McDonald's Best Breakfast Sandwich Outshines The Classic McMuffin And McGriddle

McDonald's breakfast sandwiches are as iconic as its burgers. While the Egg McMuffin and McGriddle are among the chain's most famous breakfast items, they have nothing on our top ranked breakfast sandwich. In a taste test of seven McDonald's breakfast sandwiches, the best breakfast sandwich that outshines all the rest is the Sausage McMuffin with Egg.

The classic Egg McMuffin ranked sixth, a surprisingly low ranking for a sandwich so memorable and only one ingredient away from the Sausage McMuffin. But the difference between a thick, salty, deli-meat adjacent slice of Canadian bacon and the well-seasoned, meaty breakfast sausage was a key factor in the Sausage McMuffin's top ranking. The combination of the sausage, egg, and cheese on a starchy, grainy, and pleasantly textured English muffin was the balance of flavors and textures we were looking for. Unlike the Egg McMuffin, none of the ingredients overpowered one another so we could taste all the different savory flavors with each bite.

While we experienced a similar flavor combination with the second-place winner — the Sausage, Egg and Cheese McGriddle — it fell behind the McMuffin due to the syrupy sweet griddle cakes, which didn't favor the sandwich's flavor or texture. Where the spongey cakes were as soft as all the sandwich fillings in the McGriddle, the grainy, chewy, English muffin gave the McMuffin a better textural contrast. The McMuffin also features a delicious fried egg in contrast to the folded scrambled egg in the McGriddle.

McDonald's customers were as complimentary of the Sausage McMuffin as we were, taking to social media to sing its praises. One McDonald's customer on Reddit proclaimed, "It is the closest thing to perfection that can come through a drive thru window at 7 a.m." On the same thread, customers answering the question as to why this fast food offering is so good believe that the answer has to do with the sausage, itself.

According to one user, it's "far better than anyone else's," with another attributing its consistently delicious texture and flavor to being "par cooked before being frozen, so it comes out perfect every time." Still, another Reddit thread put the McGriddle and the McMuffin head to heat, and over there, many Redditors preferred the former. One customer even said, "Every McMuffin I have ever had was so chewy I could barely even eat it."

Despite that, the majority of customers love the Sausage McMuffin with Egg, but it also came in first place in a separate Tasting Table ranking of McDonald's breakfast items. It may not be the classic McMuffin, but the sausage offering is still built like the sandwich we grew up eating, only with one key ingredient swap. And you can take it to the next level with easy yet flavorful breakfast order upgrades. For example, consider enhancing the textural contrast of the McMuffin even further by adding a crunchy, crispy hash brown. For added richness, you can always request extra butter.