Chicken nugget fans might be surprised to learn that several iconic fast food chains don’t feature 100% pure chicken in their menu items, as reported by Eat This, Not That. We rounded up four of the most popular chicken nuggets out there that don’t boast white meat chicken as their only ingredient.
READ MORE: Here’s The Real Reason Why McDonald’s Nuggets Always Come In One Of 4 Shapes
4 Fast Food Chicken Nuggets Without 100% Pure White Meat
View this post on Instagram
1. McDonald’s
McDonald’s does start with all-white meat for their classic chicken McNuggets, according to Insider, but the chain then adds seasoning and chicken skin for flavor after the grinding process. Other non-chicken ingredients listed on the McDonald’s website include “vegetable oil, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), bleached wheat flour,” etc., making them unsuitable for gluten-free diets. According to Mickey D’s, there are 170 calories in a four-piece box of Chicken McNuggets, 250 in a six-piece and 420 in a ten-piece.
View this post on Instagram
2. Burger King
Your favorite Chicken Fries at Burger King also don’t just contain chicken, as Eat This, Not That notes, pointing out that they are in a ‘fry’ shape after all. As per Fooducate, these nuggets include “chicken breast with rib meat, water, seasoning (salt, modified corn starch, flavoring), modified potato starch, sodium phosphates.” And this, the outlet writes, is the “meat,” not the breading. A nine-piece box of BK Chicken Fries has 260 calories according to the chain.
View this post on Instagram
3. Domino’s
While you might not always think of Domino’s when you’re craving chicken, their menu offering is popular among Twitter users. When it come to their chicken strip website description that reads, “Breaded chicken made with 100% whole white breast meat,” Eat This, Not That writes that “when you look at the more in-depth (and harder to find) ingredients page,” you’ll find that means: “skinless chicken breast chunks with rib meat, wheat flour, water, modified food starch.” And this is before even getting into the breading ingredients.
View this post on Instagram
4. Dairy Queen
Another chain you might not know offers an iteration of chicken nuggets is Dairy Queen, and theirs aren’t made with simply pure chicken, either. Their tenders say “all white meat” on their website, but as Eat This, Not That points out, “that actually only implies a lack of dark meat, not that what is inside that breading is all meat.” In fact, the true story is one of “uncooked chicken tenderloin fritters containing up To 18% of a solution of water, hydrolyzed soy protein, salt, and sodium phosphates.”
