17 Discontinued McDonald's Menu Items We're Glad We'll Never See Again

The first McDonald's opened in 1940. Of course, it's become one of the world's most recognized brands, with 43,477 restaurants operating globally by 2024. Although the menus are tailored for tastes and cultures in different countries, some items are so iconic — hello Big Mac — they cut through all barriers.

Considering that kind of success — and the apparently limitless imaginations at work behind the scenes — it's easy to forget some menu additions don't hit the spot for McDonald's lovers. In fact, the fast food brand has been responsible for some real McStinkers that customers have more than happily sidestepped. They gave a muddy McFlurry a wide berth, the gourmet burger a big thumbs down, and turned a cheesy snack into a cautionary marketing tale. Here are 17 discontinued menu items we're glad we'll never see again at the Golden Arches.

Fast food has come a long way nutritionally since it burst into our lives. In 1991, the powers that be at McDonald's jumped on the growing healthy eating bandwagon with the McLean Deluxe. It included meat developed by Auburn University professor Dale Huffman, who added a blend of soy and seaweed to the traditional beef patty, eliminating all but 9% of the fat. 

The McLean Deluxe sounded perfect on paper: A hamburger that could be a game-changer for fast food, an industry that was being at least partially blamed for rising obesity levels in the United States.  Despite a massive marketing campaign that included making it the NBA's official sandwich, customers weren't lovin' it. It was dubbed dry and bland, and hardly anyone bought it. By 1993, the McLean Deluxe had disappeared from menus, never to be seen again.

In 2024, McDonald's removed all salads from its menus, as company president Joe Erlinger stated that their customers just didn't want it.But it wasn't the first time the iconic burger 'n' fries franchise had shelved a salad option. McSalad Shakers were launched in April 2000, aiming to give people a convenient way to eat their greens on the go.

The trio of options were a garden salad, a chef's salad, and a chicken Caesar version. While a domed plastic cup full of healthy food seemed like a good idea at the time, the concept wasn't a runaway hit. One Redditor described McSalad Shakers as: "A mass of cheddar cheese, ham, and ranch dressing held loosely together by lettuce." Another poster remembered how: "You couldn't shake the damn thing at all." In 2003, they were ditched for a high-end salad range garnished with Newman's Own dressing. 

When a global brand spends $200 million advertising a product, you would think everyone would snap it up, right? Not if it was McDonald's Arch Deluxe burger, which hit franchises in 1996. It was a beef patty with round bacon, cheese, lettuce, and a secret sauce, in a potato-sesame bun. Problem was, McDonald's was trying to sell this burger to a customer base that didn't exist.

The Arch Deluxe was pitched as a gourmet burger for adults and priced accordingly, single handedly alienating families with kids who wanted affordable food and somewhere fun to eat it. While the Arch Deluxe is seen as a megaflop, enough time has passed for the Arch name to be revived. The Big Arch — positioned to compete with McDonald's beefy Big Mac — is being tested in Portugal, Canada, and France.  

Fast food and movie tie-ins are super common, but TV show food merch is a rarer beast. Recent examples include a range of "Yellowstone" products and "The Last of Us" mushroom coffee, but back in 2018, McDonald's proved reruns could be inspirational too. Taking a cue from a then-21-year-old episode of acclaimed sitcom "Seinfeld," in which Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) decides to sell the tops of muffins, the brand did the same and the McCafé Bakery Muffin Toppers were born.

They came in three flavors: Double chocolate, lemon poppy seed, and blueberry, and were part of the concerted effort to bolster morning sales for McDonald's. While we did love an all-day breakfast, the public's appetite for these sweet treats was low, and McCafé Bakery Muffin Toppers were discontinued in 2019, ending "Seinfeld" writer Spike Ferensten's joking request for payment from Mickey D's.

A 2024 Threads post jokingly compared the number of English pubs in the United Kingdom to the United States. Had the brains at McDonald's seen it, they may never have embarked on the 2011 experiment that was the English Pub burger. It had ingredients including Angus beef, hickory-smoked bacon, and both white and American cheese. The box invited eaters to "take a shufti" while an advert called it "smashing" and promised customers trying it would be "gobsmacked," per The Independent. 

Burger Business said the burger cost $4.49, which also reported that now-defunct blogger Within the Empier [sic] was a fan, eating three in a week. While some people liked the crossover attempt, one commenter on SoGoodBlog said: "A pub burger is nothing like a McDonalds burger and great English food is not McDonalds!" The English Pub burger did not survive its testing period, and sank without a trace the same year.

The McPizza failed at McDonald's for taking too long to make, and it could be the reason McStuffins suffered the same fate. Tested in 1993 and costing just $2, they were French bread loaves packed with one of four fillings: Pepperoni pizza, Philly beef & cheese, chicken teriyaki, and BBQ chicken. Interestingly, the bread was made on-site and each sandwich was created to order. One Bluesky commenter said: "Even thinking about a McDonald's set up to bake its own bread sounds wild."

McStuffins were a great idea but, unfortunately for Mickey D's, the market for warm, hand-held sandwiches had long been cornered by Hot Pockets. That meant limited interest in this offering from the Golden Arches, so many people in the test areas had no idea they were even a thing. McStuffins were discontinued the year they surfaced, with zero fuss from the public.

McDonald's tests new products or twists on old favorites in small areas. If people like them, they're rolled out nationally. That was the way for its cheesy bacon fries, which were tested in 2017. Two years later, the Australian-inspired fries, topped with a cheddar cheese sauce and smoked bacon pieces, were available across the United States as part of an short-term international menu. 

They came back for another limited run in 2019 as McDonald's set out to prove the world was better with more bacon (and, you know, sauce). Not with this product. One Redditor described theirs as disappointing with "lukewarm cheese so it made the fries cold and unappetizing." Few people shed a tear when McDonald's cheesy bacon fries vanished from menus months after appearing.

We have our Canadian neighbors to thank for the iconic McFlurry, created by McDonald's franchisee Ron McLellan in New Brunswick in 1995. It took two years for the sweet treat to make it over the border to the United States. While the packaging may have changed, it's been a menu staple ever since. There have been plenty of versions in that time, but few went quite as wide as 2007's Swamp Sludge McFlurry.

If the name doesn't give it away, the ingredients might. It, alongside a Minty Mudbath Shake, was a limited edition tie-in with the movie "Shrek the Third," and combined a mint McFlurry with brownies and green M&Ms to resemble the ogre's beloved swamp. They were not a hit, and a former McDonald's employee explained why on X: "Customers kept returning them because the green and brown didn't mix well." Others didn't like the texture, while some said it tasted like toothpaste. When the film promo ended, so did the Swamp Sludge McFlurry.

Asian and French cuisines often combine sweet and savory ingredients with delicious results. The same can't be said for the Hula burger. It made a single appearance at one of the earliest McDonald's franchises, and lost arguably the most one-sided food argument since someone asked whether bread should be sliced. According to the company, the story took place in 1962 at Lou Groen's Cincinnati franchise, located in an area with a large Catholic population. He noticed burger sales dipped on a Friday, and suggested a fish alternative.

McDonald's founder, Ray Kroc, didn't think anyone would go for a fish burger but was convinced they would snap up his creation: A slice of grilled pineapple topped with cheese, dubbed the Hula burger. Kroc went head-to-head with Groen on a Friday, vowing the best-selling burger would make it to the permanent menu. The Filet-O-Fish sold 350. The Hula burger? Six. You're welcome.

In the early 1990s, people in the United States went wild for salsa, thanks to the growing popularity of Mexican eateries. Never a brand to pass up a sales opportunity, in 1992 McDonald's quickly unveiled the limited edition Double Zestaburger. Alongside the two beef patties, pepper Jack cheese, and lettuce, it was covered in salsa mayo, rather than the traditional creamy mayo. It was all wrapped in "a bun with bite" — which translated as having jalapeños baked into the bread. 

Despite the national passion for all things Mexican, and being aimed at fast food fans who loved their burgers with a bit of punch, the Double Zestaburger failed to make an impact. It was discontinued within months of being launched and has — to date — never returned to McDonald's menus. One commenter on X said: "I didn't know this even existed. It lived and died and I didn't have an inkling."

Customer outrage can be a powerful tool, especially in the fast food business, which regularly giveth and taketh away beloved menu items. The 2025 return of the Snack Wrap is a good example. After being yanked amid poor sales in 2016, fans campaigned tirelessly — and successfully — for its reinstatement. But public pressure doesn't always pay off.

In 1993, McDonald's introduced their chicken fajitas as a limited menu item to rival Taco Bell. They were a soft tortilla filled with chicken, green peppers, cheese, and onions, and could be topped with one of two picante sauces: Mild or hot. One commenter on X put their finger on why they might not have been the hit Mickey D's hoped: "The only problem was it was one of two temperatures ... Frozen in the middle or surface of the sun. No in between." More humiliation followed in 2012, when just 57 people signed a petition to bring McDonald's chicken fajitas back.

McDonald's has proved it can do delicious things with a burger but has twice fumbled the ball with hot dogs. For years, the sausage snack was off the menu because founder Ray Kroc was suspicious of their quality.  

Kroc died in 1984  but it took until 1991 for McDonald's to come up with their version of the fast food: Hot Dog McNuggets. Although a limited item, they vanished with barely a murmur from consumers. Four years later, the company's McHot Dog had a summer run in selected Mid Western franchises but they too never really took off. Whether McDonald's will aim for a third time remains to be seen, considering there's zero customer demand.

The McRib first appeared in 1981 and, despite its huge popularity now, was initially a flop, and pulled from menus after four years. In the decades since, it's become a fan favorite. Every time McDonald's wheels it out for a limited run, devotees flock to get theirs. The same cannot be said for the McRib Jr.

Launched in 2000 for — you guessed it, a limited run — it was like a regular McRib, but so much less. Instead of the elongated homestyle bun, it had a regular burger bun. It had just two pickles and the slab of meat was much smaller. Turns out, McDonald's thought the McRib Jr. would appeal to people looking for a lighter menu option, but it sold poorly. When the limited run was over, unlike its bigger namesake, it never reappeared.

McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich is as much of an icon as the Big Mac, and while there are lots of variations on the burger theme at the Golden Arches, there's only one fish item. But it wasn't always so. In early 2013, Fish Bites were rolled out, making headlines for being the first addition to the Happy Meal for 10 years. 

The limited-edition snack, made from breaded Alaskan pollock and served with dipping sauces, was aimed at people looking for fast-food options at Lent, as McDonald's sought to match the success of the Filet-O-Fish. It didn't. In a review for Dallas Observer, Scott Reitz described Fish McBites as "the worst things McDonald's has created in some time," and likened the smell when opening the packaging to "trashy hush puppies." A petition, however, calling for their return has gathered more than 960 signatures but everyone else is happy to leave Fish McBites in the past.

McDonald's is a powerhouse brand — but it also knows game when it sees it. In 1991, the fast food franchise teamed up with Campbell's to serve up soups in selected regions. McSoup came in several flavors, including cream of potato, vegetable beef, chicken noodle, and broccoli cheese. The latter went down well with consumers, but demand for the whole range was far from strong, especially as folks realized they could buy cans of the same soups at the supermarket.

When McSoup was discontinued is a subject of debate on social media. On X, Discontinued Foods! said they were ditched the year after launch, but two commenters said they were able to order soup at McDonald's in the early 2000s. It may be a distant memory for Americans, but in Portugal, McSoup is still a thing, with five options to consider.

In 2023, chef Mike Haracz, a former McDonald's corporate chef posted a TikTok about why efficiency was the reason the company doesn't sell onion rings. Another was: Most people didn't want them. Onion-based snacks have been floated twice in Mickey D's history and bombed both times. The first was in the late 1970s, when French chef Rene Arend had been hired by Ray Kroc. 

Arend developed onion nuggets based on an idea of Kroc's. Like the founder's bonkers Hula burger, onion nuggets – note the missing 'Mc'  – did not do well, but they did lead to the wildly popular chicken McNugget, a menu fave for many celebrities. Fast forward to 1995 and McDonald's tried again to market an onion-based snack. McOnion Bits were released as a "Taste of the Month" option, and customers were urged to swap them out for fries. Not a chance, Mickey D.

In 2016, McDonald's across the United States began serving mozzarella sticks as a side. The delicious, chewy fingers of breaded cheese were so simple, they should have been a mega-hit. They had been offered (and withdrawn) previouslyto whip up people's appetite, so expectations were high when they hit franchises — and very quickly shattered.

Social media was flooded with images of empty mozzarella sticks, and while McDonald's pledged to fix the problems causing the cheese to leak out of the casing, it was soon caught up in a $5 million class-action lawsuit. The legal action wasn't just about sticks sans filling: It also claimed the $1.39 side wasn't made with 100% mozzarella, as the company claimed. The case was dismissed in 2016, and while neither side claimed victory, Mickey D is still selling mozzarella sticks. They're called cheesy garlic bread dippers and are available for a limited time.