13 Popular Restaurants That Use Frozen Meat

Whether you're in the market for spaghetti, a stir-fry, or a sub, we can pretty much guarantee there's a restaurant out there that suits you. Restaurants bring us together with friends and family and serve up delicious food to enjoy as we do so. And there's a lot to be said about the comfort and familiarity of popular restaurants like Texas Roadhouse, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Olive Garden in which to share good times with loved ones.

But how do these popular restaurants serve the same-tasting food all over the country? Modern production and storage methods have a lot to do with it. And sometimes, things can get a little cold when it comes to meat. Although some chain restaurants, like Wendy's, pride themselves on serving delicious food that doesn't use frozen meat, others struggle to make the same claim. And while many types of meat can, in theory, be cooked straight from the freezer without any risks, you might still want to know whether that burger or chili has just come out of the deep freeze. That's why we decided to put together a list of some of the most established restaurants out there that use frozen meat.

Are you hungry for a burger? Maybe a breakfast burrito? Okay, what about some fried chicken? If any of these food items are what you crave, Carl's Jr. can tend to your needs. The chain has made a name for itself by offering a wide range of choices.

But all that choice means that it's had to develop some pretty modern storage and preparation methods. And in the case of its burgers, that sizzling patty on your plate may have just come out of the freezer. An ex-manager at Carl's Jr. revealed that the restaurant's beef burgers are cooked from frozen (per Quora). "It goes through the char broiler (like a pizza oven) and comes out perfectly done medium well," the former manager states. It's for this reason that it's not possible to customize the doneness of your burger at Carl's Jr., he explains. Trying to grill it to rare or medium rare would just make the meat stick to the grill.

The good news, though, is that not all of the restaurant's food starts life at such a chilly temperature. Carl's Jr.'s breakfast menu keeps things a little fresher, with its breakfast biscuits made there and then, not from frozen. All the more reason to get up bright and early in the morning.

Ah, Burger King. Few restaurants evoke such familiarity as the burger chain, which, for many of us, has been a stalwart presence throughout our whole lives. But there's a good reason why those Burger King burgers haven't changed much since you were a kid. Burger King has its production methods down to a science, and part of that science includes making things very, very cold.

Although a huge part of Burger King's Whopper marketing promotes its "flame-grilled" nature, those burgers aren't at room temperature when they're cooked. Instead, Whopper patties enter the broiler in a frozen state and cook through from there, according to a former employee (via Reddit). Importantly, this doesn't take away from their inimitable, smoky taste, which has remained popular for generations. The burger still acquires a charred texture, giving off that "frame-grilled" vibe we know and love.

Burger King's fries, too, begin their journey to your carton from the freezer. But you might like to know that while its meat and fries start frozen, its other ingredients are a touch fresher. Burger King slices all of the vegetables that go into your burger on the day they're served.

There are popular restaurants, and then there's McDonald's. The fast food chain is pretty much anywhere you care to name and has been housed in locations as strange as museums, old planes, and a spot with ski-through access. And wherever you're eating in the world, you can depend on the reliable taste of a McDonald's burger.

The reason for that, though, is that its burgers are made with a specific process. The reason why McDonald's burgers are so delicious is partly down to the flash-freezing they undergo. As the chain itself openly admits, when the 100% beef patties come off the conveyor belt in the production facility, they go into a flash freezer. This quickly turns the beef discs into frozen objects which are then delivered to the store in the same form. Once in your local restaurant, they're cooked from frozen and placed between those iconic buns.

While this may not sound super-appealing, the flash-freezing process helps keep the patties fresh and prevent freezer burn. It also ensures that they're as fresh as can be when you're eating them, which can occur a few weeks after they're frozen.

If you're on the West Coast, you've likely been to Jack in the Box at some point. Jack in the Box serves up classic American cuisine, with some pleasing international twists.

But if you're opting for a meat option on Jack in the Box's menu, you might want to be aware of how it's stored — and freshness isn't always what you get. "Everything is frozen," explains a Jack in the Box employee in a thread over on Reddit. This includes its meat, from what goes into its burgers to the chicken that fills up its salads. Despite its frozen nature, though, the worker states that the meat remains a solid option. "If you haven't tried the grilled chicken, I'd recommend it though. For being a frozen chicken, it's actually really good and pretty good quality," they say.

Crucially, too, what you might be expecting to be 100% meat at Jack in the Box may not turn out that way. Take its tacos, for example. The ground beef that's enclosed in the taco shell, says the worker, is a mix of soy protein and meat. While the employee states that it's not pure tofu, you should still be aware of what you're getting.

There are three constants in life: death, taxes, and the fact that there's a Starbucks on every street corner. The coffee chain is almost unbelievably present in our day-to-day lives. And aside from its trademark cups of Joe, it also offers a wide range of food options to meat-eaters and vegetarians alike.

But, if you're hoping that these food options will be fresh, prepare to be disappointed. If you've ever been to a Starbucks abroad, you may have noticed that it's pretty similar, including its food. But the reason Starbucks' food looks identical in different parts of the world is that it's all frozen. Yep, that's right. All of those meat options are made elsewhere, frozen solid, and shipped to stores across the globe.

Although this is something that Starbucks might not want you to know, it should be pointed out that it's pretty hot on food safety. However, things can still always go wrong, especially when food is taking time to get from the factory kitchen to your local store. As such, if you want to enjoy your meat the freshest it can be, it might be worth eating elsewhere. You can still pick up a cup of coffee, though. 

Sometimes, all you need in life is a good piece of steak, and that's exactly what Texas Roadhouse tries to deliver. The steakhouse chain has hundreds of branches that reach far beyond the Lone Star State. And in addition to serving up huge hunks of beef, chicken, seafood, and ribs are all available in its restaurants.

But it's really the steak that people come for — and there's one that people should avoid if they don't want formerly frozen meat. A Texas Roadhouse employee spilled the beans on Reddit about the chain's porterhouse T-bone steak. The worker states, "It's the only steak we don't hand cut in the restaurant. It's shipped in frozen, and it's generally considered our not so good steak." We admire the honesty, y'all.

Other employees at Texas Roadhouse seem to think you should never order the porterhouse, too; one customer who came for a porterhouse describes a waiter urging them to order a ribeye (via Yelp). However, with its very own butcher in-house in every restaurant, the good news is that Texas Roadhouse's other steaks are cut on-site. As such, opting for one of those means that not only are you getting non-frozen meat but a freshly cut steak, too.