Are Those Tiny Onions On McDonald's Burgers Made From Real Onion?

It's probably hard to pick one thing that McDonald's is most famous for. You might start with the french fries, which we believe are the best out of any fast food option. Then you might think about the Big Mac, along with its tasty Mac sauce that comes on top. But between all the burgers, fries, Chicken McNuggets, and snack wraps, McDonald's does have a few unsung heroes that make those menu items sing.

We think one of the most underrated ingredients at McDonald's are its onions. You know, those tiny little specks that are present on many of McD's burgers, served on Big Macs, McDoubles, and the classic hamburgers? But what makes them so interesting is the story of those finely chopped onions. Are they fresh? Chopped in house? Brought in frozen?

Well, McDonald's onions are made from real onions. The twist is that the onions are brought in dehydrated, then mixed with water in-house and brought back to "life" before being served on your burger.

While dehydrated onions might seem off-putting – and not all McD's customers are fans of them, after all — they're actually the same type of onion you'll see in the spice aisle of most grocery stores. There's a science behind the flavor, too. Dehydrated onions offer more concentrated flavor, meaning even with smaller chopped onions (like the ones they use at McDonald's), you can get that onion essence with just small amounts on a burger.

There's also practical reasons for using the dehydrated version. They obviously have much more of an extended shelf life than fresh onions, which helps reduce both costs and food waste. Dehydrated onions are also much lighter than fresh ones, meaning lower costs for storage and transportation. All that said, not all of McDonald's onions come in dehydrated. The sliced onions that come on the Quarter Pounder burgers are actually sliced fresh.

But if the whole thought of McDonald's dehydrated and diced onions grosses you out a bit, maybe try to recreate them at home to pull back the curtain. Adding water back to dehydrated food is quite common, and you can easily do this at home with onions. It's basically a 1:1 ratio of dried onion and boiling water. Let them soak until all the water is absorbed, and you've got your own copycat onions. Grill a burger, add some pickles, ketchup, and mustard, and you're good to go.