Reddit Is Far From Impressed By McDonald's Secret Big Mac Sauce

Whenever you hear about secret ingredients or a highly-guarded formula, you can't help but wonder what these mystical things are. Could it be that Dr. Pepper uses some kind of incredibly complex chemical formula to produce its trademark flavors? Do the workers at KFC actually measure each of the 11 herbs and spices according to the formula before adding them to your 12-piece bucket? For all you know, these secret ingredients and formulas can be just about anything.

Of course, you would expect that a former employee would be more than willing to share what tantalizing secrets lay behind closed kitchen doors. While many companies may be willing to give you a tour of their facilities or give an inside look at their kitchens, Lando & Anastasi Law notes that trade secrets are still of the utmost importance and should be handled with incredible care.

There are times, however, when the truth is far less fantastic than what any of us imagined. All that excitement and mystery is burnt to cinders like an overcooked French fry. McDonald's special sauce for its Big Mac is not exactly what some Redditors had hoped.

According to a TikTok video from chef Mike Haracz, the recipe for the McDonald's Big Mac secret sauce isn't exactly fantastical. The video's creator, supposedly a former corporate chef at McDonald's, prepares what he claims is the Big Mac sauce using a combination of mayo, sweet pickle relish, Dusseldorf mustard, white wine vinegar, paprika, onion powder, granulated garlic, and white pepper. Haracz insists that there's "no ketchup" in the recipe, with paprika creating the sauce's pink tint. Some Redditors on r/McDonalds, however, weren't exactly impressed with the sauce, or at least Haracz's version of it.

"It's thousand Island dressing with sweet pickles added," wrote one user. "I was a McDonald's crew and cook." Another user said, "It's just salad dressing." Others claim that this isn't the "real" Big Mac sauce, but instead Haracz making his own version of it. Top Secret Recipes gives its own version of the Big Mac sauce that seems similar to the chef's recipe with the addition of French Dressing. While it still could be up for debate what exactly makes up the famous sauce that tops one of McDonald's most well-known burgers, a new type of Big Mac may be lurking right around the corner.