McDonald's is bringing back the McRib, but only to select U.S. cities

McDonald's $MCD will bring back its McRib sandwich on Oct. 27 at select restaurants in U.S. cities, according to KTLA.

Guillaume Huin, a McDonald's marketing executive, posted the seasonal return date on X $TWTR, according to KTLA. More locations are expected to be announced, according to KTLA.

According to Allrecipes, the sandwich will return for a limited time but not to every McDonald's restaurant, and it will be available only at certain restaurants across cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Dallas. McDonald's confirmed the Oct. 27 return date to People, according to Allrecipes.

Customers can look in the McDonald's app to learn whether a nearby restaurant will carry the sandwich, and a fan-made website called the McRib Locator keeps live tabs on participating restaurants, according to Allrecipes. Fans should ask at their closest McDonald's whether the sandwich is on the menu, according to KTLA.

The McRib is made up of a boneless pork patty topped with barbecue sauce, pickles and slivered onions. It debuted on menus in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1981 and is not a year-round item, according to KTLA.

Huin said on X that, according to legend, the sandwich was created to fill in for a McNugget shortage. McNuggets were selling faster than McDonald's could produce them, so the company needed a recipe featuring a different protein to buy time while it stocked more McNuggets, he said, according to KTLA.

According to Allrecipes, McDonald's brought the McRib back to menus across the country in 2020 for the first time in eight years, did not discontinue it after a 2022 farewell tour, skipped nationwide menus in 2023 and returned it in 2024 and 2025.