Fast-food menu items that chefs like to eat

Fox News

27-01-2025

Even chefs eat fast food sometimes.
Fox News Digital spoke to various chefs from around the country to get their thoughts about the types of fare they seek out when they choose to eat at fast-food restaurants.
Some chefs declined to participate, saying they avoid the seed oils in fast food altogether.
Others admitted they eat it more than people might think.
Here's what they had to say about their favorite fast-food places and picks.
An array of answers came from chefs who spoke with Fox News Digital about their top choice for a fast-food breakfast.
Josh Cooper, chef and owner of Cooper's Next Level BBQ in Tallahassee, Florida, said McDonald's is still his spot when it comes to a quick breakfast.
"I'm old school," Cooper said. "It's McDonald's breakfast. Still the best. I think that Sausage McMuffin is just too hard to beat."
Cooper participated in season eight of Fox's "MasterChef," finished ninth overall in the World Food Championships and earned the title of world seafood champion in 2019.
"I mean, we load up on the McMuffins and my wife makes me get as many of the hash browns as I can carry," Cooper said.
For Kathryn Neidus, who serves as executive chef of the Rustic Grill at StoneWater Golf Club in the Cleveland suburb of Highland Heights, Ohio, it's mostly Chick-fil-A for breakfast.
"We all get the hash browns."
Otherwise, it's McDonald's.
"My husband usually goes for the Egg McMuffin sandwich with my kids and, of course, I love the hash browns," she said. "So, we all get the hash browns."
Kelli Ferrell, a self-trained chef, cookbook author and owner of Nana's Chicken-N-Waffles in McDonough, Georgia, near Atlanta, offered a surprise pick.
"You know who I love for breakfast?" she said. "Bojangles."
"They make their biscuits fresh every morning."
Her favorite is the chicken biscuit breakfast sandwich.
"They make their biscuits fresh every morning," she said.
Chick-fil-A was the clear winner when it came to lunch and dinner fast-food entrées.
Most of the chefs who spoke with Fox News Digital agreed that Chick-fil-A was their go-to spot, with McDonald's a close second.
"Chick-fil-A is probably our No. 1 go-to and I would say once every couple of weeks we're at Chick-fil-A," Neidus said.
As a working mother of a 7-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son, Neidus said there are times when it's just easier to stop at Chick-fil-A than cook something.
"There's always something I can find that I enjoy," she said.
Neidus said her kids love the chicken nuggets, but she'll usually get a salad.
"I'm so boring," she said. "But I love it."
Sometimes, Neidus said, she'll order extra nuggets and put them in her salad.
It's a similar story for Ferrell. She said she likes Chick-fil-A because she has four daughters who are all "picky eaters."
Said Ferrell, "Sometimes we don't want fried. Sometimes we want grilled. Sometimes we want a salad option. Sometimes we want sandwiches. So, it's a better option for us."
Cooper said his kids are all about Chick-fil-A as well.
"They love their Chick-fil-A," he said. "But my wife and I, when we travel, she's from Texas — so we try to hit Whataburger as much as we can when we're on the road."
They even have every exit with a Whataburger location memorized between Tallahassee and Nashville, Tennessee, where his stepson goes to college.
"I just get the double cheeseburger every time," Cooper said.
One cook who didn't mention Chick-fil-A at all was Mike Haracz, a former corporate chef for McDonald's in Illinois.
"If I am eating fast food for whatever reason, I tend to gravitate toward Wendy's and Taco Bell," he said. "I have had plenty of McDonald's in my day, so unless my kids want Happy Meals, I tend to look elsewhere. I also frequent more regional chains like Portillo's and Culver's instead of the national ones."
What's his favorite sandwich? It's not a Big Mac.
"A Wendy's Baconator really hits the spot," Haracz said. "I am usually not visiting a fast-food restaurant for health-conscious choices, so meat, cheese and bacon options are my go-to."
Haracz added that "the bacon used on the burger is usually cooked nice and crispy."
"I don't always want lettuce or other produce on my burger, so the Baconator hits just right," he said.
When it comes to sides, most of the chefs said the French fries at McDonald's can't be topped.
"It has to be McDonald's," Ferrell said.
Neidus concurred.
"I do think I like the McDonald's fries better than the Chick-fil-A waffle fries, I will say," she explained. "And I think my whole family can attest to that as well. We love the McDonald's fries."
She also has a love for the fries at Wendy's, "but we just don't go to Wendy's that often."
"Also, don't sleep on the Arby's fries," Cooper added, noting that he keeps a bag of the Atlanta-based chain's frozen curly fries at his house.
Finally, when it comes to drinks and desserts, McDonald's fountain sodas and Chick-fil-A milkshakes are the favorites of the chefs who shared their thoughts.
Neidus said Chick-fil-A's Cookies & Cream Milkshake is "absolutely" the best, though Cooper said he prefers the Oreo Cookies 'N Cream Milkshake at Steak n' Shake.
But, Neidus said, the fountain sodas are better at McDonald's.
"I think McDonald's is always the winner," she said.