Welcome to the hot honey hoedown, McDonald’s!
It’s been going on for a few years, but you know what they say, “Better late than running onto a bandwagon that has lost its wheels.” While you’re tardy to the party, your new Hot Honey Sauce makes up for it.
There are multiple ways to taste McDonald’s Hot Honey Sauce: a McNugget and McCrispy Strips dipping sauce, a Hot Honey Snack Wrap, and two Hot Honey McCrispy Sandwiches. As you can see from my photos, I picked up some McNuggets and a Hot Honey McCrispy Sandwich.
The latter features a McCrispy filet topped with shredded lettuce, crispy jalapeno chips, mayonnaise, and the Hot Honey Sauce on a potato roll. There’s also a version with bacon.
I was surprised about the addition of mayo because I imagined it would affect the flavor and heat of the peppery sauce, and it did. I kind of wish there was a double application of the swicy sauce instead of one layer of mayo because the sauce is quite good with a natural honey flavor. It has a perfect amount of sweetness and an ideal level of spiciness for something with “hot” in its name.
Another topping that seemed unnecessary was the crispy jalapeno. I initially mistook them for crispy onions because they look similar. They were also mostly flavorless and provided no additional spiciness. If anything, all they added was a pleasant crispiness to enhance the chicken filet’s exterior.
Despite the mayo and the lack of pop from the crispy jalapeno chips, it’s a pretty tasty sandwich and more enjoyable than a Spicy McCrispy. I guess if the mayo bothers me, I could leave it out the next time I try this sandwich, which is tasty enough to repurchase.
While some of the toppings on the sandwich cut through the sauce’s sweet and spicy flavors, I felt the full brunt of the sauce’s taste and heat when I ate it with my McNuggets, and I loved it. Eating it this way, I could really taste its sweetness and pepperiness, feel its spiciness, and appreciate the nice balance between the two.
Because there wasn’t anything to hold back the heat, I could feel it build up to a decent level, which I’d give a five on my personal heat index. If I remember correctly, many of the other McDonald’s spicy sauces released in recent years were hotter.
Overall, I would love to see this sauce become permanent, so I just hope the Hot Honey Bandwagon never loses its wheels.
Purchased Price: $6.99 (McCrispy), $2.99 (McNuggets)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (McCrispy), 8 out of 10 (sauce)
Nutrition Facts: (McCrispy) 660 calories, 34 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 70 milligrams of cholesterol, 1240 milligrams of sodium, 62 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 17 grams of sugar (including 15 grams of added sugar), and 27 grams of protein. (Dipping Sauce Cup) 50 calories, 0.5 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 230 milligrams of sodium, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.