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The McDonald’s apple pie isn’t just a fast-food dessert—it’s a piece of pop culture history. Since its debut in 1968, this crispy, golden treat has captured the hearts (and taste buds) of customers worldwide, evolving over the decades from its beloved fried form to the controversial baked version. But how did it become such an iconic menu item? And why is it so damn lip-scorching?
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Today, we're taking you through the piping hot history of McDonald's apple pie
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The McDonald's apple pie was introduced in 1968 by Lytton Cochran in Knoxville, Tennessee
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He eventually tasked his mom and his sister to be the original pie bakers when he introduced
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them to his restaurant. However, the pies became so popular that eventually he had to hire a separate supplier until the
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McDonald's Corporation took over. McDonald's rolled out this new menu item to other locations soon thereafter, debuting
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on the menu the same year as the Big Mac. Unlike most fast food desserts at the time, which were mostly based around ice cream
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this was the first hot dessert that you could order at McDonald's. The fried pies quickly became a beloved staple
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Traditionally, they were made by using six different types of U.S.-based homegrown apples
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They then fill the pies with a dehydrated apple powder that not only thickens the filling but adds additional taste
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Although not every location always made them the same way, the one thing they had in common as they were rolled out is that they were all deep fried
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One of the qualities that made them not only delicious, but spelled their eventual doom years later
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We'll get to that. At the height of their popularity, these pies were synonymous with McDonald's as any other item on the menu
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In the 70s, there was even a character introduced called the Smiling Apple Pie Tree
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McDonald's has introduced over 40 pie flavors over the years, including cherry, peach, taro
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It's purple. Sweet potato and even savory options like bacon potato While the apple pie remains the fan favorite seasonal and regional varieties continue to appear worldwide offering everything from mango passion fruit to Oreo
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cookies and cream. The McDonald's fried apple pie has also generated a series of controversies
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that eventually got it removed from most menus. In the 90s, there was a strong push to make
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McDonald's menu a lot healthier. So in 1992, McDonald's decided to stop making their fried
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apple pies and instead replace them with a baked option. But there were arguments that the change
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wasn't just motivated by how healthy it was to eat. Some theorized that the McDonald's apple pie
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was simply too hot and the filling would open McDonald's to a potential lawsuit. Despite these
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changes, Mickey D's was hit with that very lawsuit in 1995 after a UK customer named Darren Miles
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suffered serious burns from an apple pie. In 2018, McDonald's gave its apple pie yet another
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makeover, this time as part of a broader push toward healthier menu options. The apple pie
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was reformulated with 100% American sliced apples instead of the old diced mixture. The crust also
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changed, ditching the cinnamon sugar coating for a lattice top design with sugar sprinkles
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Despite the attempt to make the pie seem more natural, it actually contained more sugar than
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before, increasing from 13 grams to 16 grams per serving. Unsurprisingly, long-time fans were not
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pleased. For years, McDonald's devotees have searched high and low for outlier locations still selling
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fried apple pies, treating them like hidden treasure
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