Former McDonald’s corporate chef says Great Value cheese tastes identical to McDonald’s cheese
TikTok creator Mike Haracz (@chefmikeharacz), a former corporate chef for McDonald’s, regularly posts behind-the-scenes fast food takes to the app. He peeled back the veil on the restaurant’s beef patties and shared how to get the freshest fries, to name just a couple of examples.
Recently, Haracz posted a new video telling viewers where to find the closest match to McDonald’s cheese at the supermarket. The video has received over 81,000 views.
@chefmikeharacz Former #McDonalds corporate chef talks about their American cheese. #mcdonaldssecrets #McDonaldssecret #mcdonaldshack #mcdonaldshacks #mcdonaldslife #mcdonaldscheeseburger #fastFood #FastFoodSecrets #FastFoodMenu #Americancheese #BigMac #QuarterPounder #Cheeseburger #DoubleCheeseburger ♬ original sound - Chef Mike Haracz
“Where can you get McDonald’s American cheese?” a text overlay on the video reads.
Haracz tells viewers, “You can’t get the exact exact exact cheese McDonald’s uses, because their suppliers make a specific recipe for them.” According to him, there are some close matches that might be manufactured by the same suppliers.
His first tip: Don’t get individually wrapped American cheese single slices. “That’s not how the McDonald’s cheese is made,” he says. Instead, “you need to find American cheese that’s either in a big loaf … or the pre-sliced that’s shingled, so not individually wrapped.”
People's best bet, Haracz says, is at Walmart. “You’re going to want to get Great Value Deluxe American cheese.” He says that the ingredients listed for McDonald’s cheese and Great Value Deluxe cheese are “almost identical,” though there are differences in the preservatives.
The creator added one final tip, saying that McDonald’s lets its cheese temper by sitting out for about an hour, so if you grab Walmart’s brand, do the same to best approximate the taste.
A couple of commenters on Haracz's video vouched for Sam’s Club-brand American cheese as having the right taste, too. “I'm sure its the same, but the giant pack at sams club feels VERY similar to McDonald's,” one person commented.
“You don’t need to wait an hour - one or two slices will come to room temp in 15 min,” another person commented.
“Cries in Canadian where American cheese just doesn't exist in supermarkets,” a third viewer chimed in.
“Are we surprised Walmart cheese tastes like McDonald's? I'm tryna eat something that actually tastes good so I'm avoiding all of it,” someone else wrote.
The two cheeses do have a very similar list of ingredients. According to the McDonald’s website, their cheese contains milk, cream, water, sodium citrate, salt, cheese cultures, citric acid, enzymes, soy lecithin, and added color. According to Walmart's website, the Great Value Deluxe American cheese contains milk, cream, water, sodium citrate, salt, cheese culture, sorbic acid (a preservative), citric acid, enzymes, soy lecithin, apo carotenal, and beta carotene (for color).
In an email interview, Haracz told the Daily Dot, “Many cheese manufacturers make product for a variety of different restaurant chains, so the same company sometimes makes cheese for a variety of competing customers.”
He added, “Almost all of McDonald’s exact [products] are proprietary to them, so they are not available on the market, however, since McD is so popular, many food manufacturers try to make products that are similar in flavor to them.”
The Daily Dot also reached out to McDonald’s and Walmart via email.
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