Let’s Talk About That McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce

This Saturday (October 7th), in limited McDonald’s locations, fans of the cartoon Rick and Morty will be able to, if they are lucky, get a packed of the McDonald’s blend of Szechuan sauce, something that hasn’t actually been available since a 1998 promotion for the film Mulan featured it as an optional sauce for use with nuggets.

The sauce was mentioned in the opening episode for Season 3, and ever since then, fans of the show have been demanding it return, all because, well, it was mentioned in the show, and the character Rick said that it was “delicious.”

Here’s the thing about that:

It wasn’t delicious. At all. McDonald’s Szechuan sauce was disgusting. At least, to me it was.

Hell, I’ve found several people who were around and old enough to remember the sauce being available as saying as much: that it tasted bad. The minimum age someone would have to be to remember the sauce to any degree would probably be about, oh, 25. That would make them born in 1992, and have them be around 6, maybe 7 when the sauce was available. That being said, it’s unlikely the would actually remember it.

Check out the follow up to this article here!

I was 13 when the sauce was available, and thanks to a member of my family being a manager at a McDonalds at the time, I had access to pretty much whatever I wanted – including Szechuan sauce. I was able to experience all of it that I wanted, and let me tell ya.. I didn’t want anything past the first bit. Then again, that was just me, and your tastes may vary!

Granted, again, I was 13, and my tastes have changed some, but still – I know absolutely that I didn’t like it, and I’m not the only one. A few people in the “Rick and Morty Schwiftposting” group on Facebook have said as much, that the sauce was terrible. One guy said that everyone “lining up for the sauce is a tool, and they only want it because it was mentioned in the show.”

The funny thing is, when this sauce was first mentioned, I wasn’t even a fan of the show. In the time between then and now, I’ve taken the time to watch it and I do love it, but it doesn’t change my opinion of the sauce.

There’s also this reddit post in which the original poster mentioned the sauce tasting terrible. What I can’t find are posts from people who think it tasted great – I honestly think most people hated it. What I do find are a ton of people who want to try it, or who think it will taste great, or some trendy site saying they got a sample of it and that “you’re going to want to get in line” No, you’re not. Trust me.

You see, it isn’t like Szechuan sauce was a McDonald’s only thing – it’s been available in many places, by many companies, for years. You could buy some right now, and while it wouldn’t be the McDonald’s sauce, ya know what it would be? A hell of a lot better tasting than the McDonald’s sauce was.

Quite honestly, there’s only one reason for this: The sauce was mentioned in the show, and everyone who’s a fan and doesn’t remember it suddenly, because Rick says it was, thinks it’s the best stuff ever. I’m quite certain that the only people demanding its return never experienced it, mostly due to not even being alive at the time it was out, which is understandable to a degree.

I mean, I desperately want to try “New Coke” and have it as an option to drink, but it will never happen. The difference here though is that New Coke actually mattered in pop culture history, and in the history of soft drinks. McDonalds Szechuan sauce was nothing then and is nothing now. People only care because it was mentioned in the cartoon they like, not because it has any actual value. It isn’t nostalgia, it’s following a trend because it’s there to follow.

The Sauce was terrible, at least to me. If Szechuan sauce, or sauces similar to it are something you already like, then you probably will enjoy it – if not, then don’t expect anything special. Hell, there’s a good chance even if you do like normal brands of Szechuan, you won’t enjoy the McDonalds sauce since, well, it’s McDonalds.

If you do like it, then good for you. I just don’t expect a ton of people tomorrow to be happy with it, just like I wasn’t back in 1998.

I do see 2 alternate outcomes though: One is that the formula for the sauce was changed slightly and as such it tastes better, or, alternately, people will still “like it” ironically, in an almost hipster way, just to keep up appearances after demanding it for so long. Hell, considering it’s got the Rick and Morty branding on the packaging, I dare say it probably has been changed to fit the tastes of the average 20 year old currently. I don’t know, if I can get a hold of some I’ll tell you what I think.

Now, as I said, if you do get some of the sauce, and like it, then good for you. I just know it was terrible when I tasted it, and those who get it and are disappointed, well, don’t say some of us didn’t try to warn you!

Oh, on one final note, this article only exists because people wouldn’t stop talking about the sauce. It’s my final, public venting about the substance before it’s available to everyone. More normal stuff to come tomorrow, I hope. Like, seriously, I can’t believe I devoted this much time to this, but eh, it’s done now. Whatever.