Even chefs eat fast food sometimes.
Fox News Digital spoke with various chefs from around the country to get their thoughts on the types of fare they look for when they decide to eat at fast food restaurants.
Some chefs declined to participate, saying they avoid seed oils in fast food altogether.
Others admitted that they eat it more than people think.
Here’s what they had to say about their favorite fast food places and choices.
breakfast
A variety of answers came from the chefs who spoke to Fox News Digital about their top choice for a fast food breakfast.
Josh Cooper, chef and owner of Next Level Cooper BBQ in Tallahassee, Florida, said McDonald’s is still his place when it comes to a quick breakfast.
“I’m old school,” Cooper said. “McDonald’s breakfast. The best yet. I think the McMuffin Sauce is just too hard to beat. “
Cooper participated in the eighth season of FOX’s MasterChef, finished ninth overall in the World Food Championship and won the title of World Seafood Champion in 2019.
“I mean, we load up on McMuffins and my wife makes me get as many hash browns as I can hold,” Cooper said.
For Kathryn Neidus, who serves as executive chef of The Rustic Grill at Stonewater Golf Club in the Cleveland suburb of Highland Heights, Ohio, it’s mostly Chick-fil-A for breakfast.
Otherwise, it’s McDonald’s.
“My husband usually goes for the Egg McMuffin sandwich with my kids and, of course, I love hash browns,” she said. “So we all get hash browns.”
Kelli Ferrell, a self-trained chef, cookbook author and owner of Nana’s Chicken-N-Waffles in McDonough, Georgia, near Atlanta, offered a surprise choice.
“You know who I want for breakfast?” she said. “Bojangles.”
Her favorite is the chicken biscuit breakfast sandwich.
“They make their cookies fresh every morning,” she said.
Lunch and dinner
Chick-fil-A was the clear winner when it came to fast food lunch and dinner.
Most chefs who spoke to Fox News Digital agreed that Chick-fil-A was right up their alley, with McDonald’s a close second.
“Chick-fil-A is probably No. 1 and I would say once every two weeks we’re at Chick-fil-A,” Neidus said.
As a working mom of a 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, Neidus said there are times when it’s just easier to stop at Chick-fil-A than cook something.
“There’s always something I can find that I like,” she said.
Neidus said her kids love the chicken nuggets, but she’ll usually get a salad.
“I’m so boring,” she said. “But I love it.”
Sometimes, Neidus said, she’ll order extra nuggets and put them on her salad.
It’s a similar story for Ferrell. She said she likes Chick-fil-A because she has four daughters who are all “picky eaters.”
Said Ferrell, “Sometimes we don’t want fried. Sometimes we want grilled. Sometimes we want a salad option. Sometimes we want sandwiches. So it’s a better option for us.”
Cooper said his kids are involved with Chick-fil-A, too.
“They love their Chick-fil-A,” he said. “But my wife and I, when we travel, she’s from Texas — so we try to hit Whataburger as much as we can when we’re on the road.”
They even have every outlet with a Whataburger location memorized between Tallahassee and Nashville, Tennessee, where his step goes to college.
“I just get the double cheeses every time,” Cooper said.
One chef who didn’t mention Chick-fil-A at all was Mike Haracz, a former corporate chef for McDonald’s in Illinois.
“If I’m eating fast food for whatever reason, I tend to gravitate toward Wendy’s and Taco Bell,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of McDonald’s in my day, so if my kids don’t want Happy Meals, I tend to look elsewhere. I also frequent the more regional chains like Portillo’s and Culver’s instead of the national ones.”
What is his favorite sandwich? It’s not a big Mac.
“A Wendy’s ham really hits the spot,” Haracz said. “I’m not usually visiting a fast food restaurant for health conscious choices, so the meat, cheese and bacon options are the way to go.”
Haracz added that “the bacon used in the burger is usually cooked nice and fresh.”
“I don’t always want lettuce or other produce on my burger, so bacon hits the spot,” he said.
Parts
When it comes to sides, most chefs said McDonald’s French fries can’t be topped.
“It has to be McDonald’s,” Ferrell said.
Neidus agreed.
“I think I like McDonald’s fries better than Chick-Fil-A fries, I will say,” she explained. “And I think my whole family can attest to that, too. We love McDonald’s fries.”
She also has a love for Wendy’s fries, “But we just don’t go to Wendy’s that often.”
“Also, don’t sleep on Arby’s fries,” Cooper added, noting that he keeps a bag of the Atlanta-based chain’s frozen curly fries in his home.
Drinks and sweets
Finally, when it comes to drinks and desserts, McDonald’s fountain sodas and Chick-fil-A milkshakes are favorites among the chefs who shared their thoughts.
Neidus said Chick-Fil-A’s Cookies and Cream Milkshake is “absolutely” the best, though Cooper said he prefers the Oreo Cookies and Cream Milkshake at Steak N’ Shake.
But, Neidus said, fountain sodas are better at McDonald’s.
“I think McDonald’s is always the winner,” she said.
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