5 Fast Food Chains That Actually Use 100% Real Cheese

There are few things that elevate a sandwich, burger, or salad like real cheese. By real cheese we are of course referring to a cheese made with minimal ingredients, minimally processed. "Cheese is made with just four ingredients — milk, salt, culture, and rennet (the coagulant that holds the rest of the ingredients together)," say the experts at Dietz & Watson. "You can manipulate these 4 ingredients so many ways to affect flavor, smell, and texture." While there is a time and place for ultra-processed cheeses like Velveeta or American, nothing beats the real thing. Here are 5 fast food chains that use real, delicious, addictive cheese (although please note these chains also use American cheese for certain menu items, so double check if that's something you want to avoid).

Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A is one of very few fast-food chains that uses real cheese in their sandwiches, including Colby Jack or Pepper Jack. One Chick-fil-A employee on Reddit broke down exactly which brands the chicken restaurant likes to use: "American is Kraft. Colby + Pepper Jack is Sargento. The shredded Monterey Jack cheese is from Land O' Lakes. Blue cheese is from a private company."

Panera Bread

Panera guests can enjoy real cheese such as feta, cheddar, mozzarella, and provolone on their sandwiches, salads, and more. "Clean simply means we don't fill our pantry with the artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors, and colors from artificial sources that are listed on our No No List," he company says. "When sourcing ingredients, we carefully consider their origin, freshness, and quality to provide guests with the most deliciousness."

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Starbucks

Starbucks uses high-quality gouda, cheddar, Brie (the very popular Ile de France brand), and more in its sandwiches and salads. "Today, we only serve products free from High Fructose Corn Syrup, Caramel Color and other artificial dyes, artificial flavors and artificial trans-fats," the company says.

Wendy's

Wendy's uses a variety of real cheeses, including blue cheese and mozzarella. "Over the years, we've used smoked gouda, blue cheese, asiago and feta on hamburgers, chicken sandwiches and salads. Fresh mozzarella is the latest evolution of delivering fresh cheese to customers," the company said when they launched the BelGioioso cheese on their menu in 2017.

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Chipotle

Chipotle prides itself on using 53 real ingredients, and that includes cheese. The chain uses a blend of Monterey Jack cheese and white cheddar for an utterly addictive flavor and texture. "While cheddar cheese can be sweet, tangy, and even earthy, its flavor intensifies and sharpens as it ages. It's why we use aged cheddar in our queso blanco," Chipotle says. "When added to milk, cheese cultures consume the lactose (or milk sugar) and turn it into lactic acid, which helps the vegetable rennet (proteins with coagulating properties) turn the milk into a solid block of cheese. In simpler terms, magic. Magic makes cheese happen."