McDonald’s, home of the golden arches, used to have some pretty interesting menu items in the last few decades. Sadly, some of these items are no longer available but will forever live long in our hearts!
Here’s our list for the top discontinued McDonald’s items!
McSalad Shakers
In the early 2000s, these salad creations from McDonald’s were all the rage. They were discontinued in 2003 to make way for their premium salad line which is still around today.
McHot Dog
Hot dogs were introduced to American locations at an early time, but they were never really well received. Oddly enough, they’re still offered at select locations in Japan.
Hula Burger
The Hula burger was conceived as an alternative for Catholic customers who couldn’t eat meat on Fridays during the season of Lent. Putting a pineapple as the patty didn’t satisfy many customers, though. McDonald’s discontinued the product to focus on the Filet ‘O Fish, which has proven to be very popular among customers who do not consume meat.
Super-Size Fries
The documentary “Super Size Me” is credited with the demise of McDonald’s super-size fry option. By 2004, the size option was off of the menu. It’s probably for the best, though — a serving of these fries had more than 600 calories!
Mighty Wings
These deep-fried spicy chicken wings started to be sold in 1990 as a main menu item. The restaurant stopped selling them in 2003 because they never sold great and customers tended to think they were too expensive.
Arch Deluxe
All combined, the Arch Deluxe had a $300 million budget for marketing, research, and development. The product itself was a failure of massive proportions. It was the company’s attempt at a luxury burger. The burger consisted of a honey mustard-type sauce, quarter-pound beef patty, all on a potato roll with lettuce, tomato, red onion, and cheese.
McPizza
McDonald’s has a fairly long history of experimenting with pizza products. By 2000, though, most restaurants had given up trying to incorporate it into their menu. Many say, the fact that it took 11 minutes to make, tarnished the chain’s reputation for having ultra-fast service.
Triple-Double Burger
Introduced in 1995, this burger had three beef patties and two slices of cheese and was served on a sesame-seed roll. It was a promotional tie-in for the movie “Batman Forever,” so you could say that both projects were kinda big flops.
Onion Nuggets
Today McDonald’s is beloved all over for its chicken nuggets. Before those came along, though, customers in the ’70s had to deal with their onion nuggets. Batter-dipped and deep-fried, these onions didn’t stay around for long.
Strawberry Shortcake McFlurry
Although it’s still available in some international markets, the delicious Strawberry Shortcake McFlurry was available only for a short period of time stateside.
Eggs Benedict McMuffin
Well, it was an attempt at creating an Eggs Benedict – but didn’t include a poached egg! This version of the popular McMuffin breakfast sandwich was sadly discontinued.
Fried Apple Pies
Of course, you can still get apple pie from McDonald’s, but the original versions were fried – not baked. They switched to baked pie in 1992.
McStuffins
Much like a Hot Pocket, McStuffins were sold for a short time, in 1993, and were shortly discontinued after selling pretty poorly. Honestly, it’s not hard to believe that it didn’t sell all that well, considering how unappetizing they looked.
Grilled Cheese Happy Meal
Did you know they used to have a grilled cheese version of their popular Happy Meal boxes? Your afternoons babysitting would have been SO much easier!
The McDLT
In the early 1990s, the McDonald’s Lettuce and Tomato burger was supposed to rival Burger King’s Whopper with the motto: “Keep the hot side hot, and the cool side cool.” The packaging (a styrofoam box with two separate parts) didn’t resonate with buyers, however, and a lot of critics claimed it wasn’t eco-friendly. Regardless, it was shortly pulled from the menu.
