We Tried the New ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ McDonald's Meals & One Item Was Our Clear Favorite
The current world population could be divided up into two buckets: those who will absolutely be influenced by a fictional K-Pop rivalry turned fast food collab, and liars. If you fall in the former bucket, today is your day. Available now, McDonald’s has also fallen under the KPop Demon Hunters spell and unveiled a dual-meal collaboration with Netflix inspired by the animated fever dream that is KPop Demon Hunters. The premise of the collab is simple. You can pick a side — either the demon boy band Saja Boys breakfast bundle or the demon-slaying girl group HUNTR/X chicken nugget meal.
We did what any rational adult would do and ordered both.
The Saja Boys Breakfast Meal
The Saja Boys breakfast meal is the more restrained of the two, which feels on-brand for a group described as “heartthrobs” but also, crucially, demons. The centerpiece is the Spicy Saja McMuffin, which is essentially the traditional egg McMuffin you know and love, that’s been zhuzhed up with a spicy, slightly smoky sauce that lingers just long enough to register as heat without becoming a full spice assault. It’s good. It’s also… a little safe, but still tasty. The hash browns remain untouched and are just as gloriously crunchy and greasy as you want them to be. There’s nothing here that will fundamentally alter your understanding of breakfast, but it will make your morning commute feel a bit more cinematic.
Then there’s the HUNTR/X meal, which is where things get interesting.
HUNTR/X Chicken Nugget Meal
The HUNTR/X meal comes with 10 chicken nuggets, two new sauces, a drink of your choice, and, most importantly, the Ramyeon McShaker Fries. If you aren’t familiar with McShaker Fries, the fries come with a bag and a packet of seasoning. Dump the fries and seasoning into the bag and shake until your fries are fully coated in the soy-garlic-sesame-spice situation that smells like the best instant ramen of your life.
And reader, these fries are the reason you need to get to your local McDonald’s ASAP.
They are aggressively flavorful in a way you don’t see at many fast-food restaurants. They’re savory, slightly sweet, deeply umami, with just the tiniest bit of heat to keep you reaching back into the bag. They taste like a crossover episode between your favorite Korean convenience store snack and the fries you’ve been noshing on since childhood, and somehow, it totally works. More than works, actually. I’d even go as far as to say the McShaker Fries make everything else feel like the supporting cast.
The sauces are equally delicious. The Hunter Sauce — a sweet chili moment — is flavorful, although a little heavy on the sweet side. The Demon Sauce (a tangy, mustard-forward situation dyed in a vibrant shade of purple) was my favorite. I tend to favor more savory flavors than sweet, so I wasn’t surprised to find myself gravitating more toward the Demon Sauce than the Hunter Sauce. But both sauces make excellent dippers for the 10 McNuggets that come with the meal.
The Derpy McFlurry
Lastly, there’s the Derpy McFlurry for dessert. It’s a vanilla soft serve with berry popping pearls and a glossy, deep purple berry swirl. It’s cute, it’s chaotic, it’s delicious. It’s the kind of sweet treat you find yourself craving on a random Tuesday night.
What McDonald’s has done with this KPop Demon Hunters collab is build an experience that mirrors the fandom culture. You pick a side, you collect the photo cards, you scan the QR codes, you participate. But the food still has to hold up once the novelty wears off, and it does exactly that.
Still, let’s not overcomplicate this. You’re not going for the lore. You’re not even going for the nuggets. You’re going for those fries. Once you try them, you’ll understand exactly why they won this competition.