The Best Way To Eat Breakfast at McDonald's

By
J. Kenji López-Alt
Kenji Lopez Alt
Culinary Consultant
Kenji is the former culinary director for Serious Eats and a current culinary consultant for the site. He is also a New York Times food columnist and the author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.
Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process
Updated August 10, 2018
20110920-McDonalds-breakfast-mashup-primary.jpg

Step 1: Purchase a Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit

What can I say? I actually like McDonald's breakfast sandwiches. I grew up above a McDonald's and my favorite mornings were the ones where we woke up too late to fix a proper breakfast at home so we'd grab a Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit from the drive-thru on the way to school.

To this day I'll occasionally sneak off to McDonald's for a clandestine sandwich, guiltily snarfing down the salty buttery biscuit, the gooey American cheese, the weirdly spongy egg patty and the bacon-that's-not-really-bacon-but-still-delicious.

And my wife has a disproportionately large love for McDonald's hash browns. (Disproportionate as in she's small and her love is large).

Finally, just the other day, I was thinking about how there aren't enough crispy-potato-as-sandwich-filling sandwiches. Putting these three thoughts together I was struck by an idea that could be a) genius, b) stupid, or c) ingeniously stupid.

Karl Pilkington, a man with very little education, once said that "there's no difference in being genius or being a fool." You be the judge.

You've seen step one, here are the rest.

Step 2: Purchase a Hash Brown

20110920-McDonalds-breakfast-mashup-2.jpg

NB: You may also receive this hash brown as part of a value meal.

Step 3: Open the Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit

20110920-McDonalds-breakfast-mashup-3.jpg

NB: At some McDonald's, poor quality control might lead the assembler to stick the cheese on top of the egg. In this case, remove the bottom half of the biscuit instead.

Step 4: Bite Off 1/3rd of the Hash Brown

20110920-McDonalds-breakfast-mashup-4.jpg

NB: You may also tear it, cut it, or punch it off as desired.

Step 5: Place Remaining Hash Brown Patty on Egg

20110920-McDonalds-breakfast-mashup-5.jpg

NB: It should fit perfectly on top. If not eat off edges as necessary.

Step 6: Place Top Back on Sandwich

20110920-McDonalds-breakfast-mashup-6.jpg

NB: This is excellent to try whilst hungover.

Step 7: Profit

20110920-McDonalds-breakfast-mashup-7.jpg

NB: Also works with other McDonald's sandwiches.

More Serious Eats Recipes