McDonald’s Is Turning the Big Mac Into a Chicken Sandwich
The chain’s famous burger is getting a new protein for a limited time.
Photo courtesy of McDonald's
Burgers may be the first thing you think of when you picture fast food, but in recent years, the industry has been all about chicken. In addition to thriving chains like KFC, Popeyes and Raising Cane’s, not to mention the many chicken wing-focused restaurants, even hamburger-and-fries stalwarts like Burger King, Wendy’s and McDonald’s have pushed toward chicken items on their menus due to changing tastes and economics.
And now, McDonald’s is taking one of its boldest moves yet by offering the option to swap the two all-beef patties on its most iconic sandwich out for chicken.
Today, the company announced it would be putting a Chicken Big Mac on the menu nationwide for the first time beginning on October 10. The Chicken Big Mac should be pretty familiar to any regular McDonald’s customers out there, but to refresh, it features three layers of sesame seed buns topped with lettuce, pickles, cheese slices and Big Mac Sauce, along with, in this case, two tempura battered chicken patties. (If those patties sound fancy, just know that “tempura battered” is also the official description of McNuggets.)
While the beefy Big Mac has been on McDonald’s menus since 1968, the Chicken Big Mac first surfaced in international markets (including the U.K. and Ireland) a few years ago, usually as a limited-time offering. The sandwich was also given a trial run stateside in Miami back in 2022. As with those initial forays, U.S. availability of the Chicken Big Mac is only expected to last for a limited time, too.
Given the OG Big Mac’s long history, it might be easy to take it for granted at a time when fast food chains have turned to buzzworthy promotional items to attract business. But McDonald’s, which has generally been more pragmatic in its approach to trends, hopes this new version reconnects Mickey D’s customers with a classic.
“With the introduction of the Chicken Big Mac, we’re excited to pay homage to one of our most iconic menu items, the Big Mac, and introduce it to a whole new generation of fans,” Tariq Hassan, Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer at McDonald’s USA, stated. “By tapping into some of our fans’ biggest passions from dupe culture to live-streaming, we’re able to serve up more than just a sandwich.”
Photo courtesy of McDonald's
As part of its rollout, McDonald’s collaborated with Los Angeles-based pop-up dining experience Chain to soft-launch the sandwich last weekend. It’s also working with internet celebrity Kai Cenat on a campaign to decide whether a Chicken Big Mac can technically be considered a Big Mac.
Frankly, we’ll leave such a big question to the philosophers.
Related Content:
