Category Archives: McRib Clone

2020 Central America McRib

The 2020 Central America McRib Release

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As we earlier brought to attention on social media, the 2020 Central America McRib Release has arrived. It appears that the offering this year very closely mirrors that of what was offered last year. There are variations of the McRib with bacon, onion rings, and one with cheese.

Photo from https://juntosencasa.mcdonalds.com.gt/ribiembre/
Photo from https://juntosencasa.mcdonalds.com.gt/ribiembre/
McDonalds Guatemala Promotional Materials for the 2020 McRib

Not only are they promoting the McRib sandwich itself, however are also promoting using McRib BBQ sauce with their side item options.

Competition Response

Not wanting to miss out on the opportunity, competing sandwich shop DelPuente is promoting their take on the McRib sandwich, one that might have made a complimentary addition to the idea of McRib variations offered at McDonalds. While we tend to avoid McRib clones, this one is so close to the real thing it seemed worth mentioning.

Their sandwich features a similar “boneless” pork rib patty slathered in BBQ sauce, and pickles on top. The sandwich is served on a hoagie style bun that appears to even have the same topping as the McRib. Their offering differs as it brings a layer of pulled pork, red onion, lettuce, and mustard on it.


English Translation: Delicious boneless pork rib bathed in BBQ sauce, Pulled Pork, onion, pickles, mustard and lettuce. Includes Curly Fries and Frezka natural

It appears that Central America is going to have a lot of pork sandwich options this year, making the decision of picking which to have a tasty challenge.

McRib Sauce

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Most years when McRib season is over, the disappointment of not having more/any McRibs leaves fans disappointed. Fans resort to various clones on the market, or try to make the McRib themselves. One of the more essential components of the McRib that makes it taste different from the other alike options is the sauce itself. Nick from Tucson, AZ recently let me know that he had secured some authentic McRib sauce. He also pointed me to an eBay posting where a seller in northern Minnesota is currently selling an excess of McRib sauce pouches that they have.

I was about to order some myself, when luck struck. A coworker at my day job produced for me my very own pouch of McRib sauce. My coworker has a connection inside a store in the area that indicated they received a large shipment of space AFTER the season had ended. Lucky for me, I now have one of the more tricky components of the McRib to come by!

Hunt for the most alike BBQ sauce

Now that we have a little sauce to work with, we can look for an alike option at the store. Especially helpful from the posted sale is that the boxes contain what ingredients are included in this tangy sauce, which should help to focus on types of sauce that are potential matches. Granted, the vague “spices” ingredient isn’t going to let us filter the list too quickly.

What about you?

  • Would you order McRib sauce from an online auction site?
  • Perhaps it is finally time for McDonalds to bring some of their sauces to stores for consumers as well. There are a number of other restaurants offering items in stores today, so they wouldn’t be the first to explore this. Would you buy McRib sauce if it was offered at stores?
  • What types of BBQ sauce do you think are most closely like that used for the McRib?

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!

US Military MRE McRib

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While the various McRib clones at gas stations are known, today a story from the NPR’s The Salt brought forward that the US Military has also brought about their take on the McRib. The pork party with BBQ is served with a tortilla rather than bun, and also lacks pickle and onion.

Here is a link to a YouTube video from a man in the UK as he shows the contents and how to prepare the meal.

For those interested, a quick search on the Internet provided numerous resellers of this Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE).

What do you think, would you try one?

Burger King’s latest attempt to clone the McRib

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Not so long ago, we talked about the summer Burger King Rib Sandwich offering. Their menu continues to move toward direct McDonalds competition by making sandwiches that look very much like the competition. With the McRib back, BK decided to try a different approach having not gained much ground on the McRib with the previous offering. They now are offering a revamped version of this sandwich for their BK® Value Menu. Here is my review of BK Rib Sandwich 2.0.

The latest version of this sandwich does away with trying to make the patty look rib shaped, instead gong for the simple burger shape more closely as that used on their Whopper Junior. It also uses a sesame seed covered bun, has dill pickles (2 ordering it as on menu), onion (same as used on their burgers) and BBQ. I ordered mine with extra pickles, or as the BK calls it “heavy pickles” which provided me with 4 pickles.  Many of the changes they made appear to be more toward using items already used for other sandwiches on the menu, which would be expected to allow this sandwich to be offered at the $1 price point.

My first impressions were that it reminded me of their Rodeo Cheeseburger sans cheese and onion ring. I wouldn’t be surprised if the BBQ on both was the same. Their self proclaimed sweet and tangy BBQ was not all that noticeable, being overpowered by the volume of bun to rest of sandwich. I like BBQ flavor, so they would need to kick the amount of that up more. McRib patties are immersed in BBQ sauce, something that BK should take note of if they are really going down the path of emulating the McDonald’s menu.

The patty has the BK signature charbroiled taste as this patty must run through the same cooking technique as the burger patties. The Rib Sandwich patty wasn’t much more thick than their cheeseburger patties. As they decided to change the shape, why not make it more like the round burger patty that covers more of the bread? The sesame bun, onions, and pickles are what I expected them to be based on previous purchases I have made at BK.

Being only $1, I didn’t order this with any concern that this would be close to what the McRib tastes like. I walked away with the same thoughts. While an improvement over their Rib Sandwich 1.0, I wouldn’t drive much out of my way to get one. If they still are offering them after the McRib goes into hiding, I might go back and order another (much more likely if it is available 6 months from now when I really want a McRib and begin considering trying gas station rib sandwiches). I found the only real competition this version of the BK Rib Sandwich brings is the $1 pricing.

BK Rib Sandwich Review

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I decided to give the Burger King Rib Sandwich a try during the first week it was out. I figured it was worth a try being the McRib is in hiding, and I didn’t mind the actual ribs BK served in the recent past (if you could get past the excessive pricing… I only tried them once due to this).

Knowing what we wanted, we quickly got into line. The girl taking orders couldn’t find their Rib sandwich on the register, and had to ask for help. Finally finding it, she noted this was her first day working at BK. We then quickly received our order. We decided to take the order home to eat.

Upon getting home and opening up the food, I first noted that the sandwich seemed smaller than a McRib. Perhaps it is due to the elongated shape of the McRib, however this was just the beginning of the problems.

After opening the wrapper, I discovered that my sandwich lacked any BBQ, instead had some type of mayo on it. It also had cheese and bacon.

I deduced that whomever had prepared my sandwich had somehow confused the instructions of the Rib Sandwich and their summer Carolina BBQ Tendercrisp although they failed on the BBQ either way.

The sandwich was just ok. I didn’t care for the butter pickles, I favor dill pickles. The patty tasted different, likely the grill flavor which didn’t bother me. However the lack of BBQ sauce doesn’t make this a fair comparison. I will have to try it again this summer, however this first one doesn’t make me feel like I need to rush out to do so.

Have you tried the new BK Rib Sandwich? If so, leave a comment below about your experience.

The Ribwich has arrived

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This morning I stumbled onto some news that the Universal Studios Theme Park in Orlando, FL now has a Krusty Burger. I searched online for photos and discovered that they are offering The Ribwich, a parody clone to the McRib.

[youtube width=300 height=200]http://youtu.be/LlIaown6Wpw[/youtube]

Inside The Magic provides a nice overview of the new additions to the park as well as photos such as the following which I cropped so it would be easier to see the details we are interested in.

At $11.99, it seems it is a bit overpriced. However, it seems many food items are overpriced at parks. Interestingly, the Ribwich is served with coleslaw on top. This is not how the Ribwich from the show was prepared, thus one wonders why they felt they needed to diverge from that.

Read the Inside The Magic story here.