McDonald's Egg McMuffins Once Came With These Sugary Condiments

Place a McDonald's order, and the accompanying condiments play an important role. The fast food chain offers over 10 sauce options on the menu, with strict condiment allocation generating frustration among some consumers. Not to mention, the fast food chain has rolled back some of its offerings, like McDonald's much-missed Szechuan sauce, as well as two sugary preserves once served with Egg McMuffins.

That's right — decades back, an order of McMuffins once included honey or jam. The sweet touch was only sold for a brief duration in the early 1970s, starting at Santa Barbara, California, locations operated by franchise owner Herb Peterson. The creator of the McMuffin concept, Peterson strived to create an affordable fast food riff on classic eggs Benedict, hence the creative combination of an English muffin, egg, and Canadian bacon.

However, since even a basic Hollandaise sauce recipe isn't fast food-friendly, Peterson chose to swap it for dairy favorites butter and cheese instead. The first versions of the sandwich came open-faced, alongside individually packaged honey or jam designated for garnish. Such an iteration only circulated at select outlets from 1972 to 1975, until the Egg McMuffin was reworked for national distribution, featuring the two-muffin build sold today.

This official pairing was a mere blip in McDonald's history, so few lament the loss of such an Egg McMuffin. Still, Americans crave sugar with their morning meal — think chicken and waffles — so the addition of a sweet element to the Egg McMuffin continues to surface as a popular hack.

"I slam a packet of ... strawberry jelly on the [Sausage McMuffin with Egg]," wrote a Reddit user, with other commenters noting they also make such a modification. "[Does anyone else] use the grape jelly packet on their [Sausage McMuffin with Egg]," another Redditor asked. To ease such convenience, packs of grape jelly, strawberry preserves, and honey can all be added onto a McDonald's order, making such a combination effortless.

The sweet intrigue further escalated in 2022, when a chef on the McDonald's corporate TikTok spread grape jelly on their McMuffin. "We might be onto something here, this might make it onto the menu," said the chef. While an official rollout has yet to occur, McDonald's Egg McMuffin has been around for over 50 years, so give ode to its original form by sampling a bite with a sweet touch.