McDonald's Nearly Went In A Wildly Different Direction With McNuggets

McDonald's Chicken McNuggets ranked highly on our ultimate ranking of McDonald's food items, but the crispy, chewy pieces of meat almost didn't come into existence. Onion nuggets were the predecessor to the meaty morsels and were initially scooped up and dished out in the late '70s. While the fried bites may have looked like chunks of chicken to an unknowing eater, inside the fried shells were actually masses of a flavored onion mixture.

The fast food company's executive chef developed the recipe to act as an order option for vegetarian customers. The side dish could also be enjoyed as a companion for more typical orders of burger and fries, but the nuggets were reportedly only served in the evenings from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. Regardless of the specified ordering timeframe, the onion pieces didn't take off. Instead, former chairman Fred Turner redirected the chef's creative culinary efforts towards chicken instead. After replacing the onion pieces with chicken, Chicken McNuggets finally landed on menus in the early 1980s. Once they did, the carnivorous option became a staple item among the company's offerings.

For those wondering what they missed out on, Good Mythical Morning took it upon themselves to recreate the onion nuggets and favorably reviewed the resurrected recipe. It turns out that any lover of onion rings may appreciate sinking their teeth into these fried, crispy morsels. Yet, while onion rings have appeared in Australian McDonald's stores as both a side dish and as a topping placed inside hamburgers, the same ingredient has never found a similarly appreciative American audience.

While you can certainly experiment with making your own onion nuggets at home, you can also tinker with these secret ingredients to make the tastiest onion rings. You could also concoct a dipping sauce made with sweet and sour sauce with mayo to dip your choice of nuggets, onion rings, or fries into. Additionally, try adding the one ingredient we didn't expect to find in McDonald's nuggets recipe, celery salt, to your homemade offerings, whether you attempt the onion or chicken version.