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McDonald’s new dipping sauces: ‘Mambo Sauce,’ ‘Sweet and Spicy Jam’

(KTLA) — Fans of sweet heat will want to make a stop at McDonald’s next month when the fast food behemoth unveils two new limited-time dipping sauces.

On Oct. 9, McDonald’s will release two new sauces, each offering a sweet and spicy promise, but each with its own sweet and spicy flavor profile.


Promotional image of McDonald’s Mambo Sauce and Sweet & Spicy Jam, which are set to debut for a limited time Oct. 9, 2023.

The first sauce is a breakfast-inspired “Sweet & Spicy Jam Sauce,” which is a thick red pepper sauce with a “tongue-numbing Szechuan peppercorn kick” with an acidic finish courtesy of apple cider vinegar.

McDonald’s corporate chefs recommend pairing the sauce with a McMuffin, McNuggets or a McCrispy chicken sandwich.

The second sauce is a spin on a regional favorite inspired by a beloved sauce in the Washington D.C. area. “Mambo Sauce” is tomato-based, with sweet, spicy and vinegar notes.

Chefs recommend pairing that sauce with a Quarter Pounder with cheese, hash browns, and nuggets of a McCrispy.

Both sauces, the company said, are no-brainer pairings with the fast food company’s world-famous French fries.

Tariq Hassan, chief marketing and customer experience officer at McDonald’s USA, said the fast food giant regularly gets inspiration from tastes and flavors found across the country.

“Sweet & Spicy Jam and Mambo Sauce live at the intersection of flavor and culture – pulling from decades of rich food history and tradition in local restaurants and home kitchens, and bringing the delicious spice, sweetness and kick of heat we know today’s customers are craving,” Hassan said.

McDonald’s is running a social media blitz to promote the new sauces, teaming up with food content creators to get the word out. The company will also release an original documentary that tells the stories of real-life sauce makers and small business owners in the D.C. and Chicago regions.

That documentary will be released on YouTube on Oct. 9, in conjunction with the sauce debuts.

McDonald’s has released other limited-time sauces in recent years. In 2017, McDonald’s re-released a “Szechuan”-style sauce that first came out in the 1990s alongside the Disney animated film “Mulan.”

That sauce saw a resurgence in popularity following an episode of the animated comedy “Rick and Morty.”

McDonald’s released the sauce in stores for a limited time, leading to a social media firestorm, a shortage and public outcry after swarms of fans of the show were seen making a scene at stores across the country. The bad behavior by fans led to the show’s creator calling out bad actors and rowdy fans for treating fast food workers poorly and overreacting.

“It’s just a [expletive] dipping sauce,” he said to TMZ.