The Easy Meal Prep Technique For A McGriddle Copycat Breakfast
The Egg McMuffin, Hash browns, and Hotcakes and Sausage are just a few of the items that make up the famous McDonald's breakfast menu. The Golden Arches offers a modest, yet no less impressive selection of sandwiches and entrees, ranging from salty, crispy hash brown patties to maple syrup-drenched pancakes. But if you're a die-hard fan of the McDonald's breakfast, you'll probably notice we left one particular item off the list: the McGriddle.
If you've never had a McGriddle before, think of an Egg McMuffin- sausage, egg, bacon or ham, and cheese– but replace the English muffin with a "bun" that resembles and tastes like a thick, fluffy maple pancake. This "pancake sandwich" was introduced to the McDonald's breakfast lineup in 2003 and has remained a key item of the breakfast menu ever since. It's certainly not hard to see why it's popular, considering that it combines a full breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and sausage into a sandwich you could eat with one hand.
On paper, you could reasonably prepare a similar breakfast sandwich at home, since eggs, sausage patties, and American cheese aren't too hard to find. While those ingredients aren't hard to prepare, the key difference between a regular breakfast sandwich and the McGriddle is those pancake-like buns we mentioned. How exactly can you prepare them to match as closely to the real deal as possible? It would seem that process isn't too complicated if the copycat recipe is to be believed.
You'll need a muffin tin to make the pancake buns
Although you may consider yourself a master of making pancakes, making McGriddle buns is a slightly different process. This recipe gets you as close to the actual McGriddle as possible and reduces the size of the sandwiches to a much more manageable and simple method using common, pre-prepared ingredients.
As influencer Shay Spence demonstrated in his TikTok video, the muffin tin is a key piece of equipment for this recipe. While not meant for making large sandwiches like you would usually get in the drive-thru, the muffin tin is perfect for making miniature egg patties — achievable by pouring beaten eggs into your muffin tip and then baking until the eggs are almost set. Shay also uses frozen miniature pancakes in place of the McGriddle buns, noting that their size makes them perfect for use in a muffin pan.
Once Shay has assembled his egg patties, miniature sausage patties, and miniature pancakes in the muffin tin, he brushes the sandwichs down with maple syrup and then puts the tin in the oven for eight minutes at 350 degrees until the pancakes are golden-brown and the eggs and sausage have fully cooked. Shay's method is very quick and simple, relying on pre-packaged items like frozen pancakes. But, is it possible to prepare McGriddle buns from scratch in your own home while still keeping them as close to the original as possible?
An authentic McGriddle cake is full of maple syrup
Let's say that you want to make McGriddle buns that will be as close to the kind you get at your local McDonald's. The trick to making an "authentic" McGriddle lies within the McGriddle itself — those little pockets of maple-flavored syrup that dot the soft interior of the buns. In his copycat version of the McGriddle (above), chef and YouTube star Joshua Weissman detailed how to create a similar effect with homemade McGriddles.
His method involves simmering maple syrup, spreading it out on a baking sheet to cool, and then rolling the "distilled" maple syrup into tiny balls while it is still warm. Weissman then prepares the buns themselves, using a batter of flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, milk, an egg, and melted butter, similar to a pancake batter. As this batter cooks on the griddle or pan, those maple syrup balls are then added to the batter, much like how blueberries and chocolate chips can be added to regular batter.
While this method is a bit more complicated than the previous method, a benefit of Weissman's recipe is that you can prepare as many McGriddle buns as you like and store them as you would any other buns. You can also serve them as "griddle cakes" as you would any other pancake.