Tallow Watch
Which restaurant chains cook in beef tallow, butter, and olive oil — and which ones are still all-in on seed oils. We track the switches, the holdouts, and the surprises, backed by the largest restaurant seed-oil database in the world (500+ chains).
HeroSeed-Oil-Free Heroes
Chains that cook without seed oils — verified or strongly documented.
| Chain | Fat |
|---|---|
| Steak 'n Shake Switched all fries to beef tallow in 2025 and made it a national ad campaign. The biggest tallow win in fast food. | 100% beef tallow (fries) |
| Sweetgreen Removed seed oils from its kitchens — fries and all. The first major "healthy" chain to actually do it. | Extra-virgin olive oil & avocado oil |
| Elevation Burger Has quietly fried in olive oil for years. Grass-fed beef, too. | 100% olive oil (fries) |
| Blaze Pizza EVOO drizzled dough; no fryer in the core pizza line. | Extra-virgin olive oil |
| Crisp & Green Olive-oil kitchen across the menu. | Olive oil |
| CoreLife Eatery Bowls and broths built on olive oil rather than canola. | Olive oil |
Gray ZoneThe Peanut Oil Gray Zone
Peanut oil is pressed from a legume, not a seed — but it still carries moderate PUFA (~32%).
| Chain | Fat |
|---|---|
| Chick-fil-A All pressure-fried chicken cooks in peanut oil. Waffle fries use a canola blend. | Refined peanut oil (chicken) |
| Five Guys Famous for it — the peanut boxes are in the lobby. Burgers are griddled beef. | 100% peanut oil (fries) |
| Penn Station East Coast Subs Fresh-cut fries in a peanut oil blend. | Peanut oil blend (fresh-cut fries) |
MixedHalf Clean: Animal-Fat Mains, Seed-Oil Sides
Order the mains, skip the fryer.
| Chain | Fat |
|---|---|
| Outback Steakhouse Steaks are seared in butter. The Bloomin’ Onion is not. | Butter (steaks) / seed oils (fryer) |
| Texas Roadhouse Steaks and famous rolls lean on butter; fried apps use the fryer. | Butter (steaks, rolls) / seed oils (fryer) |
| Culver's Burgers are griddled with butter; the fryer is soybean oil. | Butter (ButterBurgers) / seed oils (fries, curds) |
| Kopp's Frozen Custard Butter-griddled jumbo burgers and real-dairy custard; fries are the exception. | Butter (burgers) / dairy (custard) |
| Lou Malnati's Chicago deep dish with a butter dough — a rarity in pizza. | Butter (the famous Buttercrust) |
| Skyline Chili Cincinnati chili is built on beef fat; coneys and ways are mostly meat, cheese, and pasta. | Beef fat (chili) / seed oils (fried sides) |
| Gold Star Chili Same Cincinnati story: the chili itself is animal fat. | Beef fat (chili) / seed oils (fried sides) |
| Dickey's Barbecue Pit True of most BBQ chains: brisket and ribs render their own fat; fried okra does not. | Beef/pork fat (smoked meats) / seed oils (fried sides) |
| Buc-ee's The brisket sandwich is smoke and beef fat. Beaver Nuggets are corn and oil. | Beef fat (brisket) / seed oils (snacks) |
| Cowboy Chicken Wood-fired rotisserie birds basting in their own drippings. | Chicken fat (wood-fired rotisserie) |
| El Pollo Loco Fire-grilled chicken is the clean play; tortillas and sides vary. | Chicken fat (fire-grilled) / seed oils (sides) |
GotchaGotchas: Not What You’d Assume
Reputations and reality diverge.
| Chain | Fat |
|---|---|
| In-N-Out Beloved by the clean-eating crowd, but the fries cook in sunflower oil — one of the highest-PUFA oils there is. | 100% sunflower oil (fries) |
| Chipotle The chips are the trap: fried in sunflower oil, roughly 14g+ PUFA per bag. | Sunflower oil (chips) / rice bran oil (most food) |
| Panda Express Even the "grilled" items ride a soybean-oiled wok or flat-top. | Soybean oil (everything in the wok) |
| Salad chains (most) The salad is fine — the dressing is the seed-oil delivery vehicle. Ask for olive oil and vinegar. | Soybean/canola oil (dressings) |
| Dunkin' / Krispy Kreme / Shipley A reverse gotcha: most donut chains fry in palm-based shortening, which is mostly saturated fat — low PUFA, whatever else you think of donuts. | Palm shortening (donut fryers) |
WatchThe Watch List
Historic tallow users and chains under public pressure to switch back.
| Chain | Fat |
|---|---|
| McDonald's The original tallow fries are the community’s white whale. Loud public pressure; no announcement. | Canola blend today; tallow until 1990 |
| Popeyes Built its reputation frying in beef tallow decades ago. Petitions to bring it back resurface constantly. | Soy/palm blend today; beef tallow historically |
| Buffalo Wild Wings Long fried wings in beef shortening; franchise practices vary. Worth asking your location. | Beef shortening (historically) — verify by location |
| Hooters Another historic tallow fryer that moved to vegetable oil; occasionally hints at heritage frying. | Formerly beef tallow |
Why this matters
Seed oils (soybean, canola, sunflower, corn) are high in unstable polyunsaturated fats. Traditional cooking fats — beef tallow, butter, olive oil — are not. A growing number of chains are switching back, and this page keeps score. Spot a change we missed? Tell us through the app and we'll verify it.