Beef Tallow French Fries Are Back on the Menu at This Popular Fast-Food Chain

People love to wax poetic about frying potatoes in animal fats. From duck to bacon, those fats impart an unmistakable, irresistible flavor. Beef tallow has long been associated with fast-food french fries, but health trends have mostly prevailed and made beef tallow fries scarce.

One fast-food chain, though, just announced that it’s going to start frying its fries in beef tallow again. Here’s the deets on this delectable news.

Steak ‘n Shake has announced that it’s going to start frying its french fries in 100% beef tallow. The change comes a week after the chain posted a poll on X asking whether it should switch to beef tallow, and 91% of the votes were yes.  

According to a press release, fries were originally made with tallow centuries ago. "Our fries will now be cooked in an authentic way, 100% beef tallow, in order to achieve the highest quality and best taste," said Chris Ward, chief supply chain officer for Steak ‘n Shake. We’re dubious of some of these absurd ‘authenticity’ claims, but we do love a good tallow fry. 

There’s been pushback against seed oils, the types that are usually used in deep frying, on various social media outlets, especially TikTok. Some people claim they’re bad for you for any number of reasons, but as usual with social media trends, the truth is much more nuanced, according to the American Heart Association.  

While Steak ‘n Shake does not specifically mention this anti-seed oil sentiment in its press release, it would make sense to make the change now, while there’s interest in the topic of alternative frying fats.  

If these beef tallow fries sound as good to you as they do to us, you’re going to have to wait another month or so before you can get them. Switching over will be a process, but the company plans to have all its locations using 100% beef tallow by the end of February 2025.  

If all of this tallow talk sounds familiar, it’s probably because McDonald’s famously used beef tallow in its french fry oil. It stopped the practice in 1990 after growing health concerns in the public, but still uses “natural beef flavor” (it’s vegetarian!) in its fries recipe today to replicate that unmistakable tallow taste. 

If you need to get your beef tallow fries fix before Steak ‘n Shake makes the switch — or you don’t have a location nearby — there are a few other chain restaurants that still include beef tallow in their fry oil. Popeyes, Buffalo Wild Wings, Outback Steakhouse, and Smashburger all include some amount of beef tallow in french fries.