You Should Skip McDonald's Apple Fritters. Here's Why

For the first time in nearly a decade, McDonald's recently introduced new bakery items, including a blueberry muffin, cinnamon roll and apple fritter, per CNN. The blueberry muffin and cinnamon roll have been pretty well-received by users. A fan of the treats wrote on Twitter, "it's legit the best blueberry muffin I've ever had" and another tweeted, "McDonald's cinnamon roll: the pinnacle of food texture — crispy, moist, soft." However, things aren't going so well for the apple fritters. Maybe it's the fact that McDonald's already has a beloved apple pastry item on its menu with the handheld, classic apple pies?

Regardless, both professional food reviewers and social media users alike are dragging the apple fritter through the mud. One reviewer at The Takeout said, "This fritter was crusty, dry, and a waste of calories. The glaze was crystalized, the apples invisible, and the flavor disappointing."

An overwhelming number of people on Twitter compared the McDonald's apple fritter to a microwaved Honey Bun. Another user noted the fact that it just seems like McDonald's employees can't remember to actually get their apple fritters into their bags.

McDonald's site describes its new apple fritter as "a classic fritter made with cinnamon and apples fried to a golden brown and covered with a sweet glaze icing" and it comes in at 510 calories. Meanwhile, the McDonald's baked apple pie is described as "loaded with 100% American-grown apples, with a lattice crust baked to perfection and topped with sprinkled sugar." The pie is only 240 calories. So, regardless of which option you choose, you'll be getting apples encased with dough and then covered with some sort of sugar, but if you go with the pie, you're saving half the calories and you're still getting a very similar experience.

So maybe skip the apple fritter next time you're at McDonald's and go with a baked apple pie instead. With such a successful, long track record, the apple pie seems to be the safer bet to get your apple sweet treat fix, and you'll be cutting back on calories in the process.