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.

If you're hankering for a sub sandwich, Jersey Mike's Subs has got you covered. With over 2,300 stores, Jersey Mike's Subs know a thing or two about how to make a couple of things between two pieces of bread taste good.

But all of those sandwiches need a lot of ingredients, and those ingredients need to arrive at each store fresh and ready to go. And in the case of some of its meat products, that means freezing them. Folks ordering the chicken parmesan sub at Jersey Mike's might be surprised to learn that the star ingredient is frozen before arrival, according to a former employee (via Reddit). "It's a frozen pre breaded chicken patty that we just microwaved for a few mins," reveals the erstwhile sandwich maker.

While frozen breaded chicken is nothing new, the ex-employee also warned against ordering the chicken parmesan sub entirely. Once microwaved, the patty takes on a mushy consistency, they state. "It was gross, stick to the cold cut subs or cheesesteaks," the employee advises. That insider knowledge is pretty hard to argue against, to be honest.

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.

Few restaurants are as ubiquitous as Subway. Wherever you go in the country, or indeed the world, there's a high likelihood you'll encounter one of Subway's 44,000-plus locations. But while its ever-present slogan, "Eat Fresh," implies that you'll be chowing down on the, well, freshest produce, things can be a bit more complicated. And when it comes to meat, the food at Subway may not be as fresh as you think.

A large number of Subway food items are kept in its branches frozen solid until ready to place up front. This includes its meat selections, with the chicken, pork, and beef that goes into your sub staying in the freezer, according to an ex-employee (via Reddit). This doesn't appear to just be standard practice in the U.S., either, with stores around the globe opting for a frozen approach.

Unfortunately, this isn't isolated to just its meat products, either. As the former employee states, the majority of food in their Subway branch was frozen — including the vegetables. Its baked goods, including the dough that forms the bread you munch on in your sub, are also kept at sub-zero temperatures. And that's before you get to what's actually in the food, which has been hotly contested. Its tuna salad, specifically, is something you might want to avoid. 

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.

Tim Hortons may have started its life in Canada, but nowadays, you can find its stores everywhere. With thousands of restaurants across various countries, Tim Hortons has made a serious name for itself, offering moreish coffee and sweet treats, as well as meat products. But in recent years, despite its seeming expansion, Tim Hortons has been struggling to keep up with other restaurant chains.

And one strategy we might suggest is to shift away from using frozen meat. Tim Hortons' food is undeniably tasty, but part of that is thanks to its high-powered freezers. A baker at Tim Hortons revealed that although things are cooked in-store, it's usually from frozen. "Biscuits, eggs, sausage, donut bases," are all frozen when they arrive at the restaurant and are then fired up in the oven, states the employee (per Reddit). The baker went on to state that the employees then finish up your food item by adding any drizzles, icings, or toppings before serving. Luckily, though, the employee further states that the art of cooking this frozen food is down to a science, limiting the likelihood of food being spoiled.

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.

Okay, bear with us, we'll explain. Seeing Wendy's here might surprise you, as the company promises that its square hamburger patties are always "fresh, never frozen." And while this might be the case, that doesn't mean that the chain doesn't use frozen meat at all. Wendy's does implement frozen meat in its chili.

As a former employee details on Reddit, when its burgers spend too long on the grill, they're taken off, chopped up, and the cooked beef is frozen. That beef then does into its chili, where it defrosts and becomes edible again. Although this is slightly different from raw meat being cooked from frozen, it's still useful to know.

And to add to this, Wendy's burgers may not be "fresh, never frozen" everywhere you go. On its website, Wendy's reasserts that its burgers are always fresh, but a conspicuous disclaimer leads you to the bottom of the page. There, you can see quite clearly that its fresh products are "in the contiguous U.S., Alaska and Canada." This means that customers eating Wendy's outside of these territories may not get the same freshness.

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.

Buffalo chicken wings are a time-honored tradition on game day, but they can also be enjoyed any time you care to name. And when the wings come a-callin', Buffalo Wild Wings is the place to be. For any wing skeptics you're taking with you to the restaurant, though, Buffalo Wild Wings has a selection of other menu items. But one of those, its burgers, may have had a trip to the freezer first.

According to Buffalo Wild Wings workers, its burgers are cooked from frozen. In fact, they're frozen long before they even arrive at the store, and are brought in frozen, to be cooked later on. And what about Buffalo Wild Wings' star attraction, the wings themselves? Well, some of those are frozen too. The boneless wings, like the burgers, are shipped to the store frozen and warmed through upon being ordered.

But not all the chicken products are as chilly as the boneless wings. For folks hankering after fresh meat, Buffalo Wild Wings' bone-in wings are made then and there, according to one of its restaurant chefs (per Reddit). The chef also suggested that ordering them fresh during off-peak hours is the best way to go, to avoid older, heat-lamp-dwelling wings.

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. 

There are few things as American as a Denny's. The diner-style restaurant chain has been serving up pancakes, sandwiches, and fries since the '50s. But while Denny's brands itself as your classic neighborhood diner, getting food to its hundreds of locations is a complex operation.

And this means that food, including their meat, isn't necessarily cooked up fresh, as revealed by a former worker. "Everything comes frozen," states the old employee (via Reddit), including the meat products. The nacho meat, for example, arrives in a solid state at the store and is then microwaved to be spooned onto the tortilla chips.

In fact, Denny's doesn't just stop at freezing its meat. The ex-worker states that they even work with frozen avocados, which are thawed by being placed in the microwave. And for those breakfasts? The restaurant chain uses liquid eggs instead of fresh ones when making its scrambled eggs, according to another former employee on Quora. Unfortunately, the ex-employee posting on Reddit didn't have glowing reviews for the food they used to serve. "I suggest avoiding the scrambled eggs, nachos, corn hash, sausage, French toast and waffles," they state. Yikes.

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.

Olive Garden is truly part of the fabric of the United States, and for many people, it's their go-to choice if they want Italian-inspired cuisine that they know and trust. But between those famous breadsticks and the chain's almighty soup options, there are a fair few meat choices. And the meats that are used in-house are pretty much always frozen.

As the former Olive Garden server who broke the news on Reddit states, though, it sort of makes sense. "You can't expect fresh meats every day. It's just not possible," they state, which tracks, given Olive Garden's huge number of restaurants around the country. But if you're craving fresh food at your local Olive Garden, your luck might be in. The Reddit user notes that soups are made fresh on site every day. Any sauces that might go on your pasta or your chicken are also made fresh daily.