4 Ordering Tips To Get The Best McDonald's McGriddle

It's hard to go wrong with a McGriddle — the sweet and savory breakfast treat is firmly established as one of the greatest McDonald's innovations of all time, up there with the famous Filet-O-Fish and those addictively delicious apple pies. Whether you prefer crispy bacon or hearty sausage, the portable combination of maple-infused griddle cakes that also comes with fluffy egg and gooey American cheese is practically perfect (as our ranking of McDonald's breakfast sandwiches demonstrates). However, if you order it right, it's possible to improve on perfection and get a better McGriddle.

It might sound hard to believe, but it's true: McGriddles can be even more delicious. Since its debut in 2003, the unique sandwich is consistently among the chain's best-selling menu items (except when McDonald's briefly discontinued the McGriddle), and enterprising customers have cooked up myriad tasty upgrades over the years. Here are four simple ordering tips to get the best McDonald's McGriddle.

Most of McDonald's McGriddle varieties contain the chain's folded-egg patty, which comes to restaurants pre-cooked, frozen, then heated to serve. While that's perfectly tasty, if you want a fresher McGriddle egg-sperience, you can swap the folded one for a freshly cracked "round egg" (for more details, here's the real difference between the two). Some customers find the round egg offers a fuller and more natural flavor. On Reddit, a McGriddle customer posted that the "round egg is so much better than [the] folded egg. ... The round egg tastes like an actual egg, with the yolk having a nice rich eggy taste and texture."

Interestingly, in Canada all egg-containing McGriddles come with round, fresh-cracked eggs, as folded eggs are not on the Mickey D's menu in our neighbor to the north. If you're ordering in person in the United States, you should be able to request your McGriddle made with a round egg free of charge at many locations. When ordering through the McDonald's app, you can simply remove the folded egg and add a round one, although it may come with a small upcharge.

Like almost any food, the McGriddle can get a tasty boost with the right condiments. Luckily, McDonald's offers a wide range of dipping sauces that pair beautifully with a McGriddle, so don't be afraid to request a few packets of your favorite when you order. (By the way, here's what to know before asking for extra sauce at McDonald's.) For example, you could add a spicy pepper sauce or hot sauce for the ultimate sweet, tangy, and spicy mashup, or drizzle on strawberry preserves or maple syrup for an extra-sweet twist.

If you're making an online order, you can add as many sauces as you like in the "Sauces & Condiments" section of the menu, though you'll have to pay a few cents more for premium options. When ordering in person, just politely request a few packets of your sauce of choice – depending on your franchise's sauce policy and how nicely you ask, you may get them free of charge.

If you've ever struggled to choose between a sausage or bacon McGriddle, we totally get it, and we've got good news: You can have the best of both worlds and order your sandwich with both breakfast meats. The combination of crunchy bacon and savory sausage balances beautifully with the sweet McGriddle cakes and soft, mild egg and cheese. 

This double-pork upgrade isn't unprecedented — in Canada, the bacon-and-sausage Mighty McGriddle is an official menu item, and the extra-meaty upgrade is so popular stateside that it inspired McDonald's to release a Triple Breakfast Stacks McGriddle, loaded with two sausage patties, bacon, egg, and cheese, in 2018. McDonald's ultimately discontinued this uber-indulgent treat (many customers agreed it was a little too much, even for Mickey D's), but you can order your own slightly less gut-busting breakfast by adding bacon to a Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddle.

The McGriddle is like a pancake breakfast and breakfast sandwich all rolled into one, so why not take the mashup to the next level and add hash browns to the mix? Even if you're burnt out on viral hash brown hacks — we're looking at you, weirdly gross McFlurry hash brown sandwich trend — this McGriddle upgrade is worth its salt. Order your favorite McGriddle variety with a side of hash browns, and then insert the crispy potato patty into the sandwich for an extra layer of crispy, fried deliciousness.

This spud upgrade works with any kind of McGriddle, but as one TikTok user gladly demonstrates, it adds an especially satisfying crunch to the sausage, egg and cheese variety. You could also use hash browns to replace the meat for a vegetarian version of the breakfast treat — just order a Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddle, request no bacon, and add a hash brown.