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A single Chicken McNugget contains 42.5 calories, 2.3g of protein and 2.5g of carbs. That makes a 4 piece 170 calories, a 6 piece 250, a 10 piece 410, a 20 piece 830 and a 40 piece 1,660.
Complete nutrition and pricing for Chicken McNuggets in every size McDonald’s sells. Because the per nugget figures are on this page, you can work out any count, including the five and nine piece portions people end up with after sharing a box. For the rest of the chicken range, prices are on our McDonald’s chicken menu.
Per nugget
42.5 cal
Protein each
2.3g
Best value
40 piece
Sizes sold
5
Calorie counts for every box McDonald’s sells, with the figure for the nuggets alone rather than a meal. Sauces, fries and drinks are counted separately further down. The numbers scale linearly because every nugget is the same size, which is why the 40 piece is exactly double the 20.
| Size | Cal | Protein | Fat | Carbs | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 piece Chicken McNuggets |
170 | 9g | 10g | 10g | 330mg |
6 piece Chicken McNuggets |
250 | 14g | 15g | 15g | 500mg |
10 piece Chicken McNuggets |
410 | 23g | 24g | 25g | 840mg |
20 piece Chicken McNuggets |
830 | 46g | 49g | 50g | 1,680mg |
40 piece Chicken McNuggets |
1,660 | 92g | 98g | 100g | 3,360mg |
Meal totals with fries and a drink are in the meals section below. Every item on the menu at McDonald’s nutrition and calorie chart.
One Chicken McNugget is 42.5 calories. That single number answers every count McDonald’s does not sell, which is most of the counts people actually eat. Split a 10 piece three ways and you have three nuggets each. Take five from a shared 20 piece. Eat nine because someone took one. None of those appear on a nutrition label anywhere, and every other guide lists only the five official sizes.
The figures below are calculated from McDonald’s published data for the 20 piece divided by twenty, which is the most accurate base because rounding errors on the small boxes distort the per unit number. Use the table for any count from one to twelve, or multiply 42.5 by whatever you ate
| Nuggets | Cal | Protein | Fat | Carbs | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 nugget |
43 | 2.3g | 2.5g | 2.5g | 84mg |
2 nuggets |
85 | 4.6g | 4.9g | 5.0g | 168mg |
3 nuggets |
128 | 6.9g | 7.4g | 7.5g | 252mg |
5 nuggets |
213 | 11.5g | 12.3g | 12.5g | 420mg |
7 nuggets |
298 | 16.1g | 17.2g | 17.5g | 588mg |
8 nuggets |
340 | 18.4g | 19.6g | 20.0g | 672mg |
9 nuggets |
383 | 20.7g | 22.1g | 22.5g | 756mg |
12 nuggets |
510 | 27.6g | 29.4g | 30.0g | 1,008mg |
15 nuggets |
638 | 34.5g | 36.8g | 37.5g | 1,260mg |
30 nuggets |
1,275 | 69.0g | 73.5g | 75.0g | 2,520mg |
Sauce adds 30 to 110 calories per packet on top. The sauce table is further down.
At 2.3g per nugget, Chicken McNuggets are one of the better protein sources on the McDonald’s menu once you account for price. A 20 piece delivers 46g, which is close to a Double Quarter Pounder at 48g, and costs less. Protein per calorie sits at 5.5g per 100, which beats every burger except the quarter pound line.
| Size | Protein | Per 100 cal | Per $1 |
|---|---|---|---|
4 piece |
9g | 5.3g | 2.8g |
6 piece |
14g | 5.6g | 3.2g |
10 piece |
23g | 5.6g | 3.4g |
20 piece |
46g | 5.5g | 6.6g |
40 piece |
92g | 5.5g | 7.0g |
At 6.6g of protein per dollar the 20 piece is the best protein value on the entire McDonald’s menu. Full rankings on nutrition and calories.
No. All Day Breakfast ran from October 2015 until March 2020, when it was removed nationally to simplify kitchen operations during the pandemic, and it has not returned as a permanent program. Grill space is the reason it is unlikely to come back: eggs and lunch product compete for the same surface, and running both slows service on the items that generate most of the revenue.
A small number of franchisees keep one or two breakfast items available later in the day, and limited time promotions occasionally bring an item back for an afternoon window. Neither is a national program, and neither is something to plan around.
| Size | Protein | Per 100 cal | Per $1 |
|---|---|---|---|
4 piece |
9g | 5.3g | 2.8g |
6 piece |
14g | 5.6g | 3.2g |
10 piece |
23g | 5.6g | 3.4g |
20 piece |
46g | 5.5g | 6.6g |
40 piece |
92g | 5.5g | 7.0g |
At 6.6g of protein per dollar the 20 piece is the best protein value on the entire McDonald’s menu. Full rankings on nutrition and calories.
Carbohydrate comes almost entirely from the tempura batter rather than the chicken, at 2.5g per nugget. That makes a 10 piece 25g of carbs, which is lower than any burger on the menu because there is no bun. For anyone counting carbs rather than calories, Chicken McNuggets are the most efficient hot protein McDonald’s sells.
| Nutrient | Per nugget | 6 pc | 10 pc | 20 pc |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Calories |
42.5 | 250 | 410 | 830 |
Protein |
2.3g | 14g | 23g | 46g |
Total fat |
2.5g | 15g | 24g | 49g |
Saturated fat |
0.4g | 2.5g | 4g | 8g |
Carbohydrate |
2.5g | 15g | 25g | 50g |
Sugar |
0g | 0g | 0g | 1g |
Sodium |
84mg | 500mg | 840mg | 1,680mg |
A 20 piece carries 73 percent of the FDA daily sodium recommendation. Allergen detail on allergen menu.
Prices for all five boxes. These are our recorded national midpoint, and the spread on this product is wider than almost anything else on the menu because franchisees use the 20 piece as a promotional item. A 20 piece can be under seven dollars at one restaurant and above twelve at another.
| Size | Price | Cal | Per nugget |
|---|---|---|---|
4 piece Chicken McNuggets |
$2.79 | 170 | $0.70 |
6 piece Chicken McNuggets |
$4.39 | 250 | $0.73 |
10 piece Chicken McNuggets |
$6.79 | 410 | $0.68 |
20 piece Chicken McNuggets |
$7.00 | 830 | $0.35 |
40 piece Chicken McNuggets |
$13.19 | 1,660 | $0.33 |
Full board on McDonald’s menu with prices. Regional variance on prices by state.
The 20 piece is the answer, and the gap is larger than most people realise. At 35 cents per nugget it costs half what a 6 piece does per unit, and buying a 20 piece instead of two 10 piece boxes saves $6.58 for the same amount of food.
| Comparison | Cost | Nuggets | Each |
|---|---|---|---|
One 20 piece |
$7.00 | 20 | $0.35 |
Two 10 piece |
$13.58 | 20 | $0.68 |
Three 6 piece plus one 4 piece |
$15.96 | 22 | $0.73 |
Five 4 piece |
$13.95 | 20 | $0.70 |
One 40 piece |
$13.19 | 40 | $0.33 |
Ordering a 20 piece and eating half now is cheaper than ordering a 10 piece. The 40 piece is marginally better again per nugget but only worth it if you are feeding a group.
All white boneless chicken, ground and formed, then coated in a seasoned tempura batter and fried in vegetable oil. There are no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, and McDonald’s stopped using mechanically separated chicken years before the current recipe.
The four shapes are deliberate rather than accidental: the ball, the bell, the boot and the bone. McDonald’s settled on those in the 1980s so that cooking time stayed consistent across every piece, which is also why the per nugget nutrition is so uniform.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
Real chicken? |
Yes, all white meat |
Mechanically separated? |
No |
Artificial preservatives? |
None |
Gluten free? |
No, wheat batter |
Dairy in the nugget? |
No, but shared fryers |
Number of shapes |
4 |
Full ingredient list on McDonald’s ingredients. Cross contact detail on allergen menu.
The spicy version uses the same nugget with a tempura batter containing cayenne and chilli pepper, and it comes with Mighty Hot Sauce. Pricing matches the standard boxes exactly, so there is no premium for heat. Availability has been intermittent since the 2020 debut, which is the main thing people want to know.
| Size | Price | Cal |
|---|---|---|
6 piece Spicy |
$4.39 | 280 |
10 piece Spicy |
$6.79 | 470 |
Whether they are available now, the return history and how hot they actually are, all on Spicy McNuggets.
Most restaurants include one or two sauces free with a box and charge per packet beyond that. Sauce adds meaningfully to the calorie total: Creamy Ranch at 110 calories is more than two nuggets.
| Sauce | Price | Cal |
|---|---|---|
Spicy Buffalo |
$0.25 | 30 |
Tangy Barbeque |
$0.35 | 45 |
Sweet 'N Sour |
$0.40 | 50 |
Creamy Ranch |
$0.40 | 110 |
All nine sauces with ingredients and free allowance on McDonald’s sauces.
A McNuggets meal adds medium fries and a medium drink, which brings 530 calories on top of the nuggets themselves. The four piece appears on the Under $3 Menu and inside the $5 Meal Deal, making it the cheapest route to Chicken McNuggets by a wide margin.
| Option | Price | Cal | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
4 pc on the Under $3 Menu |
$2.79 | 170 | Nuggets only |
4 pc in a $5 Meal Deal |
$5.00 | 990 | Plus sandwich, fries, drink |
4 pc Happy Meal |
$6.93 | 395 | Plus sides, drink, toy |
10 pc Meal |
$11.00 | 1,000 | Plus fries, drink |
40 pc and 2 Large Fries |
$19.69 | 2,620 | Sharing bundle |
Every current offer on McDonald’s deals and value menu.
The two are made from different chicken. Chicken McNuggets use ground and formed white meat; McCrispy Strips use whole breast fillet, the same cut as the McCrispy sandwich. That makes strips more expensive per piece but higher in protein per gram.
| Item | Price | Cal | Protein | Per piece |
|---|---|---|---|---|
6 piece Chicken McNuggets |
$4.39 | 250 | 14g | $0.73 |
3 piece McCrispy Strips |
$5.29 | 350 | 25g | $1.76 |
4 piece McCrispy Strips |
$6.09 | 460 | 33g | $1.52 |
Strips are also the filling in Snack Wraps. Whole fillet detail on McCrispy price.
The 20 piece shows the widest price spread of any single item on the McDonald’s menu, because franchisees use it as a promotional lever more than anything else. Around 95 percent of US restaurants are franchisee owned and set their own board.
| Location type | Vs national | 20 pc typical |
|---|---|---|
Rural and small town |
−14% | $6.02 |
Suburban |
−4% | $6.72 |
City centre |
+16% | $8.12 |
Airport and highway |
+32% | $9.24 |
State by state figures on McDonald’s prices by state.
42.5 calories per nugget, with 2.3g of protein, 2.5g of fat and 2.5g of carbs. Multiply by however many you ate. Five nuggets is 213 calories and nine is 383.
410 calories for the nuggets alone, with 23g of protein. As a meal with medium fries and a medium drink it comes to roughly 1,000 calories.
830 calories and 46g of protein, which is close to a Double Quarter Pounder. It also carries 1,680mg of sodium, roughly 73 percent of the FDA daily recommendation.
Around $7.00 as a national midpoint, though this item shows the widest price spread on the menu. Rural restaurants average close to $6 and airport locations above $9.
The 20 piece at 35 cents per nugget, half the unit cost of a 6 piece. Buying one 20 piece instead of two 10 piece boxes saves $6.58 for exactly the same food.
2.3g per nugget. A 6 piece has 14g, a 10 piece 23g and a 20 piece 46g. At 6.6g of protein per dollar the 20 piece is the best protein value anywhere on the McDonald’s menu.
All white boneless chicken, ground and formed, coated in seasoned tempura batter and fried in vegetable oil. No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, and no mechanically separated chicken.
2.5g per nugget, so 15g in a 6 piece and 25g in a 10 piece. Because there is no bun, McNuggets are the lowest carb hot protein on the McDonald’s menu.
No. The tempura batter contains wheat flour. They are also cooked in shared fryers, so cross contact with other allergens is possible.
The ball, bell, boot and bone were chosen in the 1980s so that every piece cooks in the same time. That consistency is also why the per nugget nutrition figures hold up across every box size.
Prices shown are based on typical U.S. McDonald’s menu prices as of August 2026 and may vary by location. Check your local restaurant or McDonald’s app for the latest prices.