Whatever Happened To McDonald's Soup?
McDonald's has been the source of memorable offerings over the years, now tinged with nostalgia, from the iconic apple pie and Happy Meal toys to the quirky McDonaldland characters that seem to have disappeared in recent years. However, for every memorable menu item, the fast food chain seems to have introduced another that failed to catch the public's attention. An extreme example of this is the McSpaghetti, which was introduced in the 1970s but never caught on. More recently, McDonald's Snack Wraps were discontinued and were so sorely missed they returned in 2025. In between these two extremes lies the McSoup.
As the name suggests, the McSoup was basically soup served in a cup at McDonald's locations. It was available in chicken noodle and broccoli and cheese flavors. While it doesn't seem to have garnered the kind of popularity of, say, Chicken McNuggets (which weren't actually invented by McDonald's), the McSoup did have a small loyal following. There are some who would love to see it reintroduced, especially during the winter months.
McSoup was likely discontinued due to low sales
The McSoup never really got rave reviews. However, there are Reddit threads where members express how they wish the soup would be reintroduced. The broccoli and cheese flavor seems to have been the more popular of the two, and some have suggested that it also made for a great dipping sauce for french fries. On the whole, the soup's fan following is small, which likely reflects on lackluster sales when the McSoup was actually on the menu. Even the online petition to bring McSoup back hasn't gained much traction, unlike McDonald's discontinued Szechuan Sauce which became a pop culture phenomenon and quickly garnered thousands of votes on a similar petition to bring it back (and was actually reintroduced).
However, while some menu items are not worth the trouble if they don't garner enough sales, soup seems to be an easy fast food item to offer. Several other chains like Panera and Chili's offer soup, after all. In fact, of the mind-boggling number of McDonald's outlets in the world, several also have soup on their menus. McDonald's Portugal, for example, includes Cream of Pea and Creamy Carrot soups, among others.