For A McDonald's Chicken Sandwich With 10x The Flavor, Order It German-Style

Some fans think that McDonald's in Germany is much better than in America, and they may be on to something. One example is the German Chickenburger, which looks a lot like the American McChicken, but there's one key difference: the sauce. The McChicken comes with mayo (yawn), while Germany's Chickenburger uses a sweet chili sauce that just packs so much more flavor. Unfortunately, that sauce isn't available in the States. That doesn't mean you can't get your McChicken German-style to get the explosive flavor of the Chickenburger though.

You can't fully duplicate the Chickenburger at the restaurant, but you can come close. The simplicity of the McChicken makes it nearly perfect on its own (that's why it topped the list of every McDonald's chicken item we tried), but also ideal for sauce upgrades. The chicken patty is well-seasoned and crispy with moist meat inside, while lettuce adds a refreshing crunchy element to the sandwich. Get it without mayo when ordering one so you can instead try it with one of the other sauces available.

One option is to pour the Creamy Chili McCrispy Strip Dip in your McChicken, which is sweet and slightly spicy with a hint of tang. You can also give your McDonald's sandwich a twist with buffalo sauce if your goal is a spicier flavor. Now you might think the chain's sweet & sour sauce is the closest substitute for sweet chili, but we found that it tasted a bit too sweet when ranking every McDonald's dipping sauce. Instead, give the honey mustard a try — it has the right balance of sweet, savory, and sharp notes for your German-style McChicken.

None of the aforementioned dips will give you the exact taste of the Chickenburger, but it's as close as you'll get if you want McDonald's to do the work. To fully recreate the Chickenburger, however, you should order a McChicken without mayonnaise and take it home with you for the final step. According to one fan on Reddit, you can pick up a bottle of Panda Express sweet chili sauce at your local grocery store as that's nearly an exact match to the chain's version. Another Redditor suggested Mae Ploy's sweet chili sauce. Open the top bun, drop a dollop of either one on your mayo-free McChicken patty, and you now have a Chickenburger. Take a bite and let the savory-sweet sauce and seasoned chicken party on your tongue.

If you prefer to make the sauce from scratch, copycat recipes suggest heating vinegar, water, cornstarch, corn syrup, sugar, chili paste, salt, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper together. Make the sauce first and leave it to cook when you go on your McDonald's drive-thru run. The sauce will thicken while you're out and should be ready to spread when you return so you can enjoy while your sandwich is still nice and hot. 

Additionally, Germany also offers a Double Chickenburger with two patties and the same sweet chili sauce. Thankfully, you can add a second patty to a McChicken too if your hunger demands it. No matter what option you choose, you don't need an international flight to get the flavor delight of a German-style McDonald's chicken sandwich.