Chicken-Free McPlant Nuggets Are Coming to McDonald’s Germany

Two years after introducing the McPlant Burger, McDonald’s is offering a meat-free version of another famous fast food item. As the Associated Press reports, the chain is adding vegetarian McPlant Nuggets to menus in Germany.

McDonald’s partnered with the California-based meat substitute company Beyond Meat to develop an alternative to its chicken McNuggets. The new filling consists of plant-based ingredients like peas, corn, and wheat. The mixture is coated in tempura batter and deep-fried, making it indistinguishable from the classic nuggets until you take a bite.

Customers outside Germany may have to wait a while before tasting the new item. McDonald’s plans to make it available at its more than 1400 German restaurants on February 22 following a limited test run in the Stuttgart area last August. The chain will wait to see how the nuggets are received in the country before deciding to expand them to more markets. Other meat alternatives have failed to earn a permanent spot on McDonald’s American menu: The company ended their test of the McPlant Burger in 2022, and U.S. customers are still waiting in vain for news of a nationwide rollout.

The new item may seem like a radical addition to the menu, but McDonald’s has experimented with similar products in the past. Select U.S. locations sold Onion Nuggets from 1978 and 1979, and like this current iteration, they were deep-fried and meat-free. They were eventually replaced with the chicken version customers know today, but the vegetarian nuggets came first. You can learn more facts about the fast food giant here.