Photo: © grape Japan

We Tried McDonald’s Holiday Steak Sauce and Lobster Mayo Nugget Sauces

As we reported earlier this week, McDonald's Japan put a holiday twist on their chicken nuggets, announcing larger 15-piece chicken nuggets sets coupled with Merry Christmas Steak Sauce and Happy New Year Lobster Mayo Sauce for a discounted price of 390 yen.

Since the new festive nuggets went on sale today, November 21st, we decided to try them out for ourselves and see what all the fuss was about.


Photo by © grape Japan

Although this isn't the first time McDonald's Japan has offered their 15-piece Chicken McNuggets for 390 yen, each time they do it, you can't help but realize when you open up the box that you're getting a lot of chicken for your money.

And then, to make the deal even tastier, there are the two new nugget sauces: Merry Christmas Steak Sauce and Happy New Year Lobster Mayo Sauce.

Photo by © grape Japan

So, how do they taste?

Merry Christmas Steak Sauce

Photo by © grape Japan

Glistening and russet in color, the sauce is speckled with crushed black pepper and garlic flakes.

Photo by © grape Japan

It has a deep, satisfying steak sauce flavor rich in umami and just the right amount of tanginess to give it a satisfying kick. Definitely one of our favorites in recent memory. It was actually so good that we found ourselves eating a second and then a third nugget before finally remembering our journalistic duty and the other sauce packet we had yet to try.

Happy New Year Lobster Sauce

Photo by © grape Japan

This sauce is creamy in texture, its base light pinkish orange, somewhere between mayonnaise and lobster bisque in hue. Along with the black pepper, you can also notice the red specks of concentrated lobster flavor within it.

Photo by © grape Japan

This sauce has a satisfying creaminess, with a flavor reminiscent of aurora sauce and a subtle but noticeable seafood flavor. To our taste buds, it was hard to identify it as lobster, but it was nevertheless more interesting and sophisticated than the usual mustard and barbecue sauces that normally accompany McDonald's Chicken McNuggets.


We preferred the Merry Christmas Steak Sauce over the Happy New Year Lobster Sauce, but you might feel differently. The only way to know is to try it yourself!


By - Ben K.