McDonald’s revives fried apple pie for America’s 250th birthday
The fast-food chain says the fried dessert will return to most U.S. restaurants for a limited run beginning June 23.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
McDonald’s will temporarily return its fried apple pie to most U.S. restaurants starting June 23, the company said Tuesday. The move brings back a dessert largely absent from the chain’s U.S. menu for more than 30 years and links a long-running McDonald’s item to celebrations of the country’s 250th birthday.
The company said the fried pie will be sold for a limited time. McDonald’s currently sells a baked apple pie in the U.S., a product the chain introduced after moving away from the fried version in most domestic stores in 1992.
A menu item from 1968
The Associated Press reported that McDonald’s introduced the fried apple pie in 1968, the same year it launched the Big Mac. According to AP, Litton Cochran, a McDonald’s franchisee in Tennessee, created the rectangular dessert, which was served in a cardboard sleeve.
AP noted that 1968 was also a turbulent year in U.S. history, marked by the killings of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis and Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, protests over the Vietnam War and the signing of a federal housing discrimination ban.
McDonald’s replaced the fried apple pie with a baked version in most of the U.S. in 1992, AP reported. The shift came as consumers were paying more attention to fat and cholesterol, and AP noted that the U.S. Department of Agriculture published its first food guide pyramid that same year.
The fried apple pie has continued to appear on McDonald’s menus in some markets outside the U.S., including Mexico, Australia and China, according to AP.
Calories, apples and a Route 66 display
McDonald’s website lists the baked apple pie at 230 calories, which the company says is 10 calories more than the fried version. AP reported that publicly available nutrition information gives the same calorie count for a cup of boiled lentils, one almond Snickers bar and a grande coffee Frappuccino from Starbucks.
McDonald’s says its U.S. restaurants serve 170 million American-grown apples each year. AP also reported that a Facebook group called “Bring Back the Original McDonald’s Fried Apple Pie” has 130 members.
To promote the return, McDonald’s said it is putting up a 35-foot fried apple pie installation on Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois, near its Chicago headquarters. The company said the display, roughly the height of a three-story house, will remain in place until July 4.
Fast-food chains mark the 250th
McDonald’s is not alone in using red, white and blue menu items to mark the semiquincentennial, AP reported. Burger King has introduced a Firecracker Cookie Pie with a sugar cookie crust and red, white and blue star-shaped sprinkles.
AP reported that Sonic is offering a red, white and blue slush float priced at $2.50. Hardee’s has added an iced Star-Spangled Biscuit topped with red and blue sprinkles, according to AP.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.