How To Make ‘Rick And Morty’ McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce

How To Make ‘Rick And Morty’ McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce

It’s no secret that Rick and Morty fans are obsessed with McDonald’s “Szechuan Sauce”, a limited edition Mcnugget dipping sauce that came out in 1998 to promote the Disney film Mulan. If you want to find out what all the fuss is about, this DIY recipe is pretty damn delicious.

Inspired by its appearance on the cult TV show, McDonald’s decided to resurrect its Szechuan Sauce in the US back in 2017. Unfortunately, quantities were extremely limited, leading to instances of theft, violence and huge unruly crowds. Police were dispatched to multiple outlets.

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From my friend who dared to get The Sauce.

A post shared by Alexis Brown (@evlsushi) on

To quote the above Instagram post, nerds roll hard!

It’s unlikely that we’ll ever see more McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce here in Australia, but don’t despair: Reddit user Xeropoint developed a copycat recipe that’s similar to the real thing. Here’s the full recipe, courtesy of Xeropoint:

  • Mince 6 cloves of Garlic and sweat (heat them up in a skillet)
  • add 4 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
  • add soy sauce to taste (DO NOT USE LOW SODIUM SAUCE)
  • add 2 tablespoon Plum Sake (Drink additional 3oz Plum Sake)
  • Reduce sauce slightly (Drink additional 1.5oz Plum Sake)
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons cock sauce (Sriracha)
  • add 2 tablespoon brown sugar
  • Red pepper flakes to taste
  • Minced Ginger to taste
  • Consume remaining Plum Sake

Simmer that shit for a solid 5 minutes, stirring pretty much constantly. The brown sugar helps it keep the proper consistency, so it’s important to use. Play around with the recipe to your taste. Might want more or less balsamic vinegar. Might want more or more Plum Sake. I’d definitely recommend you make it several times to figure out your own flavour.

Our fast food correspondent in the US, Claire Lower, made a batch and conducted a taste test with 10 Chicken McNuggets. Here are the results:

How To Make ‘Rick And Morty’ McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce

The verdict?

“It was very good,” she said. “It was sweet, salty and tangy, with a good bit of heat. It did not, however, seem like a sauce McDonald’s would have put out, as it tasted too much like food.”

To give the sauce a more familiar “factory” flavour, Claire took a cue from this video from Binging with Babish, and added a tub each of McDonald’s Sweet & Sour and BBQ, plus a little extra soy and sriracha.

How To Make ‘Rick And Morty’ McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce

“Now I had a sauce that tasted like it belonged under the golden arches,” Claire explains. “It was still sweet, sour, salty and spicy, but everything had been muted a bit by all the corn syrup, which made it a much better mate for the bland meat product that is the McNugget.”

How To Make ‘Rick And Morty’ McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce

Too easy! Just be sure to close any kitchen windows prior to making – otherwise some rabid Rick and Morty fans might break down your door and rob you.

Additional reporting by Claire Lower.

This article has been updated since its original publication.


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