Asking For Extra Sauce At McDonald's? Here's How Much It Could Cost You

The execs at McDonald's have seemingly recognized that the fast food chain was pricing people out and have sought to course-correct in recent years to bring back customers. This has meant the introduction of the McValue menu, including its new $3 and under items. It aims to make your order, whether it's during breakfast hours or lunch/dinner, a little easier on your wallet. Even with those discounts, though, your order can get away from you as you add items, and the total can climb even more if you ask for extra sauce that isn't ketchup. That's because those little plastic tubs of liquid gold can cost you, on average, 25 to 39 cents per sauce if you're seeking more than the given allotment.

That might not sound like a lot, but if you have three people getting their own order of chicken nuggets, and they each want three more sauces, it's $3.51 extra tacked on (you could get another entire sandwich for that amount). And this scenario is likely, because McDonald's can be pretty stingy with the sauces, especially where the McNuggets are concerned; a four-piece warrants one sauce, a 10-piece just two, and for an entire 20-piece, three sauces are supposed to last you the entire box. If you or the members of your household are deep-dippers, you're also going to be dipping deeply into your wallet in some cases.

Did you know that the vast majority of McDonald's stores — something like 95% of the nearly 42,000 locations around the world — are actually owned by franchisees? That means they have the support of McDonald's corporate, but they're able to operate using some of their own policies. And it just so happens that not every franchise owner charges for extra sauce, and instead allows you to tack on more than the allotment completely free of charge. The only caveat is that you may be limited to 10 add-ons, and the policy may not be applicable to special edition sauces, like the Big Mac Sauce.

The easiest way to look and see if your McDonald's gives up to 10 extra sauces for free is to check the app. Condiments have their own section on the menu, so just navigate to that category and see if there are any dollar amounts tacked onto the more premium sauces, like barbecue or sweet and sour. And remember, different franchisees, different policies: What one location might offer, another might not, so check before you order at each individual restaurant.