McDonald's Corn Cheese Croquette Burger [Korean Food]

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Hello! Today’s new menu from McDonald’s is the McDonald’s Chungju Corn Cheese Croquette Burger, launched in July 2026. It’s the newest entry in McDonald’s Taste of Korea series — a project Korea’s McDonald’s has steadily pushed, now hitting its 5th anniversary with this sixth menu. This time they leaned into a distinctive corn flavor using glutinous corn from Chungju, and you can grab it for 7,400 won as a single in-store. I’ve quietly enjoyed each Taste of Korea release over the years, so I was curious what this McDonald’s corn croquette burger would be like and bought one right away. So shall we take a look?

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📋 At a Glance

Product: McDonald’s Chungju Corn Cheese Croquette Burger
Store: McDonald’s (6th Taste of Korea menu, 5th anniversary; Chungju glutinous corn)
Price: 7,400 won single in-store / 8,800 won delivery (combo 9,400 won in-store)
Main components: Corn cheese-cream croquette patty, beef patty, lettuce, tomato, onion, spicy parmesan sauce (parmesan + whole-grain mustard)
Verdict: ★3.0 — The spicy parmesan sauce is good, but the corn flavor comes on exaggerated and the croquette-plus-burger pairing feels awkward, leaving it oddly placed in the Taste of Korea series.

Corn Cheese Croquette Burger: Price and Highlights

The McDonald’s Taste of Korea project is already at its 5th anniversary with this sixth menu. Cumulative sales across the related menus have reportedly topped a whopping 30 million units. Which one sticks with you most? Haha. This menu uses glutinous corn from Chungju, which you could call semi-highland terrain. First, let’s check the price.

Chungju Corn Cheese Croquette Burger single: 7,400 won in-store / 8,800 won delivery
Chungju Corn Cheese Croquette Burger combo: 9,400 won in-store / 10,800 won delivery
Upgrade to large combo: +900 won

As far as I know, Taste of Korea prices have held fairly steady overall — the single around the mid-7,000-won range in-store, the combo under 10,000 won. This time they released just this one, with no variation menu on the side.

To start, I ordered this menu as a large combo. As you can see, this one naturally (!) comes in its own special packaging. After Boseong green-tea pork, Jindo scallion, Jinju pepper, and Iksan sweet potato, this is my fifth Taste of Korea review. I’m quietly looking forward to it again.

What’s in the Corn Cheese Croquette Burger

So let’s check the build right away. Like the previous lineup, this one is a bit tall, so it comes wrapped in a paper burger collar. Looking at the side first, you can see the ingredients stacked neatly from the top down.

Judging by the overall look alone, it seems quietly similar to the previous Iksan sweet potato mozzarella burger, or to other franchises’ veggie-plus-beef-patty-plus-fried-patty combos. There’s no big difference that jumps out from the outside — maybe just a slightly different sauce color? This menu’s sauce is said to be a spicy parmesan sauce, a combination of parmesan cheese and whole-grain mustard.

The Spicy Parmesan Sauce and the Corn Croquette Patty

Now let’s cut it in half and check the build in detail. From the top there’s sauce, onion, lettuce, tomato, a beef patty, and a croquette patty. Just from the composition, nothing really stands out, right?

If anything catches the eye, it’s probably this patty. There are kernels of corn embedded inside it, and it doesn’t seem all that different from the croquette-patty burgers you’d see in similar menus. There’s sauce spread under the patty too. It gives the impression of having less corn than I’d expected, actually. I’ll only really know once I taste it.

How the Corn Cheese Croquette Burger Tastes

So let’s dig right in. With a croquette patty on top of the standard beef patty, it’s not on the level of a Big Mac, but the thickness is quite considerable. I opened wide and took a big bite right away.

The very first thing I tasted was, so predictably, corn aroma and corn flavor. But while it’s the sort of thing you’d picture when you think “corn,” it feels less like the taste of freshly steamed corn and more like corn flavoring, if you will — that slightly exaggerated taste you get from corn ice cream or corn snacks. I’m not sure if that’s the taste real corn gives off, but it came across as a bit excessively strong.

Another impressive part was how, the more I chewed, the more the sauce’s distinctive savory-yet-spicy taste came through. This is the signature sauce that mixes parmesan into whole-grain mustard. Separate from the sharp aroma of the scallion cream or the garlicky note of the Changnyeong garlic sauce, it did a pretty good job of reining in the slightly greasy edge the corn-and-croquette pairing can have.

The Awkward Corn-and-Croquette Match

A croquette with corn in it, or a corn-flavored croquette, seems fine on its own, but eating it as a burger with the other ingredients is such an unfamiliar combination that it left me personally a little puzzled. Where the Taste of Korea menus I’ve had so far realized their distinctive taste and aroma through a sauce that paired well with the burger, or let the ingredient itself do the work, this one felt slightly off in that position. It’s not as if a cheese croquette made with Chungju glutinous corn is a famous thing, either.

Taste of Korea project commemorative burger

In some ways, it wasn’t a menu that tasted bad overall. The slightly greasy edge from adding corn to a cheese-cream croquette was reined in nicely by the mustard sauce with its faint kick. It seemed to have all the basics covered. But because it pushes the corn flavor so hard, it felt a bit half-baked and unfamiliar. I found myself wishing they’d made the bun out of corn bread instead and gone for a different combination. People who love things like corn ice cream or corn snacks might, unexpectedly, be okay with it.

Final Verdict

If you’re eating this out of personal curiosity, I’ve no real reason to stop you. But if you’re after a genuinely delicious meal, I’d suggest checking a few other people’s takes first, and if you still want to try it, grabbing a discount coupon and eating it in-store. Maybe my expectations were just too high? Haha. Personally, it’s the kind of menu I don’t think I’d order again even if it were re-released. For anyone exploring Korean fast food, think of it as a novelty from McDonald’s regional-ingredient project — interesting as a concept, though the flavor pairing is hit or miss.

For more on McDonald’s Taste of Korea project — which has used regional produce to sell over 30 million units and create shared value across its 5 years — and this Chungju glutinous corn menu, you can check the (Korean source) Etoday report on McDonald’s Taste of Korea Chungju corn.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How much is the McDonald’s Chungju Corn Cheese Croquette Burger?

The single is 7,400 won in-store and 8,800 won for delivery. The combo is 9,400 won in-store and 10,800 won delivery, and upgrading to a large combo adds 900 won.

Q. What exactly is this burger?

It’s the sixth new menu in McDonald’s Taste of Korea project at its 5th anniversary. It builds a cheese-cream croquette patty made with Chungju glutinous corn together with a beef patty, lettuce, tomato, onion, and a spicy parmesan sauce that mixes parmesan with whole-grain mustard.

Q. How does the Corn Cheese Croquette Burger taste?

The corn aroma is quite strong — more like corn ice cream or corn snacks than freshly steamed corn, so it reads a touch exaggerated. The spicy parmesan sauce’s savory, spicy notes rein in the greasiness well, but the corn-croquette-burger combination itself is a bit unfamiliar and awkward.

Q. Would you recommend it?

It’s a love-it-or-hate-it one, so not a strong recommendation. The sauce is well made, but the heavy corn emphasis feels off — I’d suggest it mainly for those who love corn ice cream or snacks, or who are curious about the limited menu, ideally with a discount coupon.

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McDonald’s Corn Cheese Croquette Burger [Korean Food]