As someone who always uses French fries to scrape off the melted cheese from a McDouble wrapper, I’m happy to see McDonald’s Cheesy Bacon Fries.
From that exercise of not letting any processed dairy go to waste, I’ve learned that cheese and McDonald’s fries are tasty. So it’s nice to see the two come together in an actual menu item. But the orange goop used on this new side isn’t the pasteurized process American slices you’d find in the chain’s sandwiches, it’s a cheddar cheese sauce.
Also, the bits aren’t the thick-cut Applewood smoked bacon in McDonald’s sandwiches chopped up. They’re from a different bacon. But the French fries are the same ones we know, love, and occasionally dip into hot fudge sundaes.
The side comes in one size, and it looks as if the amount of fries used is equal to a medium serving. The quantity of bacon bits is equal to HOLY CRAP THAT’S A LOT OF BACON BITS. It’s as if someone removed the freshness seal from a new bottle of bacon bits while holding it upside down and over the container I received.
While the fries in my order look as if they’re drowning in bacon, the mass of cheddar cheese sauce dropped on top is a bit too sparse for my French fry cheese scraping off a burger wrapper-liking. Some of the orange glop falls through the fry cracks, but once the top layer of fries is gone, it’s mostly a sea of naked fries.
Naked fries are somewhat of a problem because there isn’t enough cheese to act as the glue to make the bacon stick to the potato. Now I wrote “somewhat” because naked McDonald’s fries are still McDonald’s World Famous Fries, so it’s not as if without cheese I’m going to dump the rest. I could dip them in ketchup, McNugget sauces, or hot fudge sundaes.
Combining bacon bits, cheddar cheese sauce, and McDonald’s fries makes for a tasty side. The bacon bits are, well, like your run-of-the-mill bacon bits. They’re salty, porky, smoky, and chewy. Along with its creaminess, the cheddar cheese sauce brings a different savoriness and a slight tanginess to party. When both toppings cling to the fries, they deliver a smoky and savory flavor that makes these already great fries better.
I’ll admit, while McDonald’s Cheesy Bacon Fries are very good, they aren’t going to blow your mind. After all, it’s just cheese and bacon on fries, which we’ve seen before in the fast food world. Instead, I imagine the only thing that’ll be happening with your head is the following thought running through it: “Why didn’t McDonald’s do this sooner?”
Editor’s Note: It turns out this is currently being tested in Hawaii and California.
Update: This will be available nationwide for a limited time starting on January 30, 2019.
Purchased Price: $3.75*
Size: N/A
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 560 calories, 34 grams of fat, 11 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 1330 milligrams of sodium, 51 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 5 grams of sugar, and 15 grams of protein.
*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.
Hey Marvo! Which McDs did you go to? Don’t think that I’ve seen that one in Mililani.
I went to the one at Kahala Mall.
Thanks! I’ll try and look for it next time I’m out that way.
Looks like it is a Northern California and Hawaii only thing. https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/11/07/mcdonalds-iconic-side-becoming-cheesy-bacon-fries/
Stop talking and take my money can’t wait to see these readily available in all macdonalds restaurants
They are really good but they made me sick to my stomach and my fiance in excruciating pain in her stomach I personally think they should recall and check them they might have something else in them.
The try to make a worldwide item like McDonald’s famous French fries a NEW insatiable product is a great idea, yet it falls short of the chains most promised values, QUALITY. Although the idea is a terrific one, the French fry needed to make this a hit starts with a thicker cut French fry. Other chains and restaurants have a much better quality product.
The Cheesy bacon fries do not meet the flavor profile of a cheesy fry with the current cheese being used, the bacon bits don’t taste bad, but it could use a bit more.
As an avid and loyal customer of McDonald’s, I am disappointed that research kitchens failed to imitate an offering that would rival the completion, this trial will not last long.
Back to the drawing board.
Ps. The chicken Mcnuggets another wonderful original product has been destroyed for years now with the constant destroying of it’s quality, reducing the amount of chicken for the sake of presenting a lesser priced item to benefit profits. Shame on you.
The bacon cheese fries are ok I just hate the cheese it taste very nasty!
Where’s the cheese?
Since they finally got a national release, I got to try them and they are big letdown. I’d give them a barely passable 6 out of 10. It eats like one giant salt bomb. The fries are salty. The bacon is salty. The cheese sauce has some salt to it. Individually, that could be fine. But put it all together and its way too overpowering. And then there is the fundamental problem of the fact that McDonald’s shoe string fries just do not hold up under toppings. They literally cannot support cheese and bacon because they are too thin. It immediately just turns into a soft mush. Not a satisfying experience. I will say that the bacon by itself is pretty decent. It wasn’t some cheap bacon bits knockoff, but actual cooked bacon chopped up. The cheese sauce has no depth though (other than salt).
I ordered this in small town Boyne City, northern Mi and it cost me $4.23 with tax. I felt ripped off, the cheese wasn’t heated and tasted too artificial for my liking. Wendy’s baconator fries are a better product.
If you stir the fries around with the cheese and bacon everything comes out even, no naked fries, pretty great