Chain Restaurants That Changed The Recipe Of Popular Menu Items

Nothing stays the same, even in the world of fast food. Iconic dishes may suddenly be reinvented to suit evolving tastes and food quality standards. Classic recipes at popular fast food restaurants are often tweaked or completely overhauled for one of two reasons. Firstly, some chain restaurants revamp their menu offerings in response to changing taste preferences, introducing flavors more in line with customer demands. Secondly, many fast food restaurants update their recipes to align with new health and wellness trends, offering items with fewer calories and reduced sodium.

Whether welcomed or criticized by customers, menu shifts are inevitable, reflecting the continual effort made by chain restaurants to remain competitive. For some, these changes offer culinary novelty, for others they represent a disappointing shift away from the comfort and nostalgia of yesteryear. No matter your perspective, one thing is clear — even when it comes to fast food, progress is inevitable.

Curious to find out more about the most memorable and controversial recipe changes in the world of fast food? Keep reading.

Many fast food enthusiasts expressed their disapproval when McDonald's switched from using vegetable oil to beef tallow in its French Fry recipe. Prior to 1990, the McDonald's menu item was fried in 93% beef tallow and 7% canola oil, a blend that gave it a distinctively rich umami flavor. Derived from rendered cow suet, beef tallow is packed with nutrients and has a high smoke point, which makes it ideal for frying.

Given its numerous benefits, one might wonder why the fast food giant transitioned from cooking its iconic French fries in beef tallow to using vegetable oil. The answer lies in the growing concerns about health during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Perhaps the most damaging blow for McDonald's came when Phil Sokolof, a millionaire who blamed his heart attack on the fat and cholesterol in fast food, used full-page newspaper advertising to blame the chain for contributing to America's health crisis.

With such immense pressure, McDonald's decided to shift gears, replacing beef tallow with vegetable oil. Since the oil was hydrogenated, it didn't only taste bad, but was also packed with unhealthy trans-fats. Due to this fact, the chain ended up changing its frying oil in 2002 and again in 2007. Today, McDonald's makes its French fries in vegetable oil that contains less than 1% trans-fats. And while the frying oil may not be as bad for you as it used to be, the McDonald's French fries will never taste quite the same as they did in their beef tallow heyday.

While not everyone may have picked up on this recipe change, Subway updated the composition of its bread in 2014. Unlike many other fast food recipe alterations, this change focused on the bread's ingredients rather than flavor. The move took place after food blogger, Vani Hari, brought to light the fact that Subway's bread contained azodicarbonamide, also sometimes referred to as a "yoga mat" chemical because it's used in the production of yoga mats. Hari's petition to remove the product from the chain's bread recipe ended up garnering over 50,000 signatures.

This wasn't the only time Subway's bread was embroiled in controversy. In 2020, the Supreme Court in Ireland ruled that the product could not be classified as "bread" due to its high sugar content. The ruling that the bread was a "confectionery" for tax purposes was based on a law that defines bread as a staple food as long as its sugar content doesn't exceed 2% of the weight of its flour. This definitely wasn't the case for the chain's bread, as noted by the Supreme Court, which stated: "In this case, there is no dispute that the bread supplied by Subway in its heated sandwiches has a sugar content of 10% of the weight of the flour included in the dough," (via The Guardian).

Taco John's has earned a place in history as the chain to coin the phrase "Taco Tuesdays." The restaurant first used the words "Taco Twosday" to promote a deal that offered two tacos for $0.99 on its least busy day of the week. Taco John's ended up trademarking the term "Taco Tuesdays" in 1989. The chain only relinquished the trademark in 2023, allowing other establishments to legally use it in their advertising.

Letting go of the trademark hasn't been the only noteworthy shift Taco John's has made in recent decades. More recently, in 2022 the chain tweaked the recipe for its hot sauce. While the old version of the sauce contained tomatoes, tomato paste, jalapeños and green chiles, the newer condiment offers a more complex flavor profile. Aside from tomato paste and jalapeño purée, the current version of the hot sauce gets its kick from powders of chile arbol, guajillo, and habanero, as well as garlic purée, paprika, vinegar, cayenne pepper, oregano, cumin, and thyme.

While this change doesn't sound at all bad — although some may disagree, comparing the new sauce to that of Taco Bell's — it's not the only bold change the chain has made in recent years. In an under-the-belt cost-saving effort, Taco John's has also decreased the size of its sauce packets from 9 to 5 grams, so be sure to grab a few extra packets next time you're ordering your tacos.

McDonald's deep fried apple pie had a loyal fan base before it was discontinued in favor of a baked version in 1992. First introduced in 1968, the fried menu item delighted fast food enthusiasts with its crispy exterior and molten filling for over two decades. Many speculate that the pie recipe was altered for health reasons, although as noted in an article published at the time, the new pie featured the same amount of fat and more calories than its fried counterpart. It did, however, have less sodium and cholesterol.

It's safe to say that many McDonald's customers weren't happy with the new version of the apple pie. For instance, one Reddit user pleaded with McDonald's to bring the fried version of the menu item back, saying, "I am health conscious most days in my late 50s, however there are evenings like tonight where I NEED one of these apple pies from back in the day."

While tricky to find, McDonald's fried apple pies haven't completely disappeared. In fact, there is one McDonald's location in the continental U.S. that still serves the crunchy pie. The oldest surviving McDonald's, which opened in 1953 in Downey, California, offers the deep-fried apple snack as part of its retro-inspired menu. Similarly, fried apple pies can still be purchased at McDonald's in Hawaii, as explained by Victor Lim, a McDonald's Hawaii franchise owner, in an interview with Honolulu Magazine. "The baked pie is more doughy. The fried pie is very nice and crispy. People did not like [the baked] as much as the fried pie [...] That's the reason we've been allowed to keep our fried apple pies," he said.

The Big Mac story goes back to 1968, when the double-decker started being served at McDonald's across the U.S. The burger actually made its debut in 1967 when its creator and a McDonald's franchise owner, Michael James 'Jim' Delligatti, tested it out at his restaurant in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. The original recipe for what would become the chain's most iconic burger consisted of two beef patties, onion, lettuce, pickles, and a "secret sauce," nestled in a sesame-seed bun. The "secret sauce" recipe was tweaked in the early 70s, along with the condiment's name, which was changed to "Big Mac Sauce '72."

McDonald's made the most significant changes to its Big Mac recipe in 2023, after its burgers were criticized for being overly dry. Firstly, the fast food restaurant increased the amount of sauce on each Big Mac to enrich the menu item's texture and flavor. Secondly, the chain switched its toasted burger bun recipe to make them softer. The chain also introduced a new cooking method to improve the quality of its melted cheese. Finally, McDonald's improved its burgers by topping the patties with onion while they are still on the grill to achieve a caramelized taste.

Unfortunately, many McDonald's customers haven't embraced the new version of the chain's Big Mac, complaining that it's now too messy to eat. A case in point is one diner who said: "I feel like they don't get the layering right. Every time I get a Big Mac the insides are sliding around everywhere and it gets super messy/hard to keep together/hard to get everything in one bite."

While KFC has been pretty good at staying true to its Kentucky fried chicken recipe, with the exception of switching to no-trans-fat oil in 2007, the same can't be said for its gravy. Created by Colonel Sanders himself, the recipe for the chain's original gravy has never been revealed, although the word is that it was pretty delicious.

So what was the issue with Colonel Sanders' take on gravy? The simple answer is that it took too long to prepare. As the franchise expanded, the gravy became unsuitable for a fast food setting. Apparently, the Colonel wasn't too happy with the new version of the gravy, although having already sold the chain, he had little say in the matter. Nevertheless, at one point, he did refer to KFC's potatoes and gravy as "sludge," as reported by The New York Times.

While we can't be 100% sure what goes into KFC's current gravy recipe, Anne Walker, who oversees gravy production at a KFC location in Lancashire, U.K., has revealed to the Independent that it's made with "crackling" or the chicken scraps and juices from the bottom of the fryers. The "crackling" is whisked with water and an undisclosed "magic ingredient."

Domino's is one of the greatest fast food success stories of all time, achieving a revenue of 4.48 billion in 2023, per Statista. However, things didn't always look so rosy for the fast food chain. In fact, in 2009, Domino's was forced to change its pizza recipe to keep the business afloat. This was after some of the chain's customers described its pizza as "cardboard" and "the worst excuse for pizza I've ever had," (via CBS News).

Unlike many other chains, which normally only tweak their recipes, Domino's pizza underwent a complete overhaul, from the crust to the toppings. "We tried scores of different sauces, cheeses, and doughs, with the idea of improving each of them. In each case, the market research found that the new elements recorded double-digit improvements in terms of purchase intent," Russell J. Weiner, Domino's chief marketing officer, told CBS News at the time.

The recipe revamp, coupled with a very honest marketing campaign that pinpointed Domino's previous failings, did the trick. The company's sales increased by 16.5% shortly after, as customers flocked to try the new and improved product. This surge in customer interest was also reflected in the value of Domino's stock, which experienced significant growth soon after the recipe overhaul.

Just like the French fries at McDonald's, the fries at Burger King have also experienced their fair share of change. Arguably, Burger King might have even revamped its fries to set them apart from competitors such as McDonald's. To cut a long story short, Burger King made two substantial changes to its French fry recipe. Back in 1998, the chain introduced a potato-based coating that was sprayed on freshly-sliced potatoes prior to freezing. The fast food company said that this would improve the menu item's crispness and heat retention. The fries were also made thicker and less salty.

Not quite satisfied with the new recipe, Burger King changed its French fries again in 2011. Just like the revamp in 1998, the overhaul focused on making the fries thicker, crispier, and lower in sodium. At the time the chain's vice president of global innovation, Leo Leon, boasted: "With the launch of our new fries, the home of America's favorite burger now has the best fries in the business," (via Baking Business). In reality, the new take on Burger King's French fries didn't go down all that well with diners. For instance, one Reddit user said that the new fries "sucked," adding, "Anyone know why they made the change, and am I the only one who [thinks] the new fries blow?"

Burger King's Whopper has experienced one major change since it was first introduced in 1957, an entire decade before the debut of the Big Mac. The recipe for the iconic burger remained largely unchanged until 2020, when the fast food chain announced that it was removing artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors from the menu item.

While customers probably didn't notice a change in the Whopper's flavor, they were made aware of the shift in an advertisement campaign that featured a time-lapse of the burger's decaying process. Created to emphasize the absence of preservatives, the "Moldy Whopper" advertisement showed the Whopper naturally decomposing over a 34 day period. While many were put off by the daring campaign, it definitely succeeded in bringing attention to what could be hiding in our fast food.

Huib van Bockel, a food marketing executive, applauded the transparency of the ad in a statement to CNBC, saying, "I love it. It's about time. It's so important to be open and honest. Of course, food perishes [and] what is controversial about that? Only thing that worries me is: were there actually artificial preservatives in there [before]?"

While this may come as a shock to some, the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks didn't always contain pumpkin. When the seasonal menu item was first introduced in 2003, it was made with a blend of pumpkin pie spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, but lacked actual pumpkin in its list of ingredients. To make it look the part, the latte also contained caramel coloring.

The Pumpkin Spice Latte was an instant hit, selling 200 million cups in its first decade. However, once the word that the beverage didn't actually contain real pumpkin spread, some critics and customers began to voice their criticism. Many complained not just about the lack of the namesake ingredient in the latte but also about some of its more questionable ingredients like the caramel coloring.

The critique didn't go unheard. In 2015, Starbucks changed its Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe, adding pumpkin purée into the mix. The chain also removed the questionable caramel coloring from the ingredient lineup, replacing it with fruit and vegetable juice. However, if you think the latte is now healthy, you've got another thing coming. The beverage remains a high-calorie indulgence, with a grande size containing 390 calories, 50 grams of sugar, and 14 grams of fat. Beyond this, the drink also includes 52 grams of carbohydrates and 240 milligrams of sodium.

Founded in 1956 by Italian immigrants from Naples, Gennaro and Carmela Sbarro, the first Sbarro was an Italian grocery store in Brooklyn, New York, that sold pizza by the slice. Over the years, Sbarro expanded its presence, focusing on high-traffic locations like shopping malls. The fast food chain did reasonably well until the early 2000s when malls started losing their popularity. The Great Recession of 2008 didn't help matters, leaving food court restaurants struggling.

In order to get the chain back on track, Sbarro replaced its pizza recipe with Neapolitan-style pizza in 2012. This new take on pizza featured natural ingredients including vine-ripened tomatoes and freshly-shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese. The chain also started making its dough from scratch on a daily basis. "By going back to our roots, we're improving what set us apart from the very beginning, great pizza made from quality ingredients and served in a warm and welcoming environment," said James Greco, CEO of Sbarro, in a press release. In 2014, Sbarro tweaked its pizza recipe by increasing the amount of its mozzarella topping by 20%.