THEN AND NOW: McDonald's Menu Items

May 2024 · 11 minute read

Needless to say, the menu has drastically expanded since then.

A McDonald's restaurant in San Ramon, California. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

In 2013, McDonald's had a whopping 145 items on its menu, with more being added consistently. Around the world, McDonald's visitors can try a variety of exclusive menu items not available in the US, like a chicken sandwich topped with mozzarella sticks in South Korea.

In 1949, potato chips were swapped with french fries and McDonald's began selling milkshakes.

A Multi-mixer along with milkshake mix and syrup pumps are displayed inside the McDonald's USA First Store Museum. Tim Boyle/Getty Images

The new item called Triple Thick Milkshakes were made using Multimixer. The addition of milkshakes to the McDonald's menu would completely shift the future of the chain.

After Multimixer salesman Ray Kroc visited the original McDonald's brothers to sell them more mixers, he became intrigued in the business. He would go on to purchase the small business and become the tycoon and leader of the fast-food giant for 30 years.

Today we also have the McFlurry, which was created in Canada in 1995.

McDonald's Oreo McFlurry. Irene Jiang / Business Insider

McFlurries have come out in a variety of delicious flavors including Oreo, M&M, and the brand new Oreo Shamrock McFlurry.

In addition to McFlurries, McDonald's still offers "triple-thick" milkshakes in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.

The first new item to be added to the national menu was the Filet-O-Fish sandwich in 1965.

McDonald's Filet-O-Fish. Robson90/Shutterstock

It was created in 1962 by Lou Groen, a McDonald's franchise owner in Cincinnati, Ohio, after he realized hamburger sales were declining on Fridays during the season of Lent. By 1965, it was a staple on menus nationwide and is still popular each spring.

It's still a popular choice. In 2009, a McDonald's commercial advertising the Filet-O-Fish went viral.

McDonald's Filet-O-Fish. Hollis Johnson

The ad, which showed a bass wall decoration singing "Gimme Back That Filet-O-Fish" cemented the sandwich's place in McDonald's history. 

According to Smithsonian Magazine, 300 million Filet-O-Fish sandwiches were sold in 2013 alone.

In 1968, the Big Mac was released nationwide.

Product shot of a McDonald's Big Mac hamburger in 1977. Henry Groskinsky/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Created by owner and operator Jim Delligatti of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1967, the first "Big Mac" featured a triple-decker burger and sold for 45 cents.

When the burger was chosen to roll out across the US, there was a lot of deliberation over the name. Two other name options included the Aristocrat and the Blue Ribbon Burger, but both were nixed. 

However, Esther Glickstein Rose, a 21-year-old secretary for the company's advertising department in 1967, had the winning name — "Big Mac." According to the AP, executives and other employees at the time laughed at the name. However, it stuck and went on to become "one of the best-known product names of all time."

Today, an estimated 900 million Big Macs are sold each year around the world.

McDonald's Big Mac. Yu Chun Christopher Wong/S3studio/Getty Images

Little has changed about the burger's appearance since its debut. However, McDonald's announced on October 1, 2018, that it would remove all artificial preservatives, flavors, and coloring from the Big Mac.

Before the pandemic, the chain introduced a larger version of the Big Mac, the Double Mac.

McDonald's Big Mac. Peter von Panda/YouTube

The Double Big Mac contains four beef patties instead of two. The chain also released a smaller version of the Big Mac, called the Little Mac, that only has one patty and two buns.

The coronavirus pandemic and meat plant closures caused some competing chains to cut back on stacked burgers. However, while McDonald's says its meat supply chain has been unaffected, the double-stacked Big Mac has been removed from menus, at least for now.

But its burger offerings haven't stopped with the Big Mac. The Quarter Pounder was released in 1971 and, in 2007, McDonald's released an Angus Third Pounder burger.

A sign advertises the new McDonald's Angus third pounder burger on March 21, 2007, in Anaheim, California. Jamie Rector/Getty Images

Southern California franchisee Mike Pernecky had asked the chain to release a burger bigger than the Quarter Pounder. Pernecky worked with the McDonald's corporate culinary team to develop the Angus burgers, helping the chain to release the new entrée in Deluxe, Bacon & Cheese, and Mushroom & Swiss styles.

However, after a three-month deliberation, McDonald's made the decision to pull its thicker burgers in 2013. That same year, McDonald's also pulled its Fish McBites, a spin-off of the popular Filet-O-Fish sandwich.

These days, you can't get a Third Pounder, but you can get a Double Quarter Pounder.

McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder. Irene Jiang / Business Insider

However, while Double Quarter Pounders are a staple on most US-based McDonald's menus, you won't always find them worldwide.

In August 2019, McDonald's announced it would be bringing the famous burger back to the UK and Ireland after an eight-year hiatus. However, the burger only remained on menus for seven weeks before it was discontinued again.

The chain's Travis Scott collaboration — featuring a Quarter Pounder — sent McDonald's fans into a frenzy.

McDonald's Travis Scott meal. Linh Ta/Business Insider

The "Cactus Jack" meal included a Quarter Pounder with cheese, bacon, and lettuce, plus a medium fry with barbecue sauce, and a Sprite with extra ice, all for just $6.

After its release, the meal deal exploded on the internet, even causing some locations to experience a burger shortage as a result of the hoards of people trying to get their hands on Scott's signature order. 

McDonald's brought out a spicy version of its chicken McNuggets in September 2020.

McDonald's Spicy Chicken McNuggets. Irene Jiang/Business Insider

The menu item was thought to be in response to the flourishing market for fast-food chicken products, as well as the smash success of Wendy's spicy chicken nuggets.

However, Business Insider's Irene Jiang found that while the idea for spicy chicken nuggets was interesting, the reality fell far short of her expectations.

The limited-edition spicy chicken nuggets were discontinued not long after they launched, but have since been brought back to participating restaurants for a limited time. Check your local McDonald's menu to see if they offer the new spicy nuggets, as they've been spotted at locations in Texas and New York.

When the chain launched its BTS meal collaboration, it offered two limited-edition sauces to pair with chicken nuggets.

McDonald's BTS meal. Erin McDowell/Insider

The BTS meal came with a 10-piece chicken nugget, french fries, a Coke, and two new sauces — the Sweet Chili and Cajun sauces. The meal cost $9.68 when purchased by an Insider reporter in New York City in the medium size, while the large size ran for around $12.29

According to a report by Insider, fans of BTS were so desperate to get their hands on the new meal collaboration that people were reselling the paper bags, boxes, drink cups, and sauces that come with the meal for more than double the standard selling price.

McDonald's debuted the McChicken in 1980, and it was a disappointment at first.

McDonald's McChicken. Irene Jiang / Business Insider

The chicken sandwich didn't perform as well as expected and was quickly replaced with the now-famous Chicken McNuggets. After the chicken nuggets took off, the McChicken made its way back onto menus in 1988. 

It was removed and re-released several times over the next decade, only to be removed most recently at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, in 2021, McDonald's released its newest entry into the fast-food chicken sandwich wars: the Crispy Chicken Sandwich.

McDonald's Crispy Chicken Sandwich. Erin McDowell/Insider

The sandwich was released nationally on February 24 after a successful testing period in select cities.

The sandwich comes in three versions: original, spicy, and deluxe. Some have compared the chain's new offerings with competitors like Chick-fil-A, and one Insider reporter even noted that they tasted almost identical

In 2017, McDonald's answered fans and foodies' prayers by bringing back their tenders under the new name Buttermilk Crispy Tenders.

McDonald's Buttermilk Crispy Tenders. McDonald's

"Our customers expect and deserve more from us, which pushed us to not only pursue a buttermilk crispy tender option but also ensure 100% white meat chicken with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives," a McDonald's representative told Business Insider at the time. "We are now also offering our most extensive line of dipping sauces ever with this new dish." 

After they were released, they promptly sold out in a huge success not replicated until the Popeyes chicken sandwich. The chicken tenders still appear to be a popular menu item, despite being removed from menus as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Happy Meals came out in 1979.

This October 13, 2010 photo shows a McDonald's Happy Meal complete with a "Star Wars" toy. KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

The original idea for the Happy Meal is said to have come from a McDonald's employee in Guatemala named Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño. Fernández de Cofiño developed a meal deal she called the "Menu Ronald," which included a hamburger, small fries, and a small sundae specifically for kids.

McDonald's advertising executive Bob Bernstein then introduced the idea to swap the small sundae for a plastic toy. In 1979, McDonald's rolled out its first Happy Meal nationwide. The first one was circus-themed.

In December 2020, the McRib made its triumphant return to the US.

McDonald's McRib. Robson90/Shutterstock

McDonald's relaunched its McRib sandwich across the US on December 2, 2020, after legions of McRib fans begged the fast-food chain to bring the menu item back nationally for years.

The fast-food chain had been hyping up the menu item's long-awaited return for weeks, including launching a sweepstake that gives 10,000 fans the chance to get a free sandwich. The limited-time-only menu item was brought back again in October 2021, but is no longer available.

McDonald's introduced the "Supersize" option in April 1992.

McDonald's Supersized meal. Richard Derk/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Supersize fries came in a 7-ounce carton, versus the 6-ounce carton of the "large" fries size. In 2004, McDonald's announced it would be phasing out its supersized options in what spokesman Walt Riker described as a move towards "menu simplification."

Many, however, believed the action to be a result of the 2004 documentary film, "Supersize Me," in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ate McDonald's food every day for a month and documented his deteriorating health.

Riker said at the time that the decision had "nothing to do with that (film) whatsoever."

Plant-based fast food items are all the rage today, but McDonald's began developing vegetarian burgers years ago.

A vegetarian burger in a McDonald's restaurant in New Delhi. PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images

In 2012, McDonald's opened its first vegetarian restaurant in Amritsar, India. In India, most of the population are Hindu and don't consume beef, and in 2012, 42% of the population reported avoiding meat altogether

According to McDonald's India's website, the menu still offers a number of interesting vegetarian menu items, including the McVeggie and the vegan McAloo which features a fried patty made from potatoes and peas.

In 1972, Herb Peterson of Santa Barbara, California, pitched his latest creation to McDonald's owner Ray Croc — it was what we now know as the Egg McMuffin.

Herb Peterson, the creator of the Egg McMuffin, shows off his invention Tuesday, April 1, 1997, at one of his McDonald's franchises in Santa Barbara, California. AP Photo/John Hayes

Kroc later told the story of how the Egg McMuffin came to be in his 1977 autobiography, "Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald's."

"He didn't want me to reject it out of hand, which I might have done, because it was a crazy idea — a breakfast sandwich," Kroc wrote. "It consisted of an egg that had been formed in a Teflon circle, with the yolk broken, and was dressed with a slice of cheese and a slice of grilled Canadian bacon. This was served open-faced on a toasted and buttered English muffin. I boggled a bit at the presentation. But then I tasted it, and I was sold."

According to Time, Patty Turner, the wife of a McDonald's executive, came up with the name "Egg McMuffin." By 1975, the Egg McMuffin was being sold nationwide for the low price of 63 cents.

By 1981, breakfast accounted for 18% of all McDonald's sales, Time reported.

However, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, McDonald's breakfast has been limited to just the morning.

Egg McMuffin. TY Lim/Shutterstock

McDonald's US President Joe Erlinger tweeted after the announcement in March 2020, "All day breakfast's response to this news: 'I'll be back.'"

However, years later, All Day Breakfast still has not returned to most US restaurants, and many McDonald's franchisees and workers are rallying for the famous all-day menu to never return.

"As McDonald's and franchisees evaluate if and how we bring All Day Breakfast back to our menus, we want to ensure these improvements will remain consistent for our customers," McDonald's said in a statement to Business Insider. "Any final decision will be made in partnership with our franchisees, based on consumer demand, and designed to drive the business while minimizing operational disruptions." 

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