McDonald's Burgers You Can't Get In The US

Love it or hate it, McDonald's is the top fast food restaurant chain in the world. An icon of globalization and ambassador of American efficiency, the Golden Arches has been going strong for well over half a century, and it all started with a hamburger and a side of fries.

However, while many associate McDonald's with the United States, the restaurant's menus are not uniform across the globe. In order to stay in business, each region has had to innovate and mold itself into a reflection of the local culture to best cater to its customers. In India, for example, roughly 30% of families are vegetarian. Thus, a McDonald's menu in India contains quite a few more vegetarian options than other countries. If it didn't, those families would simply go to another restaurant.

Now you might be wondering what kinds of menu items McDonald's offers in other countries that you can't find stateside. The answer is a lot, but for this list, we're sticking to just the burgers.

We can't say for sure if the Prosperity burger will in fact bring you wealth or good fortune, but it does sound pretty tasty. These oblong shaped sandwiches come with either a ground beef or chicken patty glazed in McDonald's own black pepper sauce. A layer of uncooked, crunchy sliced onions and a sesame seed bun complete the treat. It's a seasonal burger that has been available during the Lunar New Year celebration since 1994.

Confirmed on menus in Malaysia and Singapore, you might also find it in other Asian countries that also honor this yearly holiday. Prosperity Burgers are said to start popping up just after Christmas has concluded, so start looking around the solar new year if you want to sink your teeth into this singular, spicy burger. And don't forget a side of Twister Fries, better known as curly fries in the U.S., which have more seasoning than the normal McDonald's fries.

To say that teriyaki sauce is popular in Japan, the place of its birth, would be an understatement. The word teriyaki itself refers to a style of either grilling or broiling meat that has been brushed in a special kind of sweetened soy sauce. So pairing teriyaki sauce with a hamburger just makes sense! And in this case, it's a literal "ham" burger that uses ground pork rather than ground beef to make the meat patty.

In addition to the signature sweet teriyaki sauce, McDonald's Teriyaki McBurger is topped with shredded lettuce and a sweet lemon mayonnaise-based sauce. The original Teriyaki McBurger was introduced in 1989, but in the decades since, new teriyaki burgers have been created and sold for a limited time only. In 2021, customers could tuck into an Oyako Teriyaki, a fried chicken teriyaki patty topped by an egg, lettuce, and mayonnaise; an Akakara Teriyaki, which added spicy cheese and spicy mayo to a regular Teriyaki McBurger; and a Kurokosho Teriyaki, flavored with black pepper and topped with garlic mayo and bacon.

Two years later, McDonald's debuted the Hokkaido Jaga Butter Teriyaki, which was topped with a buttery potato sauce and a slice of cheese; Osaka Okonomiyaki-style Sauce Tamago Teriyaki, another burger topped with a fried egg with the extra bonus of okonomiyaki sauce; and Hakata Mentai Teriyaki Chicken, a chicken patty with a sauce made from spicy cod roe.

The teriyaki burger is to Japan as the bulgogi burger is to South Korea. Introduced in 1997, the iconic bulgogi burger is also made with a ground pork patty, this time bathed in a sweet bulgogi sauce, and topped with shredded lettuce and mayonnaise. While beef bulgogi is more popular, pork bulgogi is also pretty common in South Korea. The sauce is soy sauce-based and has a sweet and savory flavor.

Variations of the original bulgogi burger also exist, but these are full-time menu items rather than being available for a limited time. First, you can order it with a single or double patty and with or without cheese. Second, you can order the Egg Bulgogi Burger, which is a regular bulgogi burger with a circular fried egg on top, like what you find in an Egg McMuffin.

Known for his cheeseburger aegyo (a cute gesture to show affection), Korean pop idol Wonwoo professed to actually prefer bulgogi burgers over cheeseburgers. So Kpop fans, take notice!

You might think that, like the previous two burgers, McDonald's Arabia's Big Tasty Mushroom would be a description of what this burger is. And you would be partly correct. Yes, there are mushrooms, but the halal patty is all beef.

Outside of the U.S. the Big N' Tasty lives on in the form of the Big Tasty line of sandwiches. With some regional variations, Big Tasty burgers can still be found across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and parts of Africa. The Big Tasty Mushroom is a beef patty topped with grilled mushrooms, two slices of Emmental cheese, tomatoes, and a special smoky sauce on a toasted sesame seed bun. As of this writing, it can only be found in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Even Jeddah, Saudi Arabia does not have the sandwich on its menus.)

Qatar's McDonald's briefly had the Big Tasty Mushroom on its menu in 2019, but it included crispy onions in addition to the ingredients piled on Saudi Arabia's version. In 2016, an earlier version of the Big Tasty Mushroom was also introduced for a limited time on McDonald's Arabia menus, called the Mushroom Melt. It was the same as the current version with the addition of grilled onions, slices of tomato, shredded lettuce, and black pepper mayonnaise.

Heading Down Under, you might be feeling jet lagged and require a hearty breakfast to get your energy back. That's where the Big Brekkie burger comes in, which is available in both Australia and New Zealand, though each country has their own take on it.

In New Zealand, sink your teeth into a toasted sesame seed bun piled with a quarter pound patty of New Zealand beef, a fried egg, bacon, a crispy hash brown, a slice of cheese, and barbecue sauce. Who needs sides when you can put an entire meal in one sandwich?

The Australian Big Brekkie is more or less the same, but it uses Australian beef and specifies rasher bacon (as opposed to "streaky" bacon, which we are used to in the U.S.). The picture on the menu also shows two beef patties rather than one, making this one mighty breakfast sandwich! And if the hash brown isn't enough potato for you, a side of fries is available all day long in both countries.

Over in Italy, McDonald's saw the rest of the world's love of bacon on a burger and decided to dial it up a notch. Enter the My Selection Speck and Asiago burger. Speck is a specific type of cured and lightly smoked Italian ham that is cut from pork leg largely from the northern region of Alto Adige. In order to be certified Speck Alto Adige IGP (indication of geographic protection), the pigs are raised in a specific way and fed a regimented diet.

McDonald's uses thinly sliced Speck Adige IGP in making the Speck and Asiago burger as well as Asiago DOP (protected designation of origin), making this a truly premium fast food burger. There is also a 100% Italian-raised beef patty, lettuce, a sauce of mayonnaise with whole grain mustard, and slices of grilled zucchini. We're not sure it can get much more Italian than zucchini, speck, and asiago. Buon appetito!

Because a third of families in India follow a vegetarian diet McDonald's India developed the Veg Surprise Burger. A crunchy seasoned potato patty is topped with shredded onions and a signature Italian herb mayonnaise sauce, all sandwiched between a toasted bun. Chili flakes are used in the potato patty, giving it a distinct spiciness.

The fast food chain takes its customers' dietary requirements quite seriously. McDonald's has even taken the extra step of preparing its vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items in separate kitchen areas to avoid cross-contamination. It even uses egg-less mayonnaise in its vegetarian burgers and sandwiches.

Any American vegetarians traveling through India should seriously consider stopping by a nearby McDonald's for this unique regional veggie burger. You might be surprised by its reflection of Indian culture ... at least in terms of fast food. Pair it with an order of classic McDonald's French fries and wash everything down with a masala chai.

Singapore is an island country of many cultures. Even so, it seems a little surprising to find a burger celebrating the 150th anniversary of the naming of one of Japan's four largest islands in its seasonal menu rotation. The Hokkaido Salmon burger first appeared in 2018 on McDonald's Singapore menus and continues to make repeat appearances.

The native people of Hokkaido, the Ainu, have long relied on salmon for sustenance, and the love of this tasty fish continued with the arrival of Japanese colonizers hundreds of years ago. Hokkaido today is known for its wild-caught salmon dishes. This is likely why McDonald's in Singapore chose to name its salmon burger after the island.

To make the burger, McDonald's crusted the salmon with panko crumbs, then topped the crunchy patty with sliced cabbage, onions, and roasted sesame mayonnaise. The bun is also sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. If you ever find yourself in Singapore, maybe you will be lucky enough to catch this sandwich on the menu.

The Egg McMuffin has been a staple of the McDonald's breakfast menu since the 1970s. But what happens when you substitute the English muffin with a regular hamburger bun? You get an egg burger, of course!

Egg burgers have popped up in various forms at McDonald's across the globe. McDonald's in Hong Kong currently offers scrambled egg burgers, a serving of scrambled eggs nestled on a hamburger bun with a slice of cheese. In the past, it has also offered the chicken and egg burger, a crispy chicken patty topped with a fried egg, as well as an egg and cheese burger, a fried egg with a slice of cheese and your choice of condiments.

A scrambled egg burger has also made appearances on McDonald's menus in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. Customers visiting the Singapore McDonald's had the added bonus of being able to add a sausage patty or a chicken patty to the scrambled egg burger. Given how often Singapore rotates its menu, this would be a return to keep an eye for if you are in the area.

Pork cutlet is a pretty common dish across East Asia so it's no surprise that it makes appearances in McDonald's menus in that region. It is a lean cut of meat that makes it easy to sandwich between a hamburger bun.

In 2018, McDonald's Hong Kong partnered with celebrity Chef Nicholas Tse to create the Crispy Pork Cutlet Burger with Onions, which was zhuzhed up with a cornmeal bun, caramelized onions, Emmental cheese, fried onions, and a signature white dressing.

In Japan, where the word for pork cutlet is tonkatsu or sometimes just katsu, pork cutlet burgers make regular appearances on McDonald's menus in various forms. The Cheese Katsu Burger, which featured a cheese-filled pork cutlet patty, hit menus for a limited time in 2016. Every spring since 1996, McDonald's has put out a special menu it calls Teritama, which is short for teriyaki and tamago (meaning egg). The patties are always pork, and in 2020, a tonkatsu burger was part of the lineup.

Considering how much tonkatsu is a beloved part of Japanese cuisine, expect it to make more appearances in the future. However, don't expect pork cutlets to appear on U.S. menus. Pork patties just aren't popular enough in the American market.

Seafood is an important part of many East Asian countries' culinary landscapes, and McDonald's has featured a fish sandwich at U.S. locations, the Filet-O-Fish, since 1965. It just makes sense that the chain would include more seafood options on East Asian menus.

South Korea has the Supreme Shrimp Burger and the Shrimp Beef Burger. The non-minced shrimp are formed into a patty, battered, and fried. Both shrimp burgers include lettuce, tomato, and a special sauce. The Shrimp Beef Burger adds, you guessed it, a beef patty on top of the shrimp patty. Japan has the very similar Shrimp Filet-O, it just lacks the slice of tomato. The Bai Shrimp Filet-O adds a second shrimp patty.

For a limited time, McDonald's Taiwan offered a Tempura Shrimp Burger, and McDonald's Japan occasionally also comes up with new ways to use the shrimp patty for a limited run. Like the pork cutlet, this is another patty that is very unlikely to come to U.S. shores.

The McRaclette is a favorite of McDonald's customers in Switzerland. The basic McRaclette is a burger made up of a beef patty, three slices of Swiss raclette cheese, pickles, onions, and a special raclette sauce. The ciabatta bun is what makes this burger visually distinct. There are three alternatives to the regular McRaclette. If you're feeling fancy, choose between the McRaclette Bacon, McRaclette Chili, or go all with the McRaclette Chili Bacon.

The McRaclette is a uniquely Swiss burger, so don't expect to find it anywhere else. Raclette is a dish of melted cheese that is often served with boiled potatoes. There are records of it in Switzerland from at least the 13th century.

Unfortunately, McDonald's seems to have a tendency to remove the McRaclette from the menu only to bring it back later with much fanfare. This is one unique burger experience that you need to grab while you can.

With a name like McFeast, you'd be right to expect a lot from this burger. However, what you get when you order one greatly depends on which country you are in when you place that order.

In South Africa, a McFeast is two beef patties, two slices of cheese, onion, lettuce, tomato, barbecue sauce (called braai in South Africa), and McDonald's signature McChicken sauce. Up in Denmark, a McFeast is a single beef patty, one slice of cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, mustard, mayonnaise, and ketchup. Both McFeasts are served on a sesame seed bun.

The McFeast also likes to pop on and off the menu down in Australia. This version is almost a combination of South Africa's and Denmark's. It has a single patty, one cheese slice, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, but the sauces are mustard, ketchup, and the signature McChicken sauce. We're not saying you should globe trot and try all of the different McFeasts in the world. But it is fun to think about.

Here is another McDonald's burger that has different variations around the globe and, if you like your burgers spicy, are worth trying wherever you happen to come across them.

South Africa has the Chili Cheese Double with two beef patties, a slice of cheese, nacho cheese sauce, a spicy sauce, and slices of jalapenos. Germany calls this the McDouble Chili Cheese. In Norway, you may come across the Chili Mayo Cheese, a single patty with one cheese slice, shredded lettuce, and a spicy sauce.

McDonald's Sweden, however, has really kicked it up a notch with the Chili Mayo and Cheese. Unfortunately, it is only served at select restaurants, and you may want to seek out those locations to try it. Stacked between a sesame seed bun are, depending on the size of your appetite, one or two large beef patties, two slices of cheddar cheese, onions, pickles, and a creamy chili mayonnaise. Sounds like a tasty way to warm up in a chilly northern winter.