What fast food restaurants use beef tallow?
Short answer
On our map of venues reported to cook without seed oils, four chains account for most of the beef-tallow locations: Buffalo Wild Wings at 789 locations, Outback Steakhouse at 528, Steak n Shake at 388, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen at 40. Those figures describe reports from contributors, not corporate confirmations, and chains change suppliers.
The chains, by number of locations on our map
Independent restaurants make up the rest and are the larger share. They are listed city by city rather than by brand, because a single independent kitchen is where the fat is most likely to be what the owner says it is.
- Buffalo Wild Wings — 789 locations reported as frying in beef tallow
- Outback Steakhouse — 528
- Steak n Shake — 388
- Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen — 40
- Beyond the chains, tallow is the single most common fat across the 5,916 venues on the map
Why beef tallow came back
Tallow was the standard frying fat in American fast food until around 1990, when chains moved to vegetable oil under pressure over saturated fat. The reversal now underway is the same argument running the other direction, and it is a genuinely contested one rather than a settled correction.
What is not in dispute is the culinary case: tallow is stable at frying temperature, has a high smoke point, and produces a texture that vegetable oil does not. Several chains that switched back said so in those terms rather than nutritional ones.
How to read this before you drive there
A chain is not uniform. Franchise locations buy from their own suppliers in many systems, so one branch can differ from another, and a kitchen that fries in tallow may still use a bought-in dressing or bun made with soybean oil.
Two questions settle it at the counter: what do you fry in, and is the sauce made here. The fryer is where the volume is, and bought-in sauces and dressings are almost always canola or soybean.
Nothing on this map is a certification. Nobody has inspected these kitchens on your behalf — treat it as a shortlist to call, not a guarantee.
Frequently asked questions
- Does McDonald's use beef tallow?
- It did until around 1990, when it moved to vegetable oil. It is not on our map as a tallow chain today. The historical switch is the origin of most of this conversation.
- Are beef tallow fries healthier?
- They are higher in saturated fat and lower in linoleic acid than vegetable-oil fries. Which of those matters more is exactly the argument in progress, and the evidence is not strong enough to close it either way.
- How do I find beef tallow fries near me?
- Our city pages list every venue reported to cook without seed oils in a given city, with the fat named where it is known. Start from the city page and call before you drive.
More answers
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Last updated 9 September 2026.
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