What's Really In McDonald's Szechuan Sauce?

If you're not dipping your McDonald's Chicken McNuggets in some kind of sauce, are you even enjoying them? For many, these crispy, iconic bites are indisputably better when they're dunked — and if you're a McNugget superfan, you may even have your own definitive ranking of McDonald's nugget sauces. But there's one that isn't in regular rotation that gets followers especially amped up — and that's the special release Szechuan sauce.

Fans flock to get their hands on this stuff whenever it's available thanks to its sweet and spicy quality, and what McDonald's describes as notes of "soy, garlic, ginger, and mild vinegar." And while that description may get your mouth watering, the question remains: What's really in this elusive little package?

The label for McDonald's Szechuan sauce has some similarities to other classics (including water and sugar, as well as stabilizers like xanthan gum and preservatives like sodium benzoate). But distinguishing ingredients like sesame seed oil, along with the aforementioned aromatics, are what really sets this sauce apart.

It's easy to see how this sauce is a perfect pairing for the classic McNugget profile. Although the restaurants' ingredient label for McNuggets doesn't get specific about the spices used, most copycat interpretations of homemade nuggets (which you can upgrade with a simple poultry swap) suspect the secret recipe includes garlic and onion powders, black pepper, and even paprika or cayenne. The Szechuan sauce matches some of those ingredients and offers complimentary flavors like ginger, toasty sesame, and salty soy, while that vinegary quality cuts through the oily richness of the fried chicken.

The Szechuan sauce was originally released to support the Disney film "Mulan" in 1998, and quickly became a cult classic (even finding its way further into pop culture via the TV show "Rick & Morty"). Perhaps part of its appeal is its rarity, though; the dip has popped up only a handful of times over the last few decades, most recently in 2022.

At the moment, McDonald's isn't offering Szechuan sauce, but you can still find packages on eBay if you're willing to drop as much as $30 for just shy of 1 ounce (a little steep considering in the 1950s you could buy an entire McDonald's menu for under $2). Perhaps that might be taking your love of fast food condiments one step too far, but you can keep an eye open for this sought-after sauce at your local McDonald's along with fellow fans.