Why Are Chicken Nuggets Different Shapes?

And a spokesman for the company has revealed the reasoning behind the varying shapes, explaining that they were designed deliberately and that each nugget actually has a name. The crunchy treats are known as either the ‘bell,’ the ‘boot,’ the ‘bone’ and the ‘bell’ although the nuggets seem to have slightly different names in different countries.

The nuggets are made from chicken meat in a factory, shaped into the four different forms and battered. They are then frozen and distributed to individual restaurants where they are deep-friend and served to customers. The comments below have not been moderated.

The cutter ensures that the nuggets-to-be are all the same width and one of four shapes. The shapes are the “boot,” the “bell,” the “ball,” and the “bone” (or “bow tie”). Check out the video to see the shapes being made.

The boxed, bite-size bits of chicken are one of the fast food franchise’s most popular menu items. But there’s something even the most devoted nugget connoisseurs may not know: every nugget that comes out of Mickey D’s is guaranteed to be one of four distinct shapes. Don’t worry though, it’s not some freaky chicken conspiracy.

What are the four McDonald’s chicken nugget shapes?

The four McNugget shapes are known as “the Boot, the Ball, the Bow-Tie, and the Bell,” as the McDonald’s Canada website explains.

“The reason they are all standard in shape and size is to ensure consistency,” McDonald’s Canada wrote on its site in an answer to a fan question.

As for why McDonald’s stopped at four nugget shapes, the Canadian site explained that “three would’ve been too few; five would’ve been, like, wacky.”

The McNugget shapes are pressed out with a rolling cookie cutter at a production facility, as you can see in this video from McDonald’s Canada. Then, they are battered and partially fried, before being frozen and shipped off to each McDonald’s location. They’ll be fried there, too, to finish the cooking process.

Well, for one thing, you might be surprised to learn that there are more than a dozen ingredients that go into McNuggets, but they’re mostly just preservatives, as well as things like water and salt.