A few months back, Binging With Babish’s Andrew Rea attempted to recreate McDonald’s Szechuan sauce three different ways after the Rick and Morty season 3 premiere led to an internet obsession. But now he got the rare opportunity to revisit it after he was sent a sample of the real McDonald’s Szechuan sauce.
The sample came from David Wasman, who won one of the three tubs of Szechuan sauce McDonald’s gave away. He wanted Rea to compare it to the different sauces he made. And Rea delivered after he finally got to taste the real thing for himself.
Spoiler alert: It might not have lived up to the nearly impossible expectations set by Rick Sanchez, who traveled deep into his memory to have it again.
“And to be honest it tastes… just OK,” he said. “You know, I mean, it’s probably one of those things that tastes better once it’s on an actual nugget.”
Rea attempted to recreate the official McDonald’s Szechuan sauce recipe based off of a photo of the sauce’s ingredients list (which didn’t contain any measurements). He finally got it after six tries, and the result is as close to McDonald’s Szechuan sauce as the rest of us will get (pending a wide re-release, anyway). He also tried his hand at McDonald’s chicken nuggets.
His roommate couldn’t really tell the difference between the homemade sauce and the real thing.
As for what his personal preference is among all of the Szechuan sauces he’s tried, McDonald’s official sauce doesn’t quite live up to expectations.
“Better than the McD’s sauces mixed together, worse than /u/xeropoint‘s or the legit Szechuan Sauce,” he said.
And you know, there’s now a way to see if we feel the same way.