While the McFlurry feels almost as iconic as the Big Mac and Quarter Pounder, the combination of ice cream and candy or cookie pieces was created only in 1995, when a Canadian McDonald’s (MCD) franchise owner tried mixing Oreo pieces together with ice cream in a paper cup.
The new dessert quickly became popular at the New Brunswick location, and after a series of market tests, was eventually rolled out all over North America by 1997.
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While the Oreo and M&M versions remain the most classic and the only permanent fixtures on U.S. menus, different McDonald’s locations have served seasonal versions inspired by everything from Red Velvet Cake to Mississippi Mud Pie over the last three decades.
Throughout the summer, restaurants in the U.S. are now serving a third S’mores Hershey’s chocolate version that will leave menus in August 2025.
McDonalds’ launches many creative McFlurry flavors internationally.
Image source: Shutterstock
The latest McFlurry flavor reinvents a favorite Latin treat
On the international scale, even more out-of-the-box McFlurry flavors have been served over the years — from the more universally-liked Biscoff cookie in Cyprus and Maltesers versions in the United Kingdom to more unique flavors such as Matcha in Vietnam and Pumpkin Oreo in Japan.
As first spotted by fast-food industry watchdog Snackolator, McDonald’s Nicaragua has just released a McFlurry Churro that features mixes cinnamon-coated pieces of the fried-dough dessert with either caramel, chocolate, or strawberry sauce into vanilla ice cream.
With origins tracing back to Spain, a sweeter version of the churro is also popular throughout the Latin American countries, as well as border regions of the U.S. Up north, it is commonly thought of as a treat eaten at fairs and amusement parks. While not always indicative, photos of the Nicaraguan version look especially extravagant, with chunks of churro decorating a glass of ice cream overflowing with caramel sauce.
Will we see the McFlurry Churro in the U.S.? Unlikely, but there are other desserts
“The Churro McFlurry is fairly simple: pieces of churros coated in cinnamon sugar that’s blended with soft serve and your choice of chocolate, caramel, or strawberry sauce,” Snackolator wrote. “I would love to see this one come to the USA, they could even bring those donut sticks back and mix those in.”
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In the U.S., McDonald’s is usually significantly more conservative with its dessert menu and only rolls out permanent additions a few times a year.
The McFlurry, meanwhile, is the easiest dessert to continue varying with different seasonal flavors, since workers only need to mix different ingredients into the same base. To mark the 30-year anniversary of the treat’s creation in Canada, McDonald’s briefly offered a Birthday Cake McFlurry with pieces of frosted confetti cookie dough and a birthday cake syrup topping in May 2025.
In 2024, U.S. locations also briefly sold a viral Grandma McFlurry made with the type of crunchy candy that many older women stereotypically carry in their purses. While similar in flavor and texture to Werther’s Original, the candy used was not part of a partnership and so not identified as belonging to a particular brand.
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