McDonald's New Caesar Sauce Sparks Mixed Reactions, Rekindles Demand for Discontinued Salads
The fast-food giant's latest menu addition is drawing both praise and calls for the return of its long-gone Caesar salads.
McDonald's is introducing a new Caesar sauce to its menu on July 21, a move that has generated divided responses from customers. The sauce, described as a "creamy, garlicky parmesan blend infused with notes of lemon," will be featured on the Caesar Snack Wrap, which includes a McCrispy Strip, cheese, and lettuce in a tortilla. It will also be available with the Bacon Caesar McCrispy and the recently reintroduced McCrispy Strips.
The announcement on Instagram saw some customers express enthusiasm, with one user stating, "I spent 20 years working at McDonald’s begging for this." Another commented, "Didn’t know how much I needed this Caesar wrap til right now."
However, the launch has also reignited demands for the return of McDonald's Caesar salads, which were removed from menus in 2020. The discontinuation of salads was part of a broader menu streamlining by the company during the COVID-19 pandemic, aimed at addressing labor shortages and supply chain issues by focusing on top-selling items. This decision followed a 2018 cyclospora outbreak linked to McDonald's salads, which led to hundreds of illnesses and prompted the chain to change suppliers.
"To put on what?! Salads still aren’t back 🙄😒," one customer wrote in response to the new sauce. Others actively called for the salads' return, with one user demanding, "BRING BACK THE SALADS NOWWWWW." Nostalgia for earlier menu items was also evident, as some customers reminisced about the "McSalad Shakers," individual salad cups popular in the early 2000s that included a Grilled Chicken Caesar option.
The new Caesar sauce follows other recent limited-time additions and returns to the McDonald's menu. The chain brought back its Fried Apple Pie on June 23 for a limited run, decades after it was replaced by the Baked Apple Pie in the 1990s. Last month, McDonald's also revived its Big Mac Sauce, offering it with specialty fries and nuggets as part of its World Cup 2026 promotions.