Here’s What McDonald’s Ice Cream Is Really Made Of

With all the experimental flavors and wild toppings that can be found with ice cream nowadays, sometimes all we want is a simple vanilla cone from McDonald’s. The fast food restaurant has been offering ice cream products since it was first established. In 1956, McDonald’s founder, Ray Croc, acquired Taylor Company ice cream machines for the chain’s locations, making the fast food soft serve we now enjoy under the golden arches possible. If you are lucky enough to make a trip to McDonald’s (when the ice cream machine isn’t broken), you are in for a sweet treat for a pretty reasonable price. McDonald’s vanilla cones are around $1.29, although exact prices vary by location.

But one of the questions we have always had about McDonald’s ice cream is what exactly is it made of? According to the company’s website, the soft serve is made with a handful of ingredients we recognize such as milk, cream, and sugar — along with multiple other ingredients and additives that are much harder to pronounce.

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Additives Help Achieve That Classic Soft Serve Texture

Under the allergy information in McDonald’s product description of vanilla cones, the ingredients listed are milk, sugar, cream, corn syrup, natural flavor, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, guar gum, carrageenan, and vitamin A palmitate. Clearly, McDonald’s soft serve has more additives than a traditional batch of homemade vanilla ice cream. This may sound scary and scientific, but in reality, most soft serves require these extra ingredients to achieve the light, airy texture that we expect from a tasty cone.

Mono and diglycerides, for example, are emulsifiers that stop oil and water from separating. Without these, your ice cream would likely melt as soon as you exit the drive-thru window. Cellulose gum and guar gum are two food-safe additives that help keep your ice cream thick and creamy. Carrageenan is an additive extracted from a red seaweed plant that also assists with thickening and has actually been found to fight infections when used in certain medicinal products. Vitamin A palmitate is a type of vitamin A that is naturally found in many dairy foods. Because McDonald’s soft serve has such a distinct texture and structure, these additives are included to help maintain that satisfying softness without melting too quickly or spoiling during storage.

McDonald’s Soft Serve Is Not Technically Ice Cream

McDonald’s may not be the most nutritionally sound restaurant, but the ice cream is considered “reduced fat,” based on the amount of milk fat present in the recipe. The ice cream is listed on the McDonald’s website as “Vanilla 5% Reduced Fat Ice Cream.” Per the nutrition summaries, a small vanilla cone is listed at 200 calories with 5 grams of fat, while the larger version is 300 calories with 8 grams of fat. This is less than the traditional 10% milk fat that must be present for a dessert to be classified ice cream under USDA guidelines. In fact, soft serve isn’t technically considered ice cream at all. Soft serve contains 3 to 6% milk fat. Any more would weigh down the mixture, making those picturesque swirls that McDonald’s cones are known for virtually impossible.This ice cream technicality also explains why many places call these offerings “frozen desserts” or in McDonald’s case, simply “Vanilla Cones.”

There are multiple differences between soft serve and ice cream. Soft serve is made up of 30 to 70% air, depending on the recipe and desired density, which is where those intimidating-sounding ingredients like mono and diglycerides and various gums come into play. Also, soft serve can be kept at a slightly higher temperature than ice cream — around 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit rather than the traditional 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit for regular ice cream.