The Seafood Dipping Sauce You Can Only Find On McDonald's Japan's Menu

As we're all well aware by now, McDonald's menus in other countries are quite a bit different from the same old burgers, fries, and seldom-available McFlurries offered in the United States. When dining under the golden arches in the Land of the Rising Sun, you should expect to see offerings including the rice bun burgers the chain released in 2020 or the highly-acclaimed shrimp burger that was available at McDonald's Global Headquarters in Chicago until February 12, 2024. A McNugget dipping sauce flavored like scallop chowder, though? We didn't see that coming.

We don't know too much about the sauce since McDonald's Japan only lists the ingredients labeled as known allergens, but it seems to contain shrimp, wheat, eggs, milk, and soybeans. The website also says chicken, but then again, this probably refers to the McNuggets themselves since the sauce isn't a standalone item. The sauce was introduced to menus during the latter part of 2024 along with another dipping sauce that boasts a garlic steak flavor. That means customers visiting McDonald's Japan now have two different ways to disguise those bland, boring nuggets.

While chowder is often associated with New England (and clams), various other regional chowders are popular throughout the United States. Scallop chowder, however, hasn't been on our radar, nor were we previously aware of how popular it is in Japan; Japanese food manufacturers even produce and sell scallop chowder mix in stores. Further proof that the Japanese love chowder comes from a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter which shows members of a Japanese naval air squadron cooking up a giant vat of scallop chowder in the chow hall.

By all appearances, Japanese-style scallop chowder isn't just a New England-style chowder made with scallops in place of clams. For one thing, the broth, while thickened with flour and milk, appears thinner and less creamy. For another, in addition to potatoes and onions, the soup may also include carrots and even broccoli. Thin-sliced deli ham takes the place of bacon and cooking oil is often used instead of the butter typical of New England chowders. While this unique soup may not be anything like the canned chowders we're familiar with, neither does it really seem to resemble McDonald's Japan's scallop chowder sauce. That's not such a surprise, though, since who'd expect authenticity from the same global company that brought us the only vaguely rib-like McRib?