5 Fast-Food Chains That Don't Serve Real Ice Cream
Every time I take my children to a fast food joint, they beg for ice cream before I even order their food. I don't blame them. There is something unique and truly amazing about a soft serve cone from the spots we usually frequent. "It's just so delicious," they say. Well, here is the secret behind some of the most popular ice cream at your go-to fast food joint: It isn't actually ice cream. Per the USDA website ice cream contains "not less than 1.6 pounds of total solids to the gallon, and weighs not less than 4.5 pounds to the gallon." It also has "not less than 10 percent milkfat, nor less than 10 percent nonfat milk solids, except that when it contains milkfat at 1 percent increments above the 10 percent minimum." So, technically, if has less than 10% dairy milkfat or butterfat, it is categorized differently, oftentimes as soft-serve or something else. Here are five fast-food chains that don't serve real ice cream.
Chick-fil-A
There's a reason why Chick-fil-A calls their most popular dessert IceDream instead of ice cream – it isn't real ice cream. The popular chicken chain only has 3% butterfat, so it's barely even soft serve. The main ingredients include milkfat and nonfat milk, sugar, less than 1% of natural and artificial flavors, mono and diglycerides, guar gum, and carrageenan, a thickener. The good news? It's not as bad for you as most real ice cream. The "delicious, frozen dairy treat with an old-fashioned vanilla taste," is only 180 calories and 4 grams of fat per serving, including the cone, and even 4 grams of protein, per the company's website.
McDonald's
For all the attention that McDonald's ice cream has received over the last year due to broken machines, you might be shocked to learn that the fast food restaurant doesn't even serve ice cream. In fact, ice cream isn't even on the menu. Instead, their soft serve version is formally called a McDonald's Vanilla Cone. "Our Vanilla Cone features creamy vanilla soft serve in a crispy cone," they describe the dessert on their website. Ingredients include milk, sugar, cream, corn syrup, natural flavor, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, guar gum, carrageenan, and vitamin A palmitate, and one cone contains 200 calories, 5 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein.
Sonic
Sonic offers a wide variety of desserts in the "Frozen Zone" of their menu, including shakes and sundaes. However, you won't find the term "ice cream" anywhere on the website. They are very clear about the fact that all the products are made with "soft serve" and don't even refer to the shakes as "milkshakes." You can also just get a 300-calorie Vanilla Cup, a "creamy, vanilla soft serve served in a cup."
Wendy's
The Wendy's Frosty is one of the most popular fast food desserts, but it isn't actually ice cream. In the FAQ section of the Wendy's website, the company addresses the question: Is the Frosy ice cream or a milkshake? "Neither!" they confirm. "That is why it is one of the most iconic desserts. It has a creamy texture that's thicker than a milkshake but not as firm as traditional scooped ice cream. Too thick for a straw and easily scooped with a spoon." Ingredients include milk, sugar, corn syrup, cream, whey, and nonfat dry milk.
Dairy Queen
While generally referred to as an ice cream place, Dairy Queen has been very transparent in the past about how un-ice cream its frozen desserts are. "Technically, our soft serve does not qualify to be called ice cream," the FAQ section of the Dairy Queen website once stated. "While our soft serve product used to be categorized as 'ice milk,' the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) eliminated this category of product."
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