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McDonald’s Japan releases “intense” McPork burger, prompts Michelin chef to create jam hack

Oona McGee Mar 31, 2026
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Can Japanese jam really get this burger out of a jam?

After a five-year hiatus, the McPork made its grand return to the menu at McDonald’s Japan in February, and since then it’s been generating a fair amount of buzz for its affordable 230-yen (US$1.44) price point… and its intense flavour.

In fact, the flavour is so strong that Shusaku Toba, a Japanese chef who held a Michelin star for his restaurant Sio in Tokyo’s Yoyogi-Uehara for two consecutive years, came out with a hack to balance out the taste. According to Toba, his simple hack might be the most delicious McDonald’s creation ever, a claim so great that our fast food-loving reporters Go Hatori and Mr Sato decided they had to try it.

▼ The first thing you’ll need for this hack is, of course, a McPork.

Given it had been years since they’d last had a McPork, our reporters decided to eat one totally unadulterated to find out if the flavour really was as intense as everyone had been saying. Though they had an idea that it was going to be rich, nothing could have prepared them for the crazy amount of flavour that flooded their taste buds upon first bite, as it was intensely seasoned, largely due to the garlic pepper sauce inside the burger.

It seemed like a burger that definitely needed a slight tweak to round out the flavours, and according to Chef Toba, you need just one simple product to do just that.

▼ Apple jam

Apple has long been a tried-and-true classic pork pairing in homes and restaurants, but for some reason, we’d never have thought to add it to a McDonald’s burger.

Keen to find out what the resulting flavour would taste like, our reporters slathered a generous amount of the jam – Toba recommends the Aohata brand seen here – on to the patty…

▼ …and then popped the top bun back on, making this one of the easiest hacks in food history.

Upon trying it, our reporters found it to be significantly milder and tastier than eating it plain. The garlic pepper sauce, which had previously seemed a bit harsh, became much smoother, and the flavor of the pork patty itself became much more apparent.

▼ The key to this hack, according to Chef Toba, is to be generous with the jam so it doesn’t end up being overpowered by the garlic pepper sauce.

As a licensed chef, Go’s opinion is held in high regard around the office, and this is what he had to say about the hack, and the McPork itself.

“The modified version is considerably milder. It’s much easier to eat. But even so, the original McPork is way too rich. Are people still eating it in this day and age?”

Mr Sato, whose foodie credentials include eating melon buns as big as his face and putting a dent in a Whopper with 1,000 slices of cheese, had this to say:

“I get what Chef Toba is going for — his instincts are spot on. But honestly, the McPork is just way too strong in flavour, so it might actually taste better if you scrape off about half the sauce beforehand.”

Though both our reporters agreed that Toba’s hack was indeed a good one, what really stuck with them was the richness of the McPork. Whether this richness is a good or bad thing, well, that’s up for debate, but for our reporters, you can’t go wrong with adding apple jam to the burger, especially when it’s from a Japanese jar with a magical self-closing lid.

Related: Twitter/@pirlo05050505, McDonald’s Japan
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