Why McDonald's Hand-Breaded Chicken Could Create Some Serious Problems

Rumors began swirling in late 2025 that McDonald's had been testing hand-breaded chicken at some locations, with advertising later confirming it. In December 2025, OG Ron reported on Facebook that Chicago-area locations were specifically trialing hand-breaded McSpicy Chicken Wings. In January 2026, Snackolater shared that it was not just wings, but a whole new chicken menu including McCrispy Tenders. All of this may sound delicious, but hand-breaded chicken poses a potential safety concern.

Mike Haracz, former corporate chef at McDonald's, took to TikTok to address a big concern. He said that he had previously pushed for hand-breaded chicken at McDonald's. Many of the best fast food chicken tenders are breaded by hand, so it makes sense he'd be a fan. McDonald's, however, denied his request. Haracz's concern, which he says was once shared by McDonald's, is that entry-level employees who may be underskilled and short-staffed could pose a risk when handling raw chicken. Aside from consistency and quality, the main issues are food safety and cross-contamination — which, according to Haracz, is why hand-breaded chicken never made it onto McDonald's menu in the past.

Haracz did propose a possible loophole to the food safety issue. If McDonald's has employees bread chicken that's already cooked, it could still be called "hand-breaded," and many food safety issues would be eliminated. But he also suggests this could lead to issues with quality. Breading and then frying cooked chicken could result in dry textures. As it is, many fast food employees already recommend avoiding several popular chicken items, and this could make things worse.

Some commenters online have taken issue with the hand breading claim, expressing skepticism that it's even true. Others have suggested that the items are probably prepared elsewhere, frozen, and then shipped to restaurants. Concerns about food safety, however, seem to be the most pressing — and Haracz's worries are far from unwarranted. In March 2026, seven people in Canada were hospitalized after a restaurant's wing night led to a confirmed salmonella outbreak. In 2012, a girl in Australia fell severely ill with salmonella after eating at KFC, and was in a coma for six months. These are likely the sorts of incidents that Haracz had in mind when discussing safety issues related to hand-breaded chicken. McDonald's has already dealt with some major lawsuits and likely doesn't want any more.

Restaurants like KFC follow Global Food Safety Initiative guidelines. These are strict food handling rules meant to ensure public health and safety, and they inform the standards used to train employees on handling raw chicken and minimizing cross-contamination. McDonald's would need to implement and enforce similar protocols to accommodate raw chicken. Dedicated prep zones, cutting boards, and utensils would be required, not to mention safe storage facilities that keep raw chicken away from other products.

None of this is to say that McDonald's can't prepare hand-breaded chicken. Many restaurants do it very successfully. But it's a drastic change to how McDonald's currently operates, and that's the concern, since it's never been set up to do this in the past. Whether hand breading works on a larger scale remains to be seen.