Want Fresh McDonald's Fries? Try This Hack

Lo and behold, McDonald's bestselling item is not a meaty burger ... it's the chain's French fries. Around the globe, McDonald's slings some 9 million pounds of fries every single day, proving that the world is fixated on these golden, crispy shoestring taters. Here's the thing about McD's fries, however: when they're fresh, they're the very pinnacle of fast food fries. Nobody can touch them, whether it's the waffle fries from Chick-fil-A or the seasoned ones at Five Guys. But, in our experience, McDonald's fries have an exceedingly brief shelf life. Left sitting under the heat lamp for more than a couple of minutes, they wilt and seem to lose all consistency and flavor.

One of our favorite McDonald's hacks is getting fresh fries every single time with one simple trick: ordering our fries without salt. If you've ever seen the McEmployees cooking fries in the restaurant, they salt the fries as soon as they emerge from the fryer. If you order your fries without salt, they have no choice but to drop a fresh batch. Keep in mind that fries take around three minutes to cook, so this isn't a quick-and-easy method of getting your lunch, but it will pay dividends in the form of hot, crispy fries. If you ask for salt packets on the side, you need not even actually eat saltless fries. McDonald's even confirms on its website that ordering fries without salt will prompt employees to make them fresh.

In the comment section of TikTok dedicated to revealing this McDonald's hack, several self-proclaimed employees chimed in to claim that customers didn't need to go through with the "no salt" ruse to get fresh fries ... all they had to do was ask, preferably nicely. Just like ordering your Filet-O-Fish "cooked to order" is the hack to getting a fresh sandwich, so can you request that your fries be made just for you, provided that you are willing to wait. 

There are a few caveats, obviously. You wouldn't want to hold up the drive-thru or be made to park and wait for a long time, so perhaps this "trick" (which isn't really tricky at all) is best when executed in the lobby. Also, avoiding busy times like the lunch or dinner rush might be courteous to your fellow diners, since employees generally have a flow that works for them when the place is mobbed, and stopping to make a fresh batch of fries could potentially interrupt that sequence of events. 

It may seem like asking for your fries with no salt is a more subtle, less-demanding way to get fresh product, but, if social media comments are any indication, McDonald's employees are well aware of this game. If you are going to make a special request anyway, perhaps you should cut to the point and simply ask for fresh fries. Plus, you'll ensure that they are just as salty as they ought to be!