Ever since I was young McDonald’s has been common in my diet. Everything from their McNuggets to their Shamrock Shake, I’ve had it. However, on the other hand, the sauces weren´t always something I’d been willing to try, until recently when a friend of mine ordered Honey Mustard, a sauce I didn’t even know McDonald’s had offered. Soon after my realization, I saw McDonald’s had several other sauces I had yet to try. Obviousl,y being a huge fan of anything McDonald’s, I rushed there to venture outside my comfort zone.

Each sauce is ranked on how well it goes with a variety of menu items, the overall flavor, and whether or not I’d order it again. If I were to only be able to order one sauce for the rest of my life from McDonald’s, which would it be?

7. Honey

This ¨sauce¨ is not it. It tastes like the worse fast food version of honey you could get at the grocery store. It’s not that it´s inherently bad, it’s just not unique. It doesn´t specifically pair well with the three big ticket items McDonald’s has to offer: nuggets, burgers, and fries. Although it’s not bad, it’s nothing special and thats why it falls last on my list. 4/10. 

6. Mighty Hot

Meh. It tastes like a garlic infused, spicier version of the Sweet N’ Sour Sauce. It’s definitely a unique flavor, but doesn´t pair amazingly with the nuggets or the fries. I´d recommend it if you like something spicy and enjoy dipping your burger in sauce, but besides that there’s no reason to even try it. 6/10

“It’s decent with the spicy nuggets, otherwise I’m not sure,” said Avery Levine, junior.

5. Spicy Buffalo

Not bad at all! It just tastes like your standard buffalo sauce. Like the honey, it has a good flavor, just lacks that uniqueness. It ranks higher than the other two because it’s universally good for the burger, nuggets, and fries, but it’s still low on my list just because it’s so boring. 6.5/10

4. Honey Mustard

By FAR the best sauce for nuggets and quite literally the best honey mustard I’ve ever tasted. It was painful to rank this sauce so low on the list because it was just that good, but unfortunately, it’s just not universally AMAZING for many items on the menu. Even though it was great on the nuggets, it was just alright on the fries, and just not right on the burger, so unfortunately it´s just ranked as the fourth-best. Everyone still needs to order this for their nuggets. 10/10 (for nuggets) 7/10 just because it was so weird with the burger. 

3. Ranch

My ex-favorite sauce. Before opening my mind to all the other possibilities, I thought ranch was easily the best. It pairs phenomenally with both the fries and nuggets, but the way it tastes with the burger just isn’t right. This sauce is also just a little too basic and offers nothing unique. If you’re getting anything fried this is probably the one. 9/10

2. Sweet N’ Sour

Almost there… It tastes like an even further Americanized version of Panda Express’ Sweet N’ Sour Sauce. 

“Sweet N’ Sour Sauce at McDonald’s is sweet and sour apricot and peach-flavored sauce,” said the McDonald’s website. 

It’s pretty good and universally goes well with most items I’ve tried with it, even the burger. It just doesn’t stand out to me. 9.25/10

1. Tangy Barbeque

Jack of all trades, master of none. This sauce is pretty darn good and comes out in the top three sauces for burgers, nuggets, and fries individually, every round. Although it never places first for individual items, it’s smokey, tangy, barbeque flavor goes well with many items on the menu as a whole. If I were only able to order one sauce from Mcdonald´s this would be it. 10/10

¨BBQ is my favorite,¨ said Michaela Morrell, junior.

If you would like a quick breakdown for which sauce you should order for what, check out the list below. 

Nuggets:

1. Honey Mustard
2. Sweet N´ Sour
3. Tangy Barbeque
4. Ranch
5. Spicy Buffalo
6. Honey
7. Mighty Hot

Fries:

1. Ranch
2. Honey Mustard
3. Tangy Barbeque
4. Spicy Buffalo
5. Mighty Hot
6. Sweet n Sour
7. Honey

Burger:

1. Mighty Hot
2. Tangy Barbeque
3. Spicy Buffalo 
4. Ranch 
5. Sweet N Sour
6. Honey
7. Honey Mustard