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McDonald’s Japan hack: Make a Chicken Tatsuta in five minutes anywhere in the world

Oona McGee May 9, 2026
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Now you can get a taste of a famous limited-edition exclusive burger without travelling to Japan.

On 15 April, McDonald’s released the Chicken Tatsuta in Japan for a limited time, with plans for it to be on the menu only until mid-May. As a recurring exclusive, many people in Japan look forward to the release every year, but what if you’re not in Japan to enjoy it?

While that used to be a problem for lovers of the chicken burger, we’ve come up with a hack that’ll have you recreating the burger with ease no matter where you are in the world. Unlike other hacks, which tend to involve complicated steps and hard-to-get ingredients, ours is the ultimate lazy-person’s recipe – once you have the ingredients ready, you can make it in just five minutes.

So let’s get right to it, starting with the ingredients:

McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish
McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets
Soy sauce
Ginger paste (Japanese tube-type is ideal)
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Shredded cabbage

Now for the method, which is so easy even lazy folks like us can handle it.

Step 1. Remove the white fish fillet and tartar sauce from the Filet-O-Fish.

Step 2. Take around three Chicken McNuggets and cut them in half.

Step 3. Spread ginger and soy sauce on both sides of the nuggets (use plenty of ginger).

Step 4. Lightly toast in a toaster (adjust to your liking).

Step 5. Spread mayonnaise and mustard on the bottom bun, then add shredded cabbage, the nuggets, and finally, the top bun.

▼ Chicken Tatsuta, complete!

While it may not look identical to the original Chicken Tatsuta, don’t let that concern you, because…

▼ …the taste is unbelievably spot-on.

With nuggets standing in for the chicken patty, the texture is slightly firmer than the original, but the flavour of the ginger soy sauce is almost identical. Oftentimes, it’s the sauce that really gives a McDonald’s burger its distinct flavour, and our recipe reproduces it incredibly well.

▼ If you prefer video tutorials, this clip will show you how easy it is to complete the hack.

Another key ingredient is the buns, and the ones on the Filet-O-Fish have the same fluffy texture as the ones used for the Tatsuta, making it very close to the original.

The brilliant brain behind this hack is our boss Yoshio Ueda, who loved it so much he got his wife to try it, and when she did she said, “If someone told me this was the newly improved Chicken Tatsuta, I would totally believe them. What a clever idea.”

That’s high praise from a discerning spouse, and it emboldened Ueda to take things one step further, with an additional idea. If you buy the Filet-O-Fish as a set rather than individually, you’ll be able to combine the leftover white fish fillet with fries**, giving you a second meal of fish and chips.**

This unexpected by-product of the hack is a pleasant, and tasty, surprise that Ueda urges you to try at least once. He didn’t think it would be this easy to recreate a Chicken Tatsuta, and get a bonus meal of fish and chips to boot, so he really thinks others will love the hack as much as he does, especially if you’re outside Japan and yearning for a taste of the Tatsuta, albeit without the anime packaging.

Related: McDonald’s Chicken Tatsuta
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