Building on the success of previous editions, McDonald’s is once again offering new McChicken Creations, recipes created in collaboration with GialloZafferano, Italy’s favourite food media brand, and inspired by the original McChicken sandwich. It will be available in the more than 760 McDonald’s restaurants from today to 19 August.
The successful partnership between McDonald’s and GialloZafferano is now in its seventh year, with more than 55 million sandwiches sold.

This year’s new McChicken Creation recipes, using 100% Italian chicken breast, are topped with three PDO and PGI ingredients: Provolone Valpadana PDO, which returns to McDonald’s menus, Cappero (capers) delle Isole Eolie PDO and Peperoni (bell pepper) di Senise PGI, which appear for the first time as an extra touch in the mayonnaise and sauce on the new sandwiches. The Peperone combines bacon, crispy onions and a flavourful, fragrant sauce made using Italian Peperoni di Senise IGP. In contrast, the Provolone consists of crispy bacon, the authentic and enchanting Provolone Valpadana DOP and a special mayonnaise with the intense, unmistakable flavour of Cappero delle Isole Eolie DOP.

McChicken Creations demonstrate a commitment to making the quality and authenticity of Italian ingredients accessible to everyone, enhancing the recipes with treasures from our land. With this goal in mind, the relationship with the protection consortia, which began in 2008 with the invaluable support of Fondazione Qualivita, has grown stronger over the years. This interaction has led to the introduction of 24 PDO and PGI ingredients on McDonald’s menus, enabling millions of people to discover and recognise the value of Made in Italy.

Through the collaboration with GialloZafferano comes the new McChicken Creations: two original recipes meticulously created to celebrate and make the most of 100% Italian flavours, combining the best of innovation and tradition.

‘We are proud to present the seventh edition of McChicken Creations, an initiative that strengthens our commitment to supporting the Italian food supply chain,’ says Giorgia Favaro, Managing Director of McDonald’s Italy. ‘Through our collaboration with GialloZafferano, the Qualivita Foundation and the protection consortia, we are able to integrate PDO and PGI ingredients into our offerings, making them accessible to an ever wider public. We have been working in this direction for more than 15 years, aiming to enhance quality raw materials and support local producers,’ Favaro concludes.

‘The collaboration between GialloZafferano and McDonald’s, which is celebrating its seventh edition, conveys solid synergy with the aim of depicting the Italian way of life in an innovative manner,’ says Andrea Santagata, Managing Director of Mondadori Media. ‘The project combines taste, accessibility and innovation through effective interaction with the public, using a new and engaging language. The results achieved over the years demonstrate the effectiveness of a strategy — in terms of reach and audience appreciation — that focuses on quality, creativity, tradition and experimentation,’ Santagata concludes.

The new edition of McChicken Creation was presented with a special event at the GialloZafferano headquarters, with the participation of Giorgia Favaro, Managing Director McDonald’s Italy, and Andrea Santagata, Managing Director Mondadori Media. Speakers also included: Valeria Casani, Chief Marketing Officer McDonald’s Italy; Nicola Lussana, Managing Director Mediamond; and Mauro Rosati, Director General Fondazione Qualivita. Other participants included representatives of the certified ingredients in the new recipes: Vittorio Emanuele Pisani, Director of the Consorzio di Tutela Provolone Valpadana DOP; Lorenzo Cortese, President of the Associazione Cappero delle Isole Eolie DOP; and Enrico Fanelli, President of the Consorzio di Tutela Peperoni di Senise IGP.

The event was also enlivened with an engaging cooking show by McDonald’s Chef Raffaele Bellini, who revealed the secrets and preparation of the new recipes to the audience. GialloZafferano involved a team of exceptional chefs and food creators to preview the new recipes and create exclusive content for social media: Andriana Kulchytska, Roberto Valbuzzi – Notordinarychef, Angelo Coassin – Cooking with Bello, Eva Andrini – Evasfoodaddiction, Gessica Runcio – Le ricette da Gessica, Nonna Silvi and Dany Resconi. With his charismatic attitude, Radio 105 host Nicolò Torielli led the event, encouraging interaction and participation and creating a dynamic and engaging atmosphere.

The entire activity and visibility plan for McChicken Creations were developed together with Brand On Solutions, the project area of Mediamond, with the coordination of OMD and OPRG and the creativity of Leo Burnett for all GialloZafferano digital channels, from its website to social media profiles – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube – up to the app, which has a push notification targeted at the McDonald’s drive-to-store and drive-to-app.

McDonald’s Italia
Present in Italy for 39 years, McDonald’s now has over 750 restaurants across the country with a total of 38,000 employees serving 1.2 million customers every day. Ninety per cent of Italian McDonald’s restaurants are managed as franchises by more than 160 local entrepreneurs who testify to the brand’s rootedness in the territory. With regard to suppliers, McDonald’s also confirms its desire to be a ’local’ brand. To date, in fact, most suppliers are Italian. Worldwide, McDonald’s is present in more than 100 countries with more than 41,000 restaurants.

GialloZafferano
GialloZafferano is the leading food media brand in Italy. On the web, 1 in 2 Italians cooks with GialloZafferano, which reaches 23 million people every month (Comscore incremental reach, March 2025). With a fanbase of 72 million followers, it tops the world’s food media brand ranking on social media (source: Shareablee-Comscore and social insights). Offering recipes that are always easy to make and accessible to everyone, it is available to people at any time of day on all channels: from the web to social media, apps, smart devices, magazines, books and local events.