McDonald's McRib sandwich to make its annual appearance

Shirley McMarlin
Monday, Nov. 30, 2020 10:06 a.m. | Monday, Nov. 30, 2020 10:06 a.m.

Courtesy of McDonald’s

The McRib sandwich returns to McDonald’s restaurants nationwide on Dec. 2.

The long wait is almost over for hungry McRib lovers.

McDonald’s is bringing the cult favorite sandwich back to restaurants on Wednesday. This will be the first time since 2012 that it will be available at all of the fast food chain’s 14,400 outlets nationwide.

McDonald’s brings back the McRib once a year as a limited-time offering.

“The McRib has been a beloved menu item at McDonald’s since its inception nearly 40 years ago,” said Linda VanGosen, vice president of menu innovation. “There’s nothing quite like the taste of the McRib. To our customers, it’s become more than a delicious, saucy moment … it’s a season.”

For the uninitiated, the McRib is a seasoned, restructured boneless pork patty shaped like a miniature rack of ribs, served with barbecue sauce, slivered onions and pickles on a 51⁄2-inch homestyle roll.

got 10,000 McRib sandwiches in my office rn

— McDonald's (@McDonalds) November 29, 2020

The McRib made its national debut at McDonald’s in 1982. Restaurants in Germany serve the sandwich year-round.

The McRib owes its existence to the popularity of another McDonald’s menu item, the Chicken McNugget.

Debuting in 1979, the nuggets were such a hit with customers that demand outstripped supply. McDonald’s responded by scrambling to entice customers with another novelty item, and the McRib was born.

The pressed pork patty didn’t catch on right away and was taken off menus in 1985. In 1994, it began to make sporadic, temporary returns at select McDonald’s locations, tied in to the release of “The Flintstones” movie — remember the giant rack of ribs Fred Flintstone ordered at the drive-in?

By 2005, it had become popular enough to earn a place as a recurring menu item, with limited-time availability boosting its cult status.

This Oct. 23 tweet from a McDonald’s social media manager illustrated how fans feel as they wait for the McRib’s annual appearance: “It’s always ‘when is the McRib coming back’ and never ‘how are you doing person who runs the McDonald’s account.’”