What Really Happened To McDonald's Breakfast Sauce

If chowing down breakfast from McDonald's is part of your regular routine, you probably clocked when the brand's breakfast sauce suddenly disappeared. In a since deleted tweet, a curious Twitter user inquired about the sauce, and the answer they received proved that nothing lasts forever. "The Breakfast Sauce and the Folded Egg was discontinued as part of our menu evolution and we don't plan to offer it again at this time," McDonald's Canada revealed in a tweet. After the news broke, a slew of commenters begged for the sauce's return. "... When I found the sauce was discontinued [I] discontinued my patronage," one user tweeted in part.

The breakfast sauce was a critical part of what made the brand's breakfast bagels unique. This problem was eventually solved, though not exactly in a satisfying way as bagels also disappeared from the menu. In February 2023, bagels returned to select stores across the United States. Still, the breakfast sauce was nowhere to be found. And now, fans of the beloved sauce are finding ways to recreate it themselves.

Fans of McDonald's breakfast sauce took to Reddit to ask other patrons what the special sauce was derived from. Overall, the general consensus was that the sauce was a spin-off of traditional hollandaise sauce. Though the McDonald's website no longer lists the sauce's ingredients, one commenter shared the breakfast sauce included soybean oil, egg, vinegar, lemon juice, cheddar cheese, and several more less-prominent ingredients. In comparison, hollandaise sauce is made up of butter, lemon juice, and eggs as well as seasonings.

Several websites have attempted to recreate the discontinued product. One recipe in specific calls for mayonnaise, mustard, steak sauce, lemon juice, dill weed, salt, and pepper. The copycat sauce is said to be creamy with a sweet, tangy flavor. On another Reddit thread, one user shared what they called the "closest thing [they've] made to McDonald's bagel breakfast sauce." Posted on the r/TopSecretRecipes subreddit, the sauce contained béarnaise sauce and cheese powder.