For The Hands-Down Best McChicken, Order It Like The French

Looking for the best possible McDonald's experience? There are a few tips and tricks out there for ordering a better McDonald's burger, but if you want the best possible McChicken you might have to cast your gaze a little further than expected. Specifically, toward France. Available exclusively on the French McDeal menu, the Poulet is a classic McChicken with a continental twist. McDonald's France may be best known stateside for its collaboration with "Emily in Paris," which launched the McBaguette, but there's far more to le golden arches than one TV tie in! Recently, heads have been turned by the regional Mickey D's take on the chicken sandwich. And while the basic ingredients are similar to any old McChicken, this international take on a classic might just be the best version yet.

Eating a jerry-rigged Poulet might not transport you to the Champs-Elysees, but the sandwich is easy enough to recreate at your nearest McDonald's. According to McDonald's France, Le McDeal Poulet is "crispy chicken, paired with a crunchy salad and elevated with a blend of ketchup and Ranch sauce." That crispy chicken is actually two patties, so you'll have to add an extra one to your McChicken. For optimal sauce control, order the burger dry, then combine ketchup and ranch dipping sauce together yourself before slathering it on. Yes, you'll look like the kind of dangerous criminal who orders a sauce-free burger, but you'll also get the real Parisian chicken sandwich experience. Top everything off with iceberg lettuce. (I checked with a French speaker and salade can mean both salad and lettuce. Weirdly, it can also mean lies.)

McDonald's France's superiority on poultry doesn't stop at Le Mcdeal Poulet. It might not quite be up to the standards of the French cuisine that inspired Julia Child's love of cooking, but a lot of the menu items available in France put best-selling McDonald's items in the United States to shame. 

The easiest to compare with a counterpart here is the Caesar salad. Despite recent excitement about the new Caesar Sauce at Mickey D's, the chain's Caesar salad has never been the most popular item on the menu. In fact, salads were discontinued for several years at U.S. locations. The Caesar salad is back, but the iceberg lettuce, croutons, and grilled chicken combo looks anemic and boring when compared to the rather more chic crispy chicken strips, shaved parmesan, and mixed greens offered at French stores. 

Another favorite in France is Le CBO, an initialism that stands for chicken bacon onion. Somehow, the Académie Française hasn't yet stepped in, and the Anglo-named sandwich remains popular. As the name suggests, it's a sandwich with a crispy chicken patty, bacon, and grilled onions. It's topped with cheddar, a creamy mustard sauce, and lettuce served in a bun sprinkled with bacon bits alongside the sesame seeds. Despite the English vibes, the CBO is available at McDonald's locations in various parts of Europe and Mexico (the Mexican version looks slightly different from what's sold in Europe).

Even McDonald's items that seem the same in France may not be. For example, French McNuggets are made with 100% French chicken. Want to find out if that makes any difference to the taste? Better book that French vacation.