The McDonald's McGriddle We Will Be Ordering For Breakfast Every Time

The first McDonald's breakfast sandwich was born out of the desire to create a cheaper eggs Benedict. What's known today as the Egg McMuffin was the chain's first attempt at breakfast — and a successful one at that — and through the years, other breakfast items have come along. In 2003, McDonald's introduced the McGriddle to the world, a dish created by Tom Ryan as a way to get creative with the brand's breakfast concept. A McGriddle is a breakfast sandwich with pancakes for buns instead of the usual English muffin. And if it were up to us, we'd never order anything besides the Sausage, Egg, and Cheese McGriddle; it was the favorite McGriddle in our McDonald's breakfast sandwich ranking.

It's been more than two decades since the McGriddle appeared on the fast food chain's menu, and the syrup-infused pancake buns are here to stay. There are three versions of the sandwich: Sausage, which features only a sausage patty between the pancakes; Sausage, Egg, and Cheese; and Bacon, Egg, and Cheese. But Chowhound prefers the Sausage, Egg, and Cheese variety for two big reasons: its flavor and texture.

Among the McGriddle varieties, this one reigns supreme because the sausage patty ultimately has more flavor than the bacon, and the egg and cheese create better balance than just bare sausage. McDonald's sausage patties are bursting with savory flavor, not to mention they're similar in thickness to the folded egg, meaning the texture can stand up to those other flavors while the thin bacon gets a little overwhelmed. The difference in flavor between these two types of pork is likely due to the sausage version having more fat and salt than the bacon version, which tends to build better flavor. 

If you don't want to spend the money on a McGriddle, you can buy the ingredients at the grocery store and meal-prep a few of them in bulk. Reddit users have perfected the ratio that makes this McGriddle superior — though if you're going for the U.K. variation, you should swap the folded egg for a fried egg. The only other things you need to make this breakfast at home are some pancakes, a sausage patty, and copycat McDonald's cheese.