“Rick and Morty” fans, mark your calendars.
McDonald’s is bringing back its Szechuan sauce — and lots of it. Twenty million packets of the cult favorite will be available across all McDonald’s restaurants in the United States beginning Monday, Feb. 26.
The Oak Brook-based company first released the sauce as part of a tie-in with Disney’s 1998 movie “Mulan.” McDonald’s brought the sauce back last year for a limited time after fans of the TV show “Rick and Morty” petitioned for it.
In the show, time-traveling scientist Rick Sanchez admitted that his sole motivation in life is “finding that McNugget sauce” — and that the cult show would continue as long as it takes until he finds the sauce.
“Last October, we truly meant well when we brought back a super-limited batch of Szechuan Sauce, but it quickly became apparent we did not make enough to meet the expectations of our fans,” the company said in a news release. “We did not anticipate the overnight crowds, the cross-state travel and the amazing curiosity, passion and energy fans showed.”
“We disappointed fans and we are sorry. To fully make amends, we felt it was important to not only bring back much more sauce this time, but to also admit our mistakes, answer questions and give fans access to the story behind the story.”
For the truly devoted Szechuan fans, a three-part podcast was released devoted to explaining the phenomenon that is the sauce and explaining what happened last year.
The announcement comes on the heels of the return of another cult McD’s favorite, the Shamrock Shake.