What Type Of Oil Does Chick-Fil-A Use For Its Fries?
It's no secret that potatoes aren't the only ingredient in craveable fast food fries. Beyond the spud, those crispy-on-outside, pillowy-on-the-inside morsels are all about salt and oil — but the choice of cooking oil can vary from brand to brand. Today, we're taking a look at Chick-fil-A, the chain whose fries came in fifth place in Tasting Table's definitive ranking of 25 fast food fries. According to its official website, Chick-fil-A cooks its waffle fries in 100% canola oil and sprinkles them with sea salt to finish.
Not to be confused with vegetable oil or rapeseed oil, canola oil is made by crushing the seeds of the canola plant, which belongs to the same plant family as cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli. Canola seeds naturally consist of 45% oil, and crushing those seeds releases about 80% of it; the final 20% gets extracted via chemical refinement at the industrial processing level.
Canola oil's high smoke point, neutral flavor, long shelf life, affordability, and wide availability are all conducive to whipping up batches of fries on a large industrial scale. Indeed, Canada (canola oil's birthplace) produces the most canola oil of any country in the world, cranking out a whopping 20 million metric tons of the stuff every single year, according to World Population Review. Per the U.S. Department of Agriculture, American foodies imported $3.6 billion worth of canola oil in 2022 alone, surpassing the country's annual olive oil imports by more than 200%. In short, it's a popular choice for fried food fans.
The benefits of cooking fries in canola oil
Many foodies bear some suspicion of seed oils as a nutritional no-no. But, canola oil can be beneficial in some ways. It's a rich source of healthy omega-3 fats and has the lowest concentration of saturated fats of all common cooking oils, including olive oil. However, it's also highly refined and mostly made from GMO crops, so as always, moderation is key.
As a refined oil, canola oil boasts an impressively high smoke point between 400 and 475 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to extra virgin olive oil at around 320 degrees, making it a versatile, easy fit for deep-frying and high-heat cooking. When used in the fry realm, neutral canola oil doesn't interrupt the potato-forward flavor and mouth-watering saltiness. But, beyond a crispy texture, it doesn't exactly add anything, either. Recent months have seen a shift toward savory beef tallow (rendered beef suet) across the fast food industry. Buffalo Wild Wings has long championed beef tallow fries, and in January, Steak n Shake announced that it's switching to 100% beef tallow for cooking its fries. Notably, beef tallow also boasts a smoke point of 400 degrees.
Still, this isn't to say that Chick-fil-A's canola-oil-crisp fries are lacking flavor. If foodies are hungry for an extra tasty kick, they can always dunk their waffle fries in one of Chick-fil-A's fan-favorite dipping sauces like Polynesian or sweet & spicy sriracha (just, please, anything but the garden herb ranch).