By Brooke Steinberg
In Heinz sight, McDonald’s ketchup hits different.
A former executive chef for McDonald’s took to TikTok to give customers a little insight into why they’re “lovin’ it” so much.
There’s been some speculation among fast-food lovers that the chain puts honey in their ketchup since it tastes different — and some would argue better — than Heinz ketchup.
“If you go on the McDonald’s website and look under their burgers and look at the ingredients statement of the ketchup on their burgers and compare that to Heinz, it is almost identical,” Mike Haracz the ex-McDonald’s chef shared in a TikTok video, which has amassed 21,900 views.
“However, Heinz looks like it has some added ingredients,” he explained.
According to the McDonald’s website, the ingredients listed include: tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water, salt and natural flavors.
Meanwhile, Heinz ketchup contains all of the same ingredients, but also adds onion powder and an unnamed spice.
Neither McDonald’s or Heinz lists how much of each ingredient is used in their recipe, so it’s unknown whether amount plays any part in the taste difference.
Harcaz said that the additional ingredients in Heinz ketchup could make the condiment “more flavorful” — and it’s “up to you to decide whether it’s better or not, but the ingredients statements are almost identical, and I guarantee neither of them are putting honey in their ketchup.”
“There really doesn’t seem to be a big difference between the McDonald’s ketchup used grill side and the regular Heinz ketchup recipe based on the ingredients statements,” he concluded.
This isn’t the first time Harcaz went viral for sharing the secrets behind the Golden Arches.
Over the summer, he shared how to tell if your local McDonald’s is a “good one,” saying that a “good” location can produce a large amount of Quarter Pounders, with some changes, successfully during their busy hours.
Last month, he revealed that 10:30 the worst time to go to McDonald’s and that the McDouble tastes better than a Big Mac.
