I Tried Every Breakfast Sandwich at McDonald’s and the Best Was Sweet and Savory
Whether you’re running late for work, hungover, or simply need something substantial to get you through a long day, breakfast sandwiches are quite possibly the best creation. Being able to run through your favorite fast food spot and grab a sausage, egg, and cheese McGriddle, or even a steak sandwich, to pack you full of protein quickly can be essential on those busy mornings. McDonald’s serves up a wide variety of breakfast sandwiches stuffed with bacon, steak, sausage, eggs, and cheese on different buns, biscuits, and bagels for a tasty, handheld breakfast on the go. They offer quite the selection of sandwiches, so I tried every single breakfast sandwich my McDonalds had to rank them for you. Let’s get into it!
Sausage Biscuit
Calories: About 460
The sausage biscuit immediately looked plain and boring, and unfortunately my first impression held up when I took a bite. The biscuit itself is very dry, practically begging for condiments or some of the creamy breakfast sauce. That said, the sausage is excellent. It’s flavorful and tastes higher quality than most fast-food breakfast sausages. Unfortunately, with nothing else on the sandwich, it still ends up feeling too simple and a little disappointing.
Sausage & Egg Biscuit
Calories: About 530
Adding egg definitely improves the moisture and flavor. The egg is the folded omelet-style version, but it’s actually less spongy than expected, which was a pleasant surprise.
Even with the egg, though, it still feels incomplete without cheese and lands toward the bottom of the list overall.
Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit
Calories: About 460
The bacon egg and cheese biscuit is just ok. The bacon gets a little lost inside the dry biscuit. The flavor overall is barely there, and compared to the sausage versions, it feels like a step down.
Hot Honey Sausage & Egg Biscuit
Calories: About 550
This newer sandwich adds a spicy honey-style sauce, which definitely helps with the biscuit’s dryness. However, the sauce tastes more like hot sauce than honey, with a flavor that almost leans towards ketchup. It’s surprisingly spicy and builds over time. It improves the biscuit texture, but the flavor isn’t great.
Steak, Egg & Cheese Biscuit
Calories: About 550
The steak itself has a very strong flavor, which feels unusual for breakfast. Combined with the already dry biscuit, the sandwich ends up feeling unbalanced and not very enjoyable. A little bit of the breakfast sauce or ketchup could help, but it’s still just not my favorite flavor-wise.
Bacon, Egg & Cheese Bagel
Calories: About 590
The bagel was the biggest disappointment of the entire tasting (not to be dramatic, but I stand by what I said). It felt hard, dry, and flavorless. Mind you, I live just outside of New York City, so maybe my bagel standards are a little high. But to my knowledge, they’re not supposed to crumble like a cracker. Even with egg and cheese, it was still unpleasant to eat. Skip the bagels entirely.
Steak, Egg & Cheese Bagel
Calories: About 680
This version includes a sauce that looks a little like hollandaise, McDonald’s attempt to add moisture to the dry as hell bagels. The creamy sauce couldn’t save it. The steak itself is tender and not as bad as it smells, though it’s still quite garlicky and onion-heavy for breakfast, especially if you’re heading to work. The bagel itself just completely ruins it.
Sausage, Egg & Cheese Bagel
Calories: About 710
Switching to sausage helped the bagel’s case ever so slightly, but the bagel remains too dry to save the sandwich. Even though this is the best-tasting bagel combination, the bagel itself is still the worst bread option by far.
Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit
Calories: About 580
Sausage, egg, and cheese brings enough moisture and richness to balance things out as far as the biscuit sandwiches go. The grease from the sausage helps soften the biscuit and tie everything together. This is easily the best biscuit sandwich and actually pretty tasty.
Egg & Cheese McMuffin
Calories: About 270-280 (around 310 if the Canadian bacon is added)
This sandwich is very basic and a little bland. There’s a variation that’s considered the original McMuffin that has Canadian bacon, and that’s a bit better. Without meat, the English muffin ends up feeling dry and underwhelming. Just boring to be honest. It really needs something extra to make it worthwhile.
Sausage & Cheese McMuffin
Calories: About 400
This one was surprisingly enjoyable, despite looking like it could use a little something extra. It’s still a bit dry without egg, but the sausage is so tasty that it’s easy to keep eating it. It proves how strong McDonald’s breakfast sausage really is.
Bacon, Egg & Cheese McMuffin
Calories: About 310
This is a classic breakfast sandwich that works really well. The McMuffin uses a different kind of egg format. It’s more like a firm, over-easy egg with a visible yolk, which gives the sandwich a slightly different texture. The crisp bacon comes through clearly. It’s simple, balanced, and satisfying, especially with hot sauce or ketchup added. Not a bad option!
Sausage, Egg & Cheese McMuffin
Calories: About 480
This one ended up being one of the best classic breakfast sandwiches. The English muffin is soft, the sausage is flavorful, and the egg and cheese add moisture, so it isn’t dry like some of the others. Everything balances well. It’s an excellent go-to breakfast sandwich, that I’m sure would be taken up a notch if sauce was added.
Steak, Egg & Cheese McMuffin
Calories: About 450
The steak, once again, felt too strong for breakfast, with heavy garlic and onion flavors. While it might work better as a lunch or dinner sandwich, it doesn’t really complement the breakfast format. I also just frankly am not a fan. It’s not terrible, but just doesn’t compare to some of the other options out there like the juicy sausage patties.
Chicken McGriddle
Calories: About 380
This is basically just their chicken patty on McGriddle buns (essentially pancakes with a little bit of syrup marbled throughout). It feels like McDonald’s was trying for a chicken-and-waffles vibe, but without cheese or sauce it ends up feeling disconnected and dry. It’s not terrible, but it doesn’t quite make sense as a breakfast sandwich.
Steak, Egg & Cheese McGriddle
Calories: About 520
The sweetness of the McGriddle helps balance the strong steak flavor. It’s still not amazing, but the syrupy buns make the steak more tolerable than on the other breads. The steak in no way compares to the sausage in my opinion.
Sausage McGriddle
Calories: About 430
This is simple, but still quite tasty. If you like pancakes and sausage for breakfast, that’s essentially what this is. The sweet-savory combo works perfectly. As someone who regularly orders this combo in a diner, looking at sausage and pancakes as the ultimate power duo, this was a top choice for me.
Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddle
Calories: About 430
The sweetness of the McGriddle pairs especially well with bacon. The contrast between sweet pancakes and salty bacon makes this sandwich really enjoyable. This ended up being one of the best bacon options overall in my opinion.
Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddle
Calories: About 550
The sausage, egg and cheese McGriddle is 100%, hands-down the winner. The sausage brings rich savory flavor, while the McGriddle buns add little pockets of syrupy sweetness. The egg and cheese make the whole sandwich hearty, moist, and balanced throughout. It’s the ideal mix of sweet and savory, filling, and easily the best breakfast sandwich I tried from McDonald’s.