McDonald's Chicken McNuggets Tasted Different In The '80s, And Customers Still Miss How Good They Used To Be

Chicken McNuggets are an iconic finger food that has been on the McDonald's menu since 1983. But the McNuggets of today are different from what they were when the chain first tucked them into Happy Meals. When first launched, advertisements specified that they were made of chunks of both white and dark meat chicken. In the early 2000s, however, the recipe was changed to all-white meat. McDonald's fans miss the days when McNuggets had that flavor boost.

Dark meats rank highly among the best cuts of chicken, delivering a richer and juicier flavor. Fans can remember sorting through orders to separate white and dark meat McNuggets. "My dad used to break them open to check and he would only eat the dark. They were so juicy and way better," said one Reddit user. Others miss the texture of the breading. "Whatever happened to the classic breading on the McNuggets?" one user on Reddit asked, with others noting how much the texture has changed.

Some fans also insist original McNuggets were fried in beef tallow and that it contributed to their superior flavor. McDonald's did use a blend of oil and beef tallow to cook French fries until around 1990, when the chain switched to pure vegetable oil. There doesn't seem to be any substantiation of how customers think the McNuggets used to be cooked, but those famous fries do still have an umami flavor thanks to beef flavoring in the oil blend used for frying.

McDonald's switched from a mix of white and dark-meat McNuggets to all-white meat in 2003. This change resulted from health-conscious consumer trends shifting toward a preference for white meat. While many chefs and home cooks argue that dark meat chicken is more flavorful than white, there's a reason why white meat is the go-to for fast food chains: Chickens can be bred and raised to have more breast meat, which means more portions per bird.

While allegations in the early 2010s claimed McDonald's McNuggets were made of pink slime, McDonald's debunked the rumor with a behind-the-scenes look at how McNuggets are made, and clearly states on its website that there is no pink slime in Chicken McNuggets. Pink slime is actually beef trimmings treated with ammonia, which, as of 2012, is no longer used in McDonald's burgers. 

In 2016, McDonald's altered the Chicken McNuggets even further. But this time, it was for the better. McDonald's chicken is not treated with antibiotics important to human medicine, and McNuggets no longer include artificial flavors, colors, or artificial preservatives.