McDonald’s Changing Grilled Chicken Recipe From 18 Ingredients To 12

McDonald’s is making yet another change to its menu. This time the company plans to simplify its chicken recipe by cutting out chemical-sounding ingredients that consumers might not recognize.

The Associated Press reports that the fast food giant will cut six ingredients from its grilled chicken recipe, which currently calls for 18 ingredients.

Among the changes, the new Artisan Grilled Chicken – used in sandwiches, salads and wraps – will no longer contain sodium phosphates and maltodextrin.

Sodium phosphates is currently used to keep the chicken moist during freezing and shipping, while maltodextrin is used as sugar to increase browning of the meat and to evenly distribute seasonings.

McDonald’s director of culinary innovation tells the AP that the recipe changes were initiated because consumers are now looking for “simple, clean ingredients” that they might find in their own pantry.

In addition to removing uncommon ingredients, the new grilled chicken recipe – which is expected to be in more than 14,000 McDonald’s locations by the end of the week – calls for a different cooking method. Instead of being prepared with liquid margarine, the meat will now be cooked with a blend of olive or canola oils.

According to McDonald’s recipe list [PDF], ingredients for the new recipe include boneless skinless chicken breast with rib meat, water, salt, vegetable starch, sugar, garlic powder, lemon juice concentrate, honey, onion powder, dried vinegar, natural flavor, and baking soda.

The revamped grilled chicken recipe comes less than a month after McDonald’s announced it would only source chickens raised without the use of antibiotics that are important to humans and will offer milk that doesn’t contain artificial growth hormone.

“Our customers want food that they feel great about eating,” explains McDonald’s U.S President Mike Andres in a statement at the time of the announcement, “all the way from the farm to the restaurant – and these moves take a step toward better delivering on those expectations.”

McDonald’s changing grilled chicken recipe to cut chemical-sounding ingredients [The Associated Press]

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