Who Supplies McDonald's Chicken?

If you've ever wondered about McDonald's suppliers or where it gets all its chicken-y menu items, look no further. Keystone Foods supplies McDonald's chicken, at least in the U.S. The West Chester, Pennsylvania company is one of McDonald's main U.S. meat suppliers, providing beef, chicken, and fish to the fast food brand. In fact, Keystone Foods helped develop the signature chicken McNuggets back in the '80s, signaling the beginning of the mass-produced nugget frenzy.

Each year, Keystone Foods supplies McDonald's with over 300 million pounds of chicken, including nuggets, wings, and tenders. It's one of the biggest food companies in the world, especially when it comes to supplying quick-service restaurants. In 2018, it gained an even bigger reach when it was acquired by the poultry giant Tyson Foods, which also supplies chicken to KFC, Taco Bell, and Burger King.

While Keystone Foods has processing plants in Australia, China, Malaysia, South Korea, and Thailand, it's not the only company to provide chicken to McDonald's locations abroad. Elsewhere, the fast food giant may use local suppliers to ensure fresher ingredients. For example, it uses Baiada Poultry and Inghams Enterprises in Australia — the country's largest chicken suppliers. And France primarily uses Boscher Poultry and LDC Group, a leading poultry producer in Europe. But considering the U.S. has the most McDonald's restaurants in the world, 13,706 as of 2025 (via McDonald's), Keystone Foods is still its biggest chicken supplier overall.

Chicken McNuggets were the first chicken item added to McDonald's national menu in 1983. Since then, there have been many more chicken items added, some of which are only available regionally, like the McPollo Italiano in Chile or the McSpicy Chicken Leg Burger in China. Domestically, the staple chicken items you'll find (as of 2026) are generally Chicken McNuggets, McCrispy Strips, Snack Wraps, McCrispy, and McChicken — most of which offer a spicy or deluxe version.

Although McDonald's sells a ridiculous amount of chicken nuggets every year, the McChicken seems to have more devotees these days. One Redditor confidently boasted, "If you haven't had a Micky D's chicken sandwich, do yourself a favor and treat yourself to heaven on a bun." Several commenters concurred but added the spicy version was where it's at. Another Reddit post debating the best chicken sandwich had many people agreeing the Hot 'n Spicy McChicken was their favorite. For us, that sandwich came in third in our ultimate ranking of McDonald's chicken sandwiches, though still delicious, and was beat out by both versions of the Spicy McCrispy.

If you don't feel like hitting up the drive-thru, there are other ways to get your McDonald's chicken fix at home. Aldi Kirkwood chicken comes from Tyson, as does much of the chicken under Walmart Great Value. There are also Tyson branded chicken products at grocery stores, and you can create copycat McDonald's chicken McNuggets at home. Nevertheless, it turns out the company behind McDonald's chicken has a much wider reach than just the Golden Arches.