The Ingredient You Surprisingly Won't Find In McDonald's Big Mac Sauce
For as long as fast food has been around there have been fast food rumors and closely guarded trade secrets. What are the 11 herbs and spices in KFC's famous chicken? What is the true flavor of Coca-Cola? What's the secret behind McDonald's famous Big Mac sauce?
Since McDonald's introduced the Big Mac in 1968, the massive sandwich has been topped by a red-tinged signature sauce that's equal parts creamy and tangy with just the right hint of sweetness. While some food sleuths may have assumed for years that the red hue comes from ketchup — which is found on nearly every McDonald's burger option — mustard's best friend is actually nowhere to be found in the special sauce.
According to Mike Haracz, a former McDonald's corporate chef, the red hue comes not from ketchup, but from paprika. As he shared in an Instagram video, you can make a homemade Big Mac sauce with mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, Dusseldorf mustard, white wine vinegar, paprika, onion powder, white pepper, and granulated garlic. Aside from imparting flavor (usually smoky or sweet), paprika can also give dishes (or sauces) a reddish color, as evidenced with Big Mac sauce.
An iconic saucy sandwich
Even if the Big Mac might not be our favorite burger on the McDonald's menu, it's arguably the most iconic, and its famous jingle is an earworm that McDonald's customers of a certain age have been singing for decades. Though McDonald's may never officially reveal the recipe for its famous sauce, Mike Haracz notes in his video that his shared recipe is "as close as you are going to get."
Since the Big Mac became a mainstay of all McDonald's menus, curious foodies and those with sharp palettes have attempted to make copycat recipes using everything from French dressing and dill pickle relish to turmeric, salt, and paprika — it obviously wouldn't be a secret sauce without a few actual secrets, right? One rumor claims the sauce was originally known by McDonald's employees as Big Mac Sauce '72 and two different flavors existed until CEO Ray Kroc combined them.
While McDonald's apparently doesn't use ketchup in its famous sauce, the mayo/ketchup combo isn't one to sleep on. Although it's known by many names, fans of the condiment may recognize it as the heart of Raising Cane's famous dipping sauce, as Arctic Circle's famous Fry Sauce, and even as "Fancy Sauce" as immortalized in the Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly movie "Step Brothers."