Elevate Your McDonald's Egg McMuffin With These 5 Ordering Tips

McDonald's Egg McMuffin is almost as iconic as its Big Mac — a permanent fixture of the fast food landscape that has been fueling busy mornings for over 50 years. While other chains experimented with early breakfast options, it was the Egg McMuffin that truly changed the game.

The Golden Arches first ventured into breakfast in 1970, when Pittsburgh franchisee Jim Delligatti — the same culinary mind behind the Big Mac — began selling donuts and sweet pastries. Just a year later, Herb Peterson, an owner-operator in Santa Barbara, California, created the prototype for the Egg McMuffin. Peterson developed it as a riff on eggs Benedict, swapping the Hollandaise sauce for a slice of American cheese. McDonald's began trying it out in test markets in 1972 before putting it on menus nationally in 1975.

The classic recipe relies on simple ingredients: a freshly cracked egg, Canadian bacon, and American cheese, all served on a toasted English muffin. Yet, as excellent as the original is, you can make it even better by utilizing a few creative ordering tweaks to switch things up and elevate your McMuffin with entirely new flavors.

It's very common to order an ultra-crispy hash brown on the side when you get an Egg McMuffin, so why not combine the two into one compact package by putting it right on the sandwich? The shredded potato patty is enhanced with natural beef flavor from the frying oil, creating a savory taste that complements the other ingredients. At the same time, it adds a crispy texture to the softer layered components inside the English muffin.

The Egg McMuffin has always been made with Canadian bacon, even though it's a less common breakfast meat choice in the U.S. Standard strip bacon and sausage are more popular, and both appear on other McDonald's breakfast options, like the Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit, Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddles, Bacon, Egg & Cheese Bagel, and the Sausage McMuffin with Egg. Because they're available on the menu, the door is open to using them to introduce more variety and heft to your sandwich. Double or triple the meat by adding a sausage patty, McDonald's thick-cut applewood smoked bacon, or both to the standard ingredients.

The combination of sweet and savory is hard to resist, and you'll find it in breakfast and brunch dishes like classic chicken and waffles, avocado toast with honey, or even bacon with pancakes dipped in maple syrup. You can bring that tempting flavor duo to an Egg McMuffin by pouring some of the maple syrup McDonald's serves with its hotcakes, or its honey, onto the Canadian bacon, the topmost layer before the English muffin lid. It's actually a throwback to the sandwich's origins, when it was initially served open-faced with honey or jam in test markets.

While ketchup, mayo, or plain hot sauce are typical breakfast sandwich sauces, McDonald's has many more to choose from to make your Egg McMuffin more interesting. The Creamy Chili sauce, which is served as a dip for McCrispy Strips, has a blend of tangy, sweet, and nutty flavors with a bit of heat from red jalapeño peppers. Mixing the Spicy Buffalo sauce with honey creates a hot-and-sweet combo to slather on. Another option is the Tangy Barbecue blended with mustard for a zesty combination, or mixed with Honey Mustard for an added touch of sweetness.

The Egg McMuffin's perfectly round egg, formed by cracking it into a mold on the grill, is one of its hallmarks. But you can try another McDonald's egg option for a change of pace by swapping in the Sausage Burrito's scrambled egg mixture. Pieces of sausage, green chile, onion, and tomato are blended into the fluffy curds, which might be a little messier but bring some veggie freshness and extra meatiness to your sandwich. Because this savory mixture is pre-portioned for burritos, the kitchen's ordering system might not let you sub it directly; however, you can easily pull off this hack manually by ordering a Sausage Burrito on the side and scooping out the filling yourself.