McDonald's Egg McMuffin: 11 Facts About The Popular Fast Food Breakfast Item

Name a more iconic breakfast item than the McDonald's Egg McMuffin. That's okay, we'll wait. Hard, isn't it? That's because the Egg McMuffin is head and shoulders above any other fast food breakfast dish, in terms of recognition. The simple recipe of an egg patty, cheese, and an English muffin was originally conceived as a bit of a risk, but it quickly became one of the fast food franchise's most popular items. Nowadays, it's the go-to item for hungover college students and hungry moms who just need some food on the go.

As with many famous fast food items, though, the Egg McMuffin has had a pretty fascinating journey, with some surprising twists and turns along the way. It's also made pretty uniquely, with the fascinating process behind it resulting in its distinctive shape and trademark texture. Much like many other McDonald's items, you don't have to stop at the standard Egg McMuffin: There are plenty of ways to hack this breakfast treat that take it to the next level. Ready to unwrap the truth about McDonald's Egg McMuffin? Take a bite of these facts.

It might be surprising to hear, but McDonald's Egg McMuffin almost didn't get the go-ahead from the higher-ups at the chain, including Ray Kroc. Kroc, who was McDonald's head honcho during the time when many famous menu items were invented, was initially skeptical of the McMuffin. This was largely because it was inspired by another classic breakfast item: eggs Benedict.

Herb Peterson, a McDonald's franchisee and the inventor of the Egg McMuffin, had the initial brainwave to create a breakfast dish for McDonald's inspired by Eggs Benedict. An issue arose almost immediately: How could you make a sandwich out of the dish, with all of that gloopy Hollandaise sauce causing a mess? Peterson instead elected to use a slice of cheese and some Canadian bacon to replace the sauce and ham in the original recipe, and then stuck them both between an English muffin. 

It was the Eggs Benedict as inspiration that caused Kroc to raise his eyebrows, but when he tried the McMuffin he was convinced. In 1972, a couple of years after he first took a bite of Peterson's creation, the McMuffin hit the market.

The main flavor note in an Egg McMuffin is savory. And, while there's a touch of sweetness that comes from the bread, there's not a great amount of this flavor throughout. So, it might surprise you to learn that wasn't always the case. When the Egg McMuffin first premiered, it was originally served with a side of jam or honey. It's not entirely clear what flavor jam was dished up next to your egg sandwich, but we have no doubt that it added a serious boost of sweetness to the proceedings.

Now, we've gotta point out that while this might sound weird, it's not the strangest thing in the world. Toast and muffins are often served alongside jam after all, and eggs are versatile enough to take on sweet notes. Plus, the bacon that the McMuffin originally came with would also benefit from the sugary pop that honey and jam provided. It's the cheese that kinda throws things out of balance, though, and that ingredient could be why McDonald's eventually decided to get rid of the sweet spreads and just keep the McMuffin as a savory experience.

The Egg McMuffin is a long-standing McDonald's menu item, thanks to its positive impact on the chain's profits. Within a few years of the McMuffin being launched, the single item made up 18% of McDonald's total sales, according to The Washington Post. Demand for the item has continued to grow steadily. By 2015, as Time reports, the restaurant was buying roughly 5% of all the eggs produced in the United States. 

The Egg McMuffin also helped to produce a shift in eating habits in the US, which contributed massively to the footfall at McDonald's. Approximately a quarter of all breakfasts that weren't eaten at home were eaten at a McDonald's by 1987, just 11 years after the McMuffin was launched. Clearly, folks were deciding that the speed and portability of the item — thanks to its ability to be grabbed through a car window and eaten on the go — made it way easier to purchase than to make at home.

Over the years, McDonald's has received a lot of criticism for what goes into its food — as anyone who's seen the infamous "pink goo" chicken nugget picture will tell you. When it comes to the McMuffin, though, McDonald's has always kept it natural — when it comes to its egg, at least. Each Egg McMuffin is made with a USDA Grade A egg, which is delivered whole to each restaurant. Then, the egg is fried on-site, before being slid into the muffin and served.

The same can't be said for other McDonald's items containing eggs. For the rest of its breakfast selection, McDonald's uses liquid eggs. For some dishes, like its scrambled eggs, this liquified product is cooked in-store before being served to the customer. When it comes to its folded eggs and Sausage Burrito Eggs, they're cooked before they arrive at the restaurant. Once they get to each store, the kitchen staff will then perform a few finishing touches before each breakfast item is sent out. It's worth pointing out, though, that these liquid eggs are still entirely real. They've just been processed more before they arrive at the restaurant.

Fast food gets a lot of bad things said about it, and honestly, for good reason. There are some truly unhealthy fast food restaurants out there, many of which ply their dishes with excessive amounts of sodium, saturated fat, and added sugar. However, McDonald's actually has some of the least unhealthy fast food out there, and the Egg McMuffin is a fairly smart choice if you want a breakfast that offers some nutrition. Each Egg McMuffin has an impressive 17 grams of protein, thanks to its egg, cheese, and slice of Canadian bacon. It also has a pretty good amount of vitamin D, calcium, and potassium (about 15% of the daily value per nutrient).

It's also good to note that the Egg McMuffin only has a single gram of added sugar, unlike McDonald's items like the Big Mac (which has way more, thanks to its sauce). Where the McMuffin stumbles slightly is in its sodium content: At 770 milligrams per serving, you'll get 33% of your daily value with each breakfast sandwich. Its 6 grams of saturated fat are also not ideal — but hey, this is fast food after all; it will never be perfect.

It's no exaggeration to say that the Egg McMuffin revolutionized the fast food industry. Although it wasn't the first fast food restaurant to ever serve breakfast, McDonald's was certainly the first to do so on such a massive scale. The popularity of the Egg McMuffin, and the revenue that it brought to McDonald's, flagged to other fast food businesses that the breakfast market was about to boom, and pretty soon other chains started getting on board. Burger King did so in 1979, premiering its own breakfast menu. However, this was hindered by the technology in its existing restaurants. It finally struck gold in 1983, with the debut of the Croissan'Wich. The competition had begun.

Restaurants like Taco Bell started getting in on the action too, with the debut of the Waffle Taco in 2014 heralding a new player in the fast food breakfast market. To be honest, we can see why. That same year, the fast food breakfast market was valued at $50 billion, signaling the demand that people had for speedy, tasty grub in the morning. We doubt that these dishes' popularity is going to let up any time soon.

McDonald's hasn't always been breaking records. Back in the mid-2010's it was experiencing a real slump in business, with its sales starting to suffer significantly. It knew it needed to find a way back to the top, and the answer lay in its breakfast menu. McDonald's executives made the canny move to start offering the Egg McMuffin and other breakfast items throughout the day, instead of serving them until 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. The move paid off. Stores reported a significant bump in sales, and profits skyrocketed.

Interestingly, though, McDonald's didn't persist with this strategy for long. Although its all-day McMuffins stuck around for a good few years, at some point in 2020, McDonald's decided to remove the All Day Breakfast Menu from its restaurants. In a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, the chain said that it removed the menu "to simplify operations in our kitchens, which we saw provided better speed of service and order accuracy for our customers." While McDonald's noted on its X account that it may bring its All Day Breakfast back at some point, this hasn't happened yet.

Do you know what we love about Egg McMuffins? Their perfect little shape. When it's made properly, each McMuffin is the ideal package, with its round egg fitting seamlessly into the English muffin. The way that it achieves this shape is through the use of an egg ring. McDonald's restaurants all have custom-made molds composed of eight different egg rings held together by a metal frame. These are then placed on a heated griddle, and each egg is cracked into the individual rings. During this step, the server then pierces the yolk, gently mixing it into the white (without it spilling over the sides of the ring).

The rings are then covered, which traps heat and allows the eggs to cook through. Once the eggs are done, the rings are removed, and each egg patty is scooped up with a large utensil, ready to be placed into every McMuffin. The Canadian bacon slice that goes onto each McMuffin is also round, which limits any significant overhang, and the whole thing fits perfectly into your hand.

McDonald's hasn't always relied on real ingredients for its Egg McMuffin. Up until 2015, it was relying on liquid margarine to coat its muffins, which did the trick, but definitely didn't quite have the rich flavor that real butter has. We can only assume that someone made this fact known to the McDonald's execs, because that year McDonald's made a single-ingredient swap that improved the McMuffin forever. It removed the liquid margarine from its stores and started using real butter.

The result was a better-tasting McMuffin all around. As margarine is made from vegetable oil, it doesn't have the same dairy fats that butter does, so it can never quite achieve the same powerful flavor. We'd gather that McDonald's was using liquid margarine up until this point due to its affordability, rather than the ingredient's health benefits, like the fact that margarine usually contains more unsaturated fats than butter. Given that this breakfast sandwich contains eggs and cheese, though, we're willing to bet that most people eating it were more concerned with flavor than nutritional information — so they appreciated when butter was swapped in.

A standard Egg McMuffin is a delight all on its own — but look, we know the score. Everyone loves hacking their McDonald's items and unlocking brand-new flavor dynamics in a well-established menu, and doing so with the McMuffin is no exception. The McMuffin is eminently hackable, with one hack that truly takes the breakfast sandwich to the next level by subbing out the regular egg round for scrambled eggs. Just ask for the scrambled version instead of the regular egg next time you order a McMuffin: Sure, your server may say no, but if they don't, you'll be rewarded with a way silkier sandwich.

Don't think McDonald's isn't aware that people are doing these hacks, either — sometimes it actively encourages them. On November 18, 2021, the fast food chain celebrated 50 years of the McMuffin being on the menu. It did so by offering a selection of hacks for its McMuffin, including one with hash browns instead of the regular English muffin, and another with a smear of grape jelly. These were all available at the low price of just 63 cents (the original price of the McMuffin when it first premiered on the McDonald's menu). While you may not be able to order these hacks now, you can still make them yourself by grabbing some extras and reconstructing your McMuffin to your heart's content.

The current McDonald's menu only offers two standard Egg McMuffins: The original type, which comes with Canadian bacon, and one with a sausage patty. However, the fun doesn't stop there, guys. McDonald's has experimented with its McMuffin flavors in the past, just like it's done with other menu items. Every now and again, you can find an interesting twist on the standard formula.

For example, back in 2023, McDonald's soft-launched a fiery jalapeño Egg McMuffin in a few select locations. This McMuffin had a few choice additions that set it apart, as it crammed hot jalapeño slices and a creamy cheese sauce into its standard muffin. The Canadian bacon, egg, and cheese slices all remained in place, you'll be happy to hear. This McMuffin was only available in stores across Texas, California, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and it didn't last for too long before being pulled. That's not to say that it won't return again, though, or that McDonald's won't try out new versions of the McMuffin soon. The franchise loves to trial limited-edition items that boost its footfall and word-of-mouth marketing, so don't be shocked if another funky McMuffin flavor appears in the near future.