Review: McDonald's Dill Pickle Grinch Salt McShaker Fries Are Deliciously Mouth-Puckering

With Christmas around the corner, many restaurants (and their marketing teams) are getting into the holiday spirit. It should come as no surprise that McDonalds is among them, since the popular fast food chain caters to nearly every holiday — from their St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Shake to their Halloween Boo Buckets and beyond. This year's Christmas offering is super fun, as McDonalds has partnered with a very special guest to create something uniquely magical with the Grinch Meal. The world's favorite green meanie has partnered with McDonalds to offer something I think is delicious.

Taking a starring role in The Grinch Meal are the green-themed Dill Pickle "Grinch Salt" McShaker Fries, and to say I was excited to try them is an understatement. As an avid lover of all things food, dill pickles, and Dr. Seuss, this product is right up my alley. And, I'm honored to be among the first to give them a taste. Below is everything you need to know about this seasonal offering from McDonalds, along with my review of the meal's pickle-flavored fries.

The Grinch Meal is available at participating American McDonalds' locations beginning December 2, 2025. The complete meal features a choice of Big Mac or 10-piece Chicken McNuggets alongside a medium drink, the Dill Pickle "Grinch Salt" McShaker Fries, and a pair of fun socks that are inscribed with a message from the Grinch himself. According to the McDonalds website, in addition to being available with the meal, the special fries can also be purchased separately. The meal deal and accompanying fries will be available for as long as supplies last, with no definitive ending date, so fans of the offering should get their fill now.

The Grinch Meal first launched in Canada to great success. Per Alyssa Buetikofer, chief marketing and customer experience officer of McDonald's USA, "The Grinch Meal was a huge success in Canada, so bringing this fan-favorite to the U.S. was a no-brainer. The Grinch gets it — the holidays are chaotic, and he's thrilled to give our fandom permission to embrace their inner Grinch with his festive mischievous meal and spirited socks." Although the meal was launched elsewhere in previous years, the Dill Pickle "Grinch Salt" McShaker Fries are a U.S.-first release.

Pricing for this meal is set based on your venue's location. I purchased my fries as part of the Grinch Meal for $13.39 in Vineland, New Jersey. A medium Grinch McShaker Fries would have cost $4.49 on its own. However, your price may be slightly different than what I paid.

According to the McDonalds' website, the Dill Pickle "Grinch Salt" McShaker Fries contain wheat and milk allergens. The seasoning packet itself, however, does not contain any major allergens. The primary ingredients in the fries include potatoes, vegetable oil (including natural beef flavor), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate, and salt. The dill pickle seasoning packet primarily contains vinegar powder, salt, dextrose, sugar, maltodextrin, yeast extract, corn starch, citric acid, dill weed, and extractives of turmeric.

One medium serving of the fries contains 340 calories, 5 grams of protein, 47 grams of total carbs, and 15 grams of total fat. There are trace amounts of key nutrients in each serving, including 2% of your daily calcium, 6% of your daily iron, 15% of your daily potassium, and 4 grams of dietary fiber. Of course, your values may vary drastically if you choose to eat your fries with the full Grinch Meal.

Choosing the Big Mac for your Grinch Meal will bring your meal's total calories up to 1,190. You'll also receive 30 grams of protein, 162 grams of total carbs, and 49 grams of total fat. If you opt for the 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, however, your meal's total calories will be 1,020. Additionally, this meal will contain 28 grams of protein, 143 grams of total carbs, and 39 grams of total fat.

I'm a big fan of the best-selling standard McDonalds fries, so I knew we had a good base to start with. I started my journey by opening up the Grinch Salt packet and smelling it to get a sense of its potency. I was greeted by an incredibly intense smell of dill, punctuated only slightly by a powdery scent that I think is the anti-caking agents used here.

Since the Grinch Salt smelled so strongly, I didn't just dump the whole packet on from the get go. Instead, I started with about half the packet and took my first taste. That first taste was magical and embodied everything I hoped it would be. There was a distinct sourness of vinegar paired with the earthy tones of dill, overlaying the slightly greasy, heavily starchy profile of the fries.

With such a fantastic taste, I decided to empty out the rest of my Grinch Salt into my fries and give it a good shake to distribute the flavors. Since I'm such an avid dill pickle lover, I still rather enjoyed it — after all, I've even done a previous ranking of store-bought dill pickles. However, I found that more may not always mean better, which leads us to a very important point that we discuss below.

I could truly rave about these McDonald's Dill Pickle "Grinch Salt" McShaker Fries forever. But, among all of that praise, I do offer a single note of warning: These dill pickle fries are extra potent.

As mentioned in the section above, I did smell just how strong the seasoning packet was and adjusted my initial taste accordingly. But, when half a packet turned out to be amazing, I decided to dump the whole packet in. While I still think the fries were delicious, the dill pickle flavoring did seem a little overwhelming to the point where the taste of the fries faded away and you could only taste the seasoning.

So, if you're looking for a very bold, overwhelming dill pickle flavor, do use the whole packet by all means. However, I think most people will do best by pouring only half the packet if they want to have the most enjoyable experience. I'd recommend saving the other half of the packet and using it on something else — for example, I think the seasoning would taste excellent on an oven-baked potato with butter and a dab of sour cream.

Although my review is on the McDonald's Dill Pickle "Grinch Salt" McShaker Fries, I did want to offer just a few brief remarks on the meal overall. Since the meal is likely the primary way customers will experience these fries, I thought it relevant. For starters, I think the idea of the Grinch Meal is really cute, nostalgic, and unique — I like that both the special fries and fun socks come with the meal. With the addition of the socks, it almost feels like an adult Happy Meal. As for the execution? I feel like it's absolutely spot on.

Overall, the fries are fantastic and the seasoning is very akin to what real dill pickles taste like. If you're a fan of dill pickles or sour foods generally, I highly recommend grabbing these fries for yourself. Although you can purchase these separately, you'll get the best value by choosing the complete Grinch Meal. The entire enterprise is adorable — and the fries are absolute perfection.