McDonald's Hot Honey Menu Review: Sweet-Toothed Heatseekers Will Be Lovin' It

Hot honey may have been old news by 2026, but its particular brand of sweet heat experienced something of a resurgence around the start of the year. Back in 2022, the hot honey trend was heating up like never before, popping up at fast food chains as well as in products made by major grocery store brands. Years later, fast food embraced hot honey once again. Among the chains to release new Hot Honey items was McDonald's, which debuted a limited-time Hot Honey promotion in late January 2026.

I tried every single item on the Hot Honey menu from my local McDonald's on the day of the menu's official release. Hot honey is back, but is its return welcome, or an unnecessary retread of a fad that has already overstayed its welcome? Ahead is a breakdown of the McDonald's Hot Honey menu, my individual reviews of each item, and my final thoughts on the promotion as a whole.

McDonald's arranged for every item on its Hot Honey menu to be delivered to my home from my nearest McDonald's restaurant, in the suburbs of Las Vegas. First I received the single Hot Honey breakfast item in the morning, then in a separate delivery, I got everything else on the menu.

Of course, I started by tasting the Hot Honey breakfast sandwich in isolation, while noting down my thoughts. Then, a little over an hour later, I ate and recorded my thoughts about the rest of the items. Since everything was delivered, I ate just after the food arrived, to keep it all as fresh as possible. I was ultimately able to finish every item in its entirety at the time of each delivery. My reviews are based on my thoughts and my thoughts alone. McDonald's sent me the items on its Hot Honey menu, but that fact did not influence my analysis.

The sole Hot Honey item joining the McDonald's menu during breakfast hours is the Hot Honey Sausage Egg Biscuit. It simply consists of pork sausage and a folded egg, drizzled with Hot Honey Sauce and sandwiched in a biscuit. People have been loving protein-packed everything for years now, and the trend remained as strong as ever in 2026 — as part of the Hot Honey menu's promotion, therefore, McDonald's decided to spotlight each item's protein content. The Hot Honey Sausage Egg Biscuit contains 17 grams of protein.

During the balance of the day, McDonald's customers can opt for a Hot Honey McCrispy, a Bacon Hot Honey McCrispy, a Hot Honey Snack Wrap, and even a Hot Honey Sauce Dip Cup. The former pairs a McCrispy chicken filet on a potato roll with lettuce, mayo, crispy jalapeños, and Hot Honey Sauce, netting 26 grams of protein. The bacon version adds bacon, of course, raising its protein content to 34 grams. Meanwhile, the Hot Honey Snack Wrap adds Hot Honey sauce to a tortilla filled with a McCrispy strip, shredded cheese, and shredded lettuce, for 17 grams of protein. Finally, the Dip Cup can be ordered à la carte or as part of a nugget order, just like any other McDonald's dipping sauce.

By itself, the Hot Honey Sausage Egg Biscuit at my McDonald's costs $5.19. In a combo — which at breakfast time means it's accompanied by hash browns and a coffee by default — that price rises to $8.39. The regular Hot Honey McCrispy, meanwhile, is $5.99, whereas a combo costs $8.99. With bacon, those prices increase to $7.19 and $10.19.

One Hot Honey Snack Wrap costs $2.99. The McDonald's Snack Wrap is unique in the world of fast food — save for when competing chains like Burger King launch their own versions of McDonald's Snack Wraps — and so too is how McDonald's handles Snack Wrap combos. While the price for a combo rises considerably to $8.79, it includes a second snack wrap in addition to the standard fries and a drink. Furthermore, the second one can be another Hot Honey, a Ranch, or a Spicy Snack Wrap.

Finally, a Hot Honey Dip Cup costs $0.29, equivalent to every other dipping sauce on the menu. With that said, those are the prices at the McDonald's closest to me, in the suburbs of Las Vegas. As a franchised chain, prices may be higher or lower depending on location.

The Hot Honey Sausage Egg Biscuit was the first of the new McDonald's Hot Honey items I tried, meaning it was my first exposure to the Hot Honey Sauce. In short, I found it to be a distinctly fast food-y interpretation of hot honey, its sweetness and spice both bold but perceptibly artificial. Also of note were a bright red color and a bit of a tang that complicated its flavor — those imbued it with character somewhat approximating a sweet and sour sauce recipe, while retaining its signature peppery spice and honey sweetness.

On my biscuit sandwich, the Hot Honey Sauce's boldness shined. Its only real competition was the sausage patty, given that the biscuit and especially the folded egg were subtle in flavor. Honey sweetness was a welcome addition, reminding me a little of maple syrup on sausage, and, of course, honey on a biscuit. The sauce's spice level, meanwhile, hit some satisfying peaks, but only in bites with ample quantities, since the thick biscuit sometimes dulled its spice level considerably. The distribution of the sauce on my sandwich was uneven, meaning I got some spicy bites and some bites that were nothing more than sausage, egg, and biscuit. Altogether, the Hot Honey Sausage Egg Biscuit is a better version of the standard Sausage Biscuit with Egg, retaining everything that works about the base item and adding a pleasant new flavor.

When determining the ultimate ranking of McDonald's chicken sandwiches for Mashed, I found the standard McCrispy sandwiches subpar, whereas their spicy equivalents were the menu's standouts — the difference was almost entirely due to the strength of their spicy sauce. The way the Hot Honey Sauce was distributed on my Hot Honey McCrispy I thought was lacking, making the experience closer to the standard McCrispy sandwiches than their spicier, superior cousins.

Most bites of my Hot Honey McCrispy were dominated by the combination of crispy chicken, mayo, and shredded lettuce. I visually identified both the Hot Honey Sauce and crispy jalapeños in my sandwich, but neither moved the needle much, up against comparatively larger quantities of chicken, mayo, and lettuce in each bite. To better understand what the Hot Honey Sauce was supposed to bring to the table, I dipped a few bites in one of my Hot Honey Sauce Dip Cups. Even though that extra sauce was a bit of an upgrade, it didn't feel congruous with the rest of the sandwich, largely because of the mayo's prominence. I also found the chicken patty a little tough, which is an issue I've encountered in the past, regardless of whether or not I've ordered delivery. All in all, I thought the Hot Honey McCrispy was a poor showcase for the otherwise excellent Hot Honey Sauce.

Unsurprisingly, the mere addition of bacon wasn't enough for the Bacon Hot Honey McCrispy to rise above the shortcomings of the standard Hot Honey McCrispy. Nevertheless, I thought it was the superior of the two sandwiches.

Similar to how the Hot Honey Sauce compares to a baseline hot honey, the McDonald's bacon has a bold and noticeably artificial flavor — it's nice and smoky, but it hardly tastes like real woodsmoke. Ultimately, it's fast food, and it's pretty good. Furthermore, my bacon pieces were perfectly crispy, and that, rather than the smoky flavor, was their biggest upside. Since the Hot Honey Sauce was lacking in prominence, the bacon did a lot to carry my un-dipped bites. I even took a couple bites with surpluses of crispy jalapeños, in which the added crisp and extra spice were welcome. When I dipped the sandwich in a Hot Honey Sauce Dip Cup, the rest of the sandwich's flavor was overwhelmed, but the texture of the crispy bacon made a positive difference all the same. In the aftertaste of those bites, some of the smoke even mixed with the hot honey, leaving the lingering impression of a sweet, smoky barbecue sauce. I still don't think the Bacon Hot Honey McCrispy is a good showcase for the Hot Honey Sauce, but it's handily the better sandwich on the McDonald's Hot Honey menu.

Simply put, the Hot Honey Snack Wrap did exactly what the Hot Honey McCrispy sandwiches did not. Rather than burying its hot honey beneath an excess of regular old chicken sandwich ingredients, hot honey was the star of the show in my Hot Honey Snack Wrap. And rather than completely overwhelm like it did on the McCrispy bites I dipped, the sauce nicely complemented the rest of the Snack Wrap's ingredients.

First and foremost, the biggest factor that made my Hot Honey Snack Wrap so enjoyable was its generous Hot Honey Sauce content. The fact the gummy tortilla dulled its flavor a bit ended up preventing the sauce from dominating, resulting in a welcome balance. At the core of my Hot Honey Snack Wrap experience was the combination of hot honey and crispy chicken — and the Snack Wrap's McCrispy strip, notably, tasted quite a bit fresher than either of my McCrispy sandwich patties. The cheese in my Snack Wrap came through just enough to add some extra umami. Finally, the lettuce did its job, contributing a textural crunch. Because the hot honey was doled out so amply on my Snack Wrap, I found this to be especially spicy for fast food. Of the four food items on the McDonald's Hot Honey menu, the Hot Honey Snack Wrap is the one most worth ordering by a pretty considerable margin.

My enjoyment of each item on the McDonald's Hot Honey menu largely hinged on its Hot Honey Sauce's prominence or lack thereof. It should hardly come as a surprise, then, that I really liked the simple Hot Honey Sauce Dip Cup. In fact, I thought it was the single best item on the Hot Honey menu.

On its own, the Hot Honey Sauce pairs the identifiable flavor of honey with a pretty considerable spice level. Simple items like nuggets or fries are, ultimately, better showcases for that bold flavor than sandwiches. That said, I could imagine this pairing well with a regular McChicken, too, with less on it to complicate the Hot Honey Sauce's standout flavor. Hot Honey Snack Wrap aside, most McDonald's customers interested in trying the Hot Honey Sauce would be better served by ordering a dipping cup or three to pair with the items of their choice, rather than picking one of the prefab sandwiches.

First off, the McDonald's hot honey is an unqualified success. As much as it tastes like fast food hot honey, its flavor is big and indulgent, like the best fast food should be. The Hot Honey menu, however, is a mixed bag, based the varying degree to which each item showcases that flavor.

I don't think anyone should order the Hot Honey McCrispy. It's pretty much a regular McCrispy, but more disappointing for how its meager Hot Honey Sauce and even its crispy jalapeños lack impact. The Bacon Hot Honey McCrispy is also underwhelming, burying its hot honey under too many other ingredients. But anyone insistent on trying a Hot Honey McCrispy should opt for the bacon version.

The Hot Honey Sausage Egg Biscuit is solid. With such simple ingredients, it's really just a Sausage Biscuit with Egg plus hot honey. Because the Hot Honey Sauce is so tasty, that's a good thing. Towering over all three of those sandwiches is the Hot Honey Snack Wrap, which best incorporates the Hot Honey Sauce into a greater whole. Finally, it's the fact that the Hot Honey Sauce Dip Cup opens up endless more possibilities that makes the McDonald's Hot Honey menu successful overall. The uneven quality of the Hot Honey menu's four food items are just scratching the surface — thanks to its unique, bold flavor, customers will doubtlessly find all sorts of new ways to make the Hot Honey Sauce shine thanks to its availability à la carte.