The McDonald’s McRib Is Back for a Limited Time. Here’s the History of This Popular Sandwich

The McDonald’s McRib has returned to select locations for a limited time. The popular sandwich has been a fan-favorite menu item since 1981. Let’s take a look at what we know about the triumphant return.

The McDonald’s McRib Is Back, But There’s a Catch

According to Food & Wine, the McRib is now available again in U.K. McDonald’s restaurants.

“It is more than just a sandwich; it’s a phenomenon. We have heard our fans loud and clear — the fan petitions and pleas on social — and after almost a decade of anticipation, we are thrilled to bring back this iconic menu item,” Thomas O’Neill, the head of menu at McDonald’s U.K., shared in a statement. “Knowing how well-loved the McRib is, we had very little choice — we had to make it happen. It was time to step up and satisfy the cravings of McRib enthusiasts across the country.”

The sandwich will only be available across the pond for a limited time.

Additionally, McDonald’s U.S. president Joe Erlinger revealed on the Today Show in June that the McRib will return to the United States “later this year.” However, the cult favorite sandwich may not be available nationwide.

Food & Wine shared that on Nov. 27, McDonald’s restaurants in the “Greater Ozarks area” will once again serve McRibs.

Additionally, the Topeka Capital-Journal in Kansas, the home of the original McRib, reported that the “iconic menu item is expected to be in Topeka McDonald’s restaurants and ready to sell the week of Monday, Nov. 25, The Capital-Journal was told Monday by Patrick Manning, marketing supervisor for Lawrence-based Dobski & Associates.”

Fans can always track down the McRib using the McRib locator. As of its latest update, the sandwich is available in Guatemala and Canada. If you do spot one, don’t forget to submit a McRib sighting on the website to share the information.

Alternatively, you can always get it in German McDonald’s restaurants because the sandwich was just too successful to ever be removed from the menu.

Previous ‘Going Away’ Parties

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The beloved sandwich from the fast-food giant has come and gone from the menu multiple times since its debut in 1981. Even a “farewell tour” was held by McDonald’s in November 2022 for the saucy pork dinner.

Fans, however, knew the McRib would return despite the company’s best attempts to persuade them that the sandwich would disappear like some of its other menu items from the past, such as the McLean Deluxe, the Arch Deluxe, the McDLT, and Caesar Shakers.

The McRib sandwich, according to McDonald’s, begins with spiced boneless pork that has been coated in a tart barbecue sauce and is served on a toasted homestyle bun with slivered onions and dill pickles on top. The official description reads, “When everything combines you have BBQ pork sandwich perfection.”

Over the years, the McRib has created a significant rift among McDonald’s patrons. They either adore it or detest it. The sandwich was discontinued in 1985 following its debut in 1981. In November 2005, the fast-food giant announced the first of the sandwich’s numerous farewell tours. The sandwich made its original comeback in 1989, and the company last offered the McRib sandwich as a regular menu item in 2012.

When Chicken McNuggets became immensely popular, there weren’t enough hens to meet demand, so the McRib was invented by then-executive chef René Arend. “The McNuggets were so well received that every franchise wanted them. There wasn’t a system to supply enough chicken,” Arend told Maxim in 2009. “We had to come up with something to give the other franchises as a new product. So the McRib came about because of the shortage of chickens.”