How You Can Order (Or Recreate) McDonald's Breakfast Sauce
McDonald's is known for many things, from the Big Mac and its accompanying sauce to the signature french fries and the McFlurry, but there's one low-profile item that has amassed something of a cult following over the years: McDonald's breakfast sauce. Although not universally available, you can still order it at some locations or recreate it at home.
McDonald's breakfast sauce is an ingredient on the fast food chain's bagel sandwiches, including the steak, egg, and cheese; the bacon, egg, and cheese; the egg and cheese; and the sausage, egg, and cheese. According to the McDonald's corporate website, it's a creamy blend made with oil, vinegar, egg, lemon juice concentrate, a few dehydrated powders — including buttermilk and cheddar cheese — and natural smoke flavoring. It's one of those ingredients that you have either never heard of or tasted before or you are completely obsessed with.
Indeed, fans of McDonald's breakfast sauce rave about it. "It's like a little reward inside your breakfast sandwich...It's like a drizzle of [H]ollandaise sauce in there. It makes it taste so fancy," one person glowed on Reddit. "I wish it was just a permanent sauce you could add to any item. I bet it would be great on a double quarter pounder," another shared.
The status of McDonald's breakfast sauce and where to find it now
The only problem? After first debuting in 1999, McDonald's bagel sandwiches — and, consequently, its breakfast sauce — fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic and were discontinued as a menu staple in the United States. The company did, however, bring bagel sandwiches back to some regional menus post-pandemic. Last we heard, you can order a bagel sandwich with breakfast sauce at participating locations in Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
As recently as November 2023, Reddit users reported availability of bagel sandwiches with breakfast sauce at McDonald's restaurants in Pennsylvania, western New York, Florida, and Ohio. Keep an eye out, though, since regional menu items typically wax and wane with popularity and sales. That means that you never quite know when or where the fan-favorite condiment could pop up next.
Breakfast sauce also had a good run in Canada until it was announced in 2018 that it was being phased out. "The Breakfast Sauce and the Folded Egg was discontinued as part of our menu evolution and we don't plan to offer it again at this time," McDonald's Canada wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) at the time.
How to make McDonald's breakfast sauce at home
Breakfast sauce enthusiasts have attempted to recreate the spread at home to varying degrees of success. Former McDonald's corporate chef Mike Haracz, who has gained popularity on TikTok for sharing Mickey Ds behind-the-scenes insider tidbits, has encouraged users to share their breakfast sauce copycat recipes with him to rate. He recommends using mayonnaise as a base and adding lemon juice, cheddar cheese powder, buttermilk powder, a touch of liquid smoke, autolyzed yeast extract (what he calls an "MSG-type ingredient"), and herbs and spices, including dill.
Some of those ingredients might be tough to find, but there are plenty of other copycat recipes that will yield a similar result. This TikTok version uses mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, A1 steak sauce, dill, salt, and pepper.
@marriedtobbq Replying to @robertmartin142 Copycat McDonald's Breakfast Sauce 🤤 #breakfastsauce #copycatrecipe #kitchenhacks #sauce
One Redditor shared a recipe that uses a canned Bernaise sauce as the base and adds in one part cheddar cheese powder or spray. "I've tried five other recipes and this was the closest," the user wrote.