Are Real Eggs Used For McDonald's Breakfast Menu?
If you are looking for a tasty and quick egg sandwich for breakfast, you can easily whip one up at home. Or, you could run out to the nearest fast food place and pick up one. Of course, not all restaurants use real eggs, and you're even less likely to get real eggs at a fast food chain. There are chains like Panera, Wendy's, and McDonald's that claim to use only real eggs, but do they really?
According to TODAY, Burger King uses a "liquid egg-pasteurized mixture" for their "eggs," made up of whole eggs, water, xanthan gum, and more ingredients that aren't eggs. Simple Most claims that Chick-fil-A also uses a similar mixture for their eggs, as does Subway. The outlet notes that Jack-In-The-Box and Starbucks actually do use real eggs for most of their egg items. But, yo might be wondering, what about McDonald's? Are real eggs served where the Golden Arches reign?
The Egg McMuffin
According to Business Insider, the freshest item containing eggs on the McDonald's menu is the Egg McMuffin, which uses liquid egg whites, but it does not have any additives like the other fast food chains put in their eggs. The other McDonald's egg dishes are made from liquid eggs that contain additional ingredients, similar to the ones used in Burger King's eggs, to create an egg-like texture and flavor, and to preserve the eggs, per McDonald's.
The company says its scrambled eggs, which can be found in McDonald's breakfast platters and its breakfast burritos, are made from the liquid egg mixture right in the store. The folded eggs, though, are cooked from the liquid eggs in factories. They are then flash-frozen and sent to McDonald's restaurants, where they are warmed right before serving them in menu items like egg and cheese biscuits, the McGriddle, and bagel sandwiches.
Getting real eggs from McDonald's
Even though these eggs have preservatives that you won't find in grocery store eggs (cage free or not) McDonald's claims that all of their eggs are real. In its FAQ section on the company's website, they say that the "breakfast menu items are all made with real eggs—they're just prepared a little differently for each sandwich." That perfect ring egg patty that is the right size and shape for the Egg McMuffin, for example, is made with a USDA Grade A "egg ring," McDonald's states. It's a real egg, cracked into the ring to cook it in that exact shape.
If you want to ensure that you are getting a real egg from McDonald's, and not that liquid egg with all the added ingredients, it seems you just have to ask for the "round egg" in your sausage and egg biscuit, McGriddle, or breakfast platter. Or you can ask to swap the egg in those items for the egg that comes with the Egg McMuffin. We're pretty sure the employee's will know what you mean.