Steak ‘n Shake to Cook Beef Fries: The ‘Authentic Way’

The fast-food chain Steak ‘n Shake announced Thursday that it will cook its fries with 100% beef by the end of February 2025.

“Our fries will now be cooked in an authentic way, 100% beef fat, to achieve the highest quality and best taste,” Chris Ward, head of supply chain for Steak ‘n Shake, said in a statement.

By the end of February, all Steak ‘n Shake restaurants will have switched from frying in vegetable oil to frying in “100% natural beef tallow.”

“The consumer wants the best and deserves the best,” Kristen Briede, the Indiana-based chain’s head of global development, said in a statement.

The switch to beef will ensure that Shake ‘n Shake “is delivering the best fries possible,” she said.

Earlier Thursday, Steak ‘n Shake’s official account on X posted, “Steak n Shake to use 100% beef. No cap.”

“No cap” is a slang term meaning “no lie” or “truly”.

The chain followed up that post with another saying: “By the end of February 2025, all countries will use 100% all-natural beef. If vegetable oil breaks your heart, our lard will make you fall again in love.”

Beef tallow is the fat that surrounds the cow’s kidney.

Steak ‘n Shake had earlier teased the switch to beef on its X account.

Three days before the announcement, Steak ‘n Shake posted a poll asking, “Should we cook our fries in 100% beef?”

More than 90% of respondents voted yes, but it was unclear how long voting was open.

Steak ‘n Shake has 436 locations across the United States, mostly in the South and Midwest. The chain was founded in 1934 and is known for its Steakburgers.

In recent years, the use of “seed oils” in cooking has caused much controversy.

In October, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized their use in fast food restaurants and called for a return to the use of beef fat.

“Did you know that McDonald’s used beef to make their fries from the 1940s until they phased it out in favor of seed oils in the 1990s? Kennedy wrote in an Oct. 21 post.

“This shift was made because saturated animal fats were thought to be unhealthy, but we have since discovered that seed oils are one of the main causes of the obesity epidemic.”

Obesity rates, he said, “started to rise dramatically at the same time that fast food restaurants switched from beef to seed oils in their fryers.”

“People who enjoy a hamburger and fries on a night out are not to blame, and Americans should have every right to eat out at a restaurant without being unknowingly poisoned by heavily subsidized seed oils,” Kennedy said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Steak ‘n Shake for additional comment.