People Can't Believe How McDonald's Gets Its Onions

One of the best parts about eating at McDonald's stems from how fast we get our order made. According to The Fiscal Times, McDonald's serves 62 million customers a day and as of 2012, sells 75 burgers every second (via USA Today)! With numbers this staggering, the restaurant chain needs an efficient method for creating food to satisfy even the pickiest of fast food fanatics. According to Franchise Direct, efficiency lies as a cornerstone of McDonald's success. To optimize labor, franchisees learn the ropes at Hamburger University, McDonald's training program, ensuring employees can work as a team and create a standardized product.

If we take a glimpse into the inner workings of how McDonald's ensures efficiency, we might not like what we see. TikTok users recently took a peek into how McDonald's makes its onion and people could not believe what they witnessed. According to Yahoo! Sports, TikToker Justin Albert revealed how the chain produces the onions used on the majority of their products — an employee pours a bunch of ice onto a tub of small, dehydrated onions, water gets added to the mix, and the tub gets sealed to keep the onions fresh and finish off the rehydration process. A ton of viewers couldn't believe their eyes. One commented, "I'm still nauseous from seeing this." However, this reconstitution process shouldn't come as a surprise.

If the idea of eating dehydrated onions grosses you out, don't make judgments too quickly. According to Liaocheng Foods, this type of onion is less likely to burn and also imparts special flavors that regular onions just can't compete with thanks to the amplified flavor that comes as a result of drying. The dehydrated onions don't make it onto every sandwich either. While Big Macs and McDoubles get topped with these reconstituted vegetables, burgers like the quarter pounder receive fresh onions, per Yahoo! Sports. People even love this style of onion enough where they even want recipes to copy the preparation to make homemade Big Macs (via Food).

If you can't live without McDonald's, but can't stand the idea of eating reconstituted dehydrated onions, it's time to reevaluate your eating habits. After all, if you enjoy their food, what's not to love about the special flavor imparted from these onions? Embrace this special process next time you indulge with your favorite McDonald's burger and you can find a new appreciation for the chain's speed and efficiency.