?

Every few years, the same question pops up: are McDonald’s French fries vegetarian-friendly? The answer should be simple. Of course, potatoes aren’t meat. So the natural assumption with any fast food restaurant is that potatoes are safe for vegetarians and vegans alike. But for many restaurants, once potatoes become French fries, they’re no longer considered vegetarian―a fact that isn’t always clear from fast food menus. It all depends on how those fries are, well, fried.

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Not The First Time

McDonald’s recently launched a new Caesar sauce and snack wrap to its menu. The Caesar sauce itself does not include anchovies, a rarity for this type of sauce, meaning that the sauce itself is vegetarian. But what you’re dipping into that sauce might not be so vegetarian-friendly.

Because McDonald’s French fries are not, in fact, vegetarian.

Yes, this is old news. Beginning with a McDonald’s in Seattle and two Hindu clientele (who do not eat beef for religious reasons), McDonald’s was successfully sued in 2001 and 2002 for misrepresenting its French fries as vegetarian. While McDonald’s French fries are cooked in vegetable oil, they still contain beef flavoring―a fact that, at the time, wasn’t advertised. The chain settled for $10 million and changed its ingredient listings to disclose the beef flavoring.

Despite the change, the internet finds itself asking this same question every few years. And we’re always shocked to learn that what should be a vegetarian staple―the humble potato―is not so vegetarian-friendly once it’s been fried.

The Beef Tallow Problem

But there’s an additional reason we’re talking about all of this again: Steak ‘n Shake. The chain recently announced that, beginning September 1st, the chain will be releasing crinkle cut, 100% beef tallow-fried French fries at all of their locations. And beef tallow, or rendered beef fat, is having a moment. First gaining popularity in online wellness circles, the MAHA movement and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s fervent support of the ingredient led to beef tallow becoming one of 2026’s biggest food trends.

Beef tallow is similar to lard, but comes from beef rather than pork. It’s made by removing, simmering, and clarifying fatty tissue around a cow’s organs. Due to its high smoke point, tallow is often used for cooking at high temperatures (like deep frying and roasting). Hence the French fries of it all.

McDonald’s itself used to cook French fries in beef tallow, but removed that ingredient and process in 1990. But while the tallow itself was removed, the beef flavoring was not. Which means that the answer to that age-old question is the same: McDonald’s French fries are not vegetarian.