How Long Your Filet-O-Fish Patty Could Be Sitting In The Warming Tray Before Making It To Your Mouth

Perhaps you've already heard everything you need to know about McDonald's Filet-O-Fish. However, it's sometimes the things you don't know that matter most, like how long a Filet-O-Fish patty could be sitting around, warm, before you eventually order and eat it. According to self-identified McDonald's employees on Reddit, Filet-O-Fish patties can sit in the warmer for up to four hours, with one saying, "I used to work at McDonald's in high school this is true at least at my store. If it was slow the fish would sometimes sit in the warming tray upwards of 4 hours before it was used." However, others provided a contrasting account, with some claiming that pre-prepared food on the warming shelves are thrown away much sooner. 

"When someone makes a specific request like they want their hamburger with no seasoning or they want their filet o fish cooked fresh, then it is cooked fresh and they wait. Otherwise, the food items in the warming shelves are supposed to be wasted every 20-40 minutes depending on the food item," according to a Redditor. With over 44,000 locations worldwide, it's no surprise there's disagreement among employees from different locations about how long your Filet-O-Fish might sit before it's eaten. No specific policy on how long to hold food in warming trays is available on the McDonald's website. Though an official FAQ response from 2018 states that fish products are "put together when an order is placed," former employees on Reddit have claimed this isn't always the case. 

It's unclear whether the FAQ response indicates whether the Filet-O-Fish patties are fried to order or the Filet-O-Fish burger is assembled to order, with the patties fried in advance. Tasting Table contacted a McDonald's spokesperson to ask about the chain's official recommendation for how long Filet-O-Fish patties should be kept in warming trays before being thrown away. After providing an initial commitment to respond, the spokesperson later declined to provide this information.

If you're curious about how long your fish filet has been sitting before it's served, you can try one Reddit user's advice: "Ask them to make you a fresh one. If it comes out [in] less than 5 minutes, it's probably been sitting. Cook time on a fish fillet was like 4 min." However, this doesn't account for all circumstances, such as a very busy McDonald's operating during a rush, where a five-minute wait could reflect the team's workload.

Since the Filet-O-Fish contains seafood, which spoils notoriously fast, it's one of McDonald's menu items that can really suffer from texture degradation if it's held in warming trays for too long, with the potential consequence of a dry fish interior. Of course, McDonald's is a fast food business, and fresh doesn't mean caught that morning — it means made to order. This is precisely how to order a Filet-O-Fish for a fresh sandwich every time to make sure you get the best possible eating experience.

The Filet-O-Fish is especially popular during Lent: 25% of the approximately 300 million Filet-O-Fish sandwiches sold annually are sold during Lent. Since they're selling like hotcakes during this time, there's a better chance it won't have been sitting in the warming tray for very long.