It is true that McDonald's uses "folded eggs" that are "flash frozen" for some of its breakfast items. It also uses "liquid eggs."
However, several items on the McDonald's breakfast menu use eggs that are cracked fresh each morning.
We've seen no shortage of McDonald's rumors over the last two decades. One rumor that has persisted for years was that McDonald's uses frozen eggs for its breakfast items.
This rumor was similar to our previous reporting about frozen foods used at Panera Bread.
It's true that some McDonald's breakfast items use frozen eggs as an ingredient. However, it's also true that other choices on the menu use fresh eggs that are cracked each day. It depends on which product a customer orders.
McDonald's explained on the company website that its restaurants use real eggs, but that some menu items use "folded eggs" that are "flash frozen" by suppliers. We broke down each individual McDonald's breakfast menu item that includes eggs.
As shown in this video, USDA Grade A eggs are cracked each day into an "egg ring" for McDonald's signature McMuffin:
These five breakfast items use "folded eggs" that previously have been "flash frozen." At the restaurants, they are "prepared on the grill" in real butter:
- Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit
- Sausage Biscuit with Egg
- Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddles
- Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddles
- Bacon, Egg & Cheese Bagel
"Liquid eggs" that are ready to be scrambled are cooked fresh with real butter for these three items:
As for the Sausage Burrito, McDonald's posted the following information: "Our suppliers pre-cook liquid eggs with ingredients that include sausage, tomatoes, green chiles, onions and seasonings before flash freezing them to help maintain their taste."
McDonald's breakfast was once rated as the number one fast food breakfast menu by Mashed.com. Whataburger came in at #2 and Taco Bell landed at #3. Subway was in last place at #16.
McDonald's first started serving breakfast in 1972, when it introduced the Egg McMuffin. In the past, a handful of Twitter users even found pieces of eggshell in their McMuffin breakfast sandwiches.
In 2015, McDonald's launched its All-Day Breakfast menu, which included its McMuffin menu items that use eggs that are cracked each day in the restaurants. In March 2020, the company began to limit its All-Day Breakfast menu in order to "simplify operations" during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Joe Erlinger, the president of McDonald's USA, tweeted that All-Day Breakfast would be back.