The McChicken is a chicken sandwich sold by the international fast food restaurant chain

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

. In some countries, such as Australia, India, New Zealand, and the UK, it is considered to be a ''chicken burger'', especially given it is not a ''

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

'' as that word is understood in some of those non-American varieties of English. It consists of a toasted wheat

bun A bun is a type of bread roll, typically filled with savory fillings (for example hamburger). A bun may also refer to a sweet cake in certain parts of the world. Though they come in many shapes and sizes, buns are most commonly round, and are g ...

, a

breaded cutlet Breaded cutlet is a dish made from coating a cutlet of meat with breading or batter and either frying or baking it. Breaded cutlet is known as schnitzel in German-speaking countries, cotoletta alla milanese in Italy, escalope in France, ''fil ...

, shredded

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...

and mayonnaise.

History

The sandwich, originally introduced in 1980, proved to be a sales disappointment and was later replaced with the highly successful

Chicken McNuggets Chicken McNuggets are a type of chicken nuggets sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. They consist of small pieces of reconstituted boneless chicken meat that have been battered and deep fried. Chicken McNuggets w ...

. But following the success of McNuggets, the McChicken was reintroduced in 1988. But again, McDonald's removed the McChicken from its menus in the United States on September 26, 1996, and it was replaced with the Crispy Chicken Deluxe, which was part of McDonald's ill-fated Deluxe line of sandwiches. But once again, the McChicken was brought back gradually in the later months of 1997, due to overwhelming letters and petitions. Additionally, in the United States, the sandwich is somewhat smaller than it was previously, as it is now on the '' Dollar Menu & More'' (previously just the Dollar Menu), which offers various food products starting at US$1.00. The meat of the McChicken sandwich used to be 50%

white meat In culinary terms, white meat is meat which is pale in color before and after cooking. In traditional gastronomy, ''white meat'' also includes rabbit, the flesh of milk-fed young mammals (in particular veal and lamb), and sometimes pork. In ecotr ...

and 50%

dark meat In culinary terms, white meat is meat which is pale in color before and after cooking. In traditional gastronomy, ''white meat'' also includes rabbit, the flesh of milk-fed young mammals (in particular veal and lamb), and sometimes pork. In ecotr ...

. Viewed in April 2015, McDonald's website states that the McChicken contains a blend of dark and white meat chicken.

Variants

In certain regions and at specific McDonald's franchises, the McChicken is adapted to appeal to the local population's tastes.

Spiced

When the McChicken was reintroduced to McDonald's menu in mid-to-late 1997 as a smaller sandwich, it was initially marketed as the Cajun (Style) McChicken. The name was changed back to just McChicken around 2001, alongside the change to a milder, softer chicken patty. In the south and southwestern parts of the US, the Hot 'n Spicy variant is sold. It originated as a nationwide menu item in January 2006, but by June of that year, McDonald's confirmed it had been discontinued due to slow sales. In March 2013, McDonald's re-introduced the Hot 'n Spicy across the country to what was then called the Dollar Menu. In November 2013, as part of the chain's Dollar Menu & More revamp, the McChicken (and the Hot 'n Spicy) could be ordered as a Buffalo Ranch McChicken, which is a McChicken with Buffalo and Ranch sauce instead of mayonnaise, or a Bacon Buffalo Ranch, which is a Buffalo Ranch McChicken with bacon. As of June 2015, the ''Hot 'n Spicy'' is no longer available nationally. The Jalapeño Cheddar McChicken, a McChicken with

jalapeño The jalapeño ( , , ) is a medium-sized chili pepper pod type cultivar of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. A mature jalapeño chili is long and hangs down with a round, firm, smooth flesh of wide. It can have a range of pungency, with Scovi ...

peppers sauce and a slice of white cheddar cheese, was available in 2011 and 2012. McDonald's restaurants in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

serve a McSpicy variant, with a larger, crispier patty with increased spiciness and flavor. The spicy variant is also available as the ''Double McSpicy'', which consists of two spicy chicken patties. Outlets in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

serve the Hot n' Spicy variant, which is available on a traditional bread bun or a formed rice bun, while locations in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

serve a variant similar to the McSpicy called the Spicy Chicken McDeluxe but with a cornmeal bun.

Teriyaki, cheddar and more

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, the Ala Moana Shopping Center McDonald's sells the ''McTeriChicken'' variant, a McChicken with

teriyaki ''Teriyaki'' (kanji: 照り焼き) is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled with a glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Fish – yellowtail, marlin, skipjack tuna, salmon, trout, and mac ...

("teri") sauce. "Teri" is heavily used in Hawaii and has been added to various McDonald's sandwiches, such as the ''McTeri Burger''. In other US states, there is also another variant of the McChicken Sandwich called the ''Cheddar Onion McChicken'', which is a McChicken with caramelized onions and a slice of white cheddar cheese, both on a toasted bun. Mchickenjf

In most countries outside of the US (such as

), the McChicken comes on a sesame-seed bun and is not spicy. In Canada, the UK,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, Australia (where it originally appeared as a promotional menu item but, due to its popularity, became a full-time menu item) and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, the McChicken also comes on a sesame-seed bun but with lettuce and a seasoned mayonnaise sauce called "McChicken Sauce". In the UK, the ''Junior Chicken'' is sold as the ''Mayo Chicken''. In Canada, the low-priced chicken option is called the ''Junior Chicken'', which generally costs C$1.99 (as an offering on McDonald's Canada's "Value Picks" menu), but the sandwich is only lightly spiced. It is referred to as the

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

of the Canadian McChicken, which in turn is more akin to the US' Premium Crispy Chicken sandwich (though the latter is served on an artisan roll, instead of the sesame seed bun of its Canadian counterpart). McDonald's restaurants in

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serve a variant with barbecue sauce rather than mayonnaise.

References

External links