Via reddit.com
Fast food restaurants continually test new menu items all the time, including McDonald's. Some of new products are so popular that they become a permanent fixture of the menu, but most are ephemeral and don't last very long, making them a distant childhood memory. During the 1980s, McDonald's had all kinds of menu innovations, some which lasted, and plenty that didn't. Here are some of the best '80s menu items from the Golden Arches that we want back again.
In the mid-'80s, someone had the bright idea to separate the hot components of the McDonald's cheeseburger (bottom bun and beef) from the cold components (lettuce, tomato, cheese, and toppings) so everything stayed at the right temperature. It all came in a two-sided styrofoam container so you could put your burger together yourself. It was a weird novelty (who decided that the cheese should be cold and unmelted?!), and by the 1990s, people began to understand the environmental impact of the huge styrofoam container, so the McDLT was discontinued.
Look, apple is great and all, but variety is the spice of life, right? In the 1980s, you could choose between apple or cherry pies on the McDonald's menu, and we're totally here for it. Plus, that was back when the chain was still deep frying its pies for the ultimate crispy crust.
Believe it or not, there are actually many iterations of the infamous McPizza. The first one, in the mid-'80s, was like a Hot Pocket, with pizza toppings stuffed inside dough. We'd totally buy that if it was on the menu now, honestly.
The second version in 1987 was an oval personal sized pizza, and it came in plain cheese or sausage-and-pepperoni varieties. And finally, the third version came about in the late '80s, and they were family-size pies. They required special ovens, larger drive-thru windows to fit the boxes, and were axed entirely in the U.S. in the 1990s.
By the mid-1980s, McDonald's started going after the health-conscious customer market by introducing a number of new salads.
There was a garden salad, a chef salad, a shrimp salad, an Asian-inspired salad, and even a pasta salad. Plus, bacon bits, new salad dressings, and croutons were all available. Like most fast food chains, McDonald's removed salads entirely from its menu during the pandemic.
Pizza wasn't the only Italian new menu item during this time period. McSpaghetti lasted for a number of years, finally being discontinued in 1980. It was spaghetti noodles topped with tomato sauce, meatballs, and cheese. You can still find it in the Philippines, where customers are used to getting fast-food spaghetti thanks to Jollibee.
The Cheddar Melt was McDonald's first ⅓-pound patty burger. It was topped with a cheddar cheese sauce and grilled onions, and interestingly it came on a rye bread bun. It was tested in the Midwest and even got a Super Bowl commercial, but it was only meant to be a limited time item. It's occasionally made an appearance back on the menu since then.
Though you might think from the name that the Chopped Beefsteak Sandwich might be like a Philly cheesesteak, it was more like a McRib. It was a long beef patty on a french roll, topped with chopped onions and steak sauce, similar to A1. It was probably discontinued because the price was a lot higher than the hamburgers at the time.
Though McDonald's famous beef tallow-fried french fries weren't invented in the 1980s, they were around for the entire decade, and we sure do miss them. Frying in beef fat gave them a very distinct and savory flavor, which the chain tries to replicate with beef flavoring in their frying fat today, but it just isn't the same. In 1990, the chain gave in to health concern demands and switch from tallow to vegetable oil for deep frying.
Can you imagine getting a sweet, gooey Caramel Pecan Roll from the McDonald's drive-thru for breakfast? It was possible in the early 1980s. It was a flaky, slightly cinnamon-y bun topped with sticky caramel and chopped pecans. For some reason, it didn't last, and we're totally miffed about that.
After the successful worldwide launch of Chicken McNuggets in 1983, McDonald's was hoping to expand its chicken offerings. Enter the Chicken L.T., a grilled chicken filet on a bun with lettuce and tomato. It was meant to be a health conscious offering, but many people found it dry. So the chain also released four new sauces to put on it: mayonnaise, hickory barbecue, honey horseradish, and light mayonnaise. That apparently didn't help, because it was gone by the 1980s.
In 1988, McDonald's did a bizarre "Fiesta" promotion where they gave away coins from Latin American countries with special boxes of Chicken McNuggets. There were six coins to collect, from countries like Argentina and Peru. There were also new themed dipping sauces to go along with them, including green chili salsa with jalapenos, and a mild tomato-based salsa.
Not content with a single cultural-themed McNuggets promotion, McDonald's also had an Asian-inspired one in the 1980s. These nuggets came in a red and black box that included a fortune cookie and — for the most cringe cultural appropriation ever — a pair of chopsticks. For the special dipping sauces, you got teriyaki, sweet and sour, and hot mustard.
It wasn't just those limited time McNugget dipping sauces, either; The 1980s was a real sauce renaissance at McDonald's. There were Christmas-themed meals with cranberry orange and apple spice sauces, and hot jalapeno and Louisiana-style hot sauce as well. The hot sauces were probably pretty good, but we're very intrigued by the cranberry orange.
