Ranking Every Item On The McDonald’s Breakfast Menu

It’s been close to 50 years since McDonald’s officially rolled out its breakfast menu at restaurants across the United States, and there isn’t a single fast food chain that can come close to matching the items it offers to customers who are looking to outsource The Most Important Meal of the Day. It’s hard to go wrong, but there are certain items that stand out among the rest of the pack.

Here’s how we rank every item on the McDonald’s breakfast menu

Some McDonald’s franchises were already serving up breakfast before the company launched a nationwide initiative in 1977 that saw the introduction of options including the McMuffin, hotcakes, and hash browns.

It eventually became beloved to the point where All-Day Breakfast was introduced in 2015. Unfortunately, that ended up becoming a casualty of the pandemic, and anyone who wants to get their hands on some now has to make sure they order before the dreaded 10:30 A.M. cutoff if they don’t want to miss the boat.

Before we dive into these rankings, I should note I’m not going to get too into the weeds here by taking individual meats into account or getting hung up on whether or not there’s cheese (with one notable exception). With that said, if you’re not getting sausage and opting for cheese if you don’t have a stomach issue that will make you regret going that route, you should reassess things.

10. Oatmeal

I admit I have not had what is officially referred to as “Fruit and Maple Oatmeal” on the menu, and that is because I am a reasonable person who is not going to sully a sacred McDonald’s breakfast with something I could whip up in my microwave.

I assume there are some people who feel differently when you consider oatmeal remained on the menu since it was officially added to the lineup in 2011, and while you can accuse me of failing to perform my due diligence by not tasting something before ranking it dead last, I can live with that decision.

9. Big Breakfast

The picture I used for this was taken when an English muffin was the carb of choice in the Big Breakfast, but the current default iteration swaps that out for a biscuit along with scrambled eggs, a hash brown, and a sausage patty (you can also get one that includes an order of the pancakes we’ll discuss in a moment).

All of those items can also be ordered individually, but the scrambled eggs are the only thing you won’t find incorporated into another option on the menu—and going out of your way to get them at McDonald’s is a wild move.

8. Sausage McMuffin

This is the only time I’m going to double-dip with specific sandwiches, but I desperately need to differentiate between the Sausage McMuffin and what any reasonable person would describe as a “regular” one.

If you’re allergic to eggs (or have a Guy Fieri-esque aversion to them) and still want to get your McMuffin fix, I can’t blame you for ordering what is essentially a sausage sandwich elevated by the piece of cheese that’s thrown into the mix. However, it pales in comparison to the O.G. that we’ll discuss in more detail in a moment.

7. Hotcakes

The pancakes that McDonald’s insists on referring to as “hotcakes” end up near the bottom of the list here by default. They’re not going to blow you away, but if you cover them in enough butter and the mediocre but nonetheless passable syrup they come with, you’ll never be left too disappointed.

6. Bagel Sandwich

It’s virtually impossible to live in New York City for an extended period of time without turning into a Bagel Supremacist, and I became one after spending more than a decade in The Big Apple.

With that said, I can still tolerate a bagel sandwich at Dunkin’, but McDonald’s would probably need to be out of every alternative before I settle for one there. I have not tried them since they returned to the menu in 2025 after going away during the pandemic, so while there’s a chance they’ve improved, I’m not really in a rush to find out based on my previous experience.

It’s worth noting this is the only option that allows you to pick steak as a protein (it comes with onions if you go that route), but if you’re paying a premium for that meat at McDonald’s, you’re doing something wrong.

5. Sausage Burrito

They may have ended up in the middle of the pack here, but I’m of the firm opinion that McDonald’s breakfast burritos punch above their weight. They might not be the most mind-blowing Mexican-inspired breakfast option you’ll ever have, but if you hit them with some hot sauce, it’s a pretty solid way to start your day.

4. Egg McMuffin

The Egg McMuffin was the brainchild of Herb Peterson, a franchisee with multiple stores in California, who drew inspiration from an Eggs Benedict to create the item he dreamed up toward the start of the 1970s. The O.G. is still served with Canadian bacon, and while you can also get it with sausage, this is a case where I err on the side of tradition.

3. Biscuit Sandwich

As far as I’m concerned, there aren’t many things in this world capable of combating a hangover quite like a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit in the morning after a long, long night. However, you don’t have to be in a bad place to appreciate the goodness you get when you take a bite of any of the biscuit sandwiches at McDonald’s.

2. McGriddle

McDonald’s knew it was changing the game when it unleashed the McGriddle on an unsuspecting world in 2003. The revolutionary syrup-infused offering gave customers the chance to order a sandwich with ingredients that were literally pancaked between two tiny flapjacks, and it would easily top the list of not for…

1. Hash Browns

There was never any doubt that hash browns were going to be at the top of this list, and every McDonald’s breakfast veteran already knew what they were going to be greeted with by the time they got to the end of it.

This legendary side has been a hot topic of conversation in recent years due to the price that has slowly but surely ticked upward, but it’s hard to blame stores for hiking it when you consider McDonald’s breakfast without a hash brown (or two) isn’t really a McDonald’s breakfast at all.