McDonald's created the concept of fast-food breakfast and its rivals have generally done a pretty bad job copying it.
The Egg McMuffin, which recently turned 50, established the blueprint for a versatile, quick-to-make, fast-food breakfast sandwich. While that beloved product started as Canadian bacon, egg, and cheese served on an English muffin, it also works with bacon, sausage, and really any toppings.
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McDonald's (MCD) -) morning menu has, of course, expanded but aside from its Big Breakfast, which is built around pancakes, sandwiches remain the core. That's because simply by changing breads, adding a protein (like fried chicken or steak) gives you a bunch of new items with very little added complexity.
That's why the chain brought back its popular Breakfast Bagels. It's not any extra effort to put your egg, cheese, and meats on a bagel than it is an English muffin, a biscuit, or whatever a McGriddle is. The company has added fried chicken served on a biscuit and steak as a protein choice for its bagels, but aside from those minor deviations, most of its morning menu involves swapping out roll/bread choices.
Now, however, as Wendy's (WEN) -) has been gaining market share with its somewhat new breakfast offering and Yum Brands (YUM) -) Taco Bell trying to win over customers, McDonald's has made a spicy morning menu change in at least some markets.
Image source: Shutterstock
McDonald's Adds a Spicy New Breakfast Option
It has always frustrated McDonald's customers that the chain won't make breakfast items past the 10:30 or 11 a.m. cutoff. Once the chain dropped its all-day breakfast during the covid pandemic, those frustrations returned as customers know that the chain has all the ingredients needed to make breakfast items at other hours.
It's not that simple, of course, because each McDonald's only has so much grill and fryer space. You can't throw some hash browns in to cook, because that space is needed for french fries.
What you can do, however, is look at condiments served in specific day parts and make them available all day. If McDonald's adds a new sauce or some other non-cooked topping as a limited-time offer for lunch and dinner, there's no reason to not make that topping a breakfast choice.
That's what the chain is doing with its latest burger topping.
"McDonald's serves new Cheesy Jalapeno breakfast sandwiches in select markets across the US, including here in Los Angeles. They basically take the same pickled jalapenos and cheddar cheese sauce from the new Cheesy Jalapeno Quarter Pounder with Cheese and allow you to add them to a number of their regular breakfast sandwiches," Brand Eating reported.
That's a small change, but it's an obvious one that could be repeated. People could, in theory, add Special Sauce to their McGriddle (that seems like a terrible idea, but the logic makes sense).
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The chain isn't offering the Cheesy Jalapeno topping on all of its breakfast sandwiches, but only a select few:
- The Cheesy Jalapeno Sausage Egg Biscuit
- The Cheesy Jalapeno Bacon Egg and Cheese Biscuit
- The Cheesy Jalapeno Egg McMuffin
- The Cheesy Jalapeno Sausage Egg McMuffin
The Cheesy Jalapeno Bacon QPC and Cheesy Jalapeno Bacon Double QPC have been offered since July 10 and the chain has not shared when they will come off the menu. McDonald's described the two burgers as follows:
"These delicious, limited-time menu items feature our signature, 100% fresh beef Quarter Pounder patty, two slices of melty American cheese, thick-cut Applewood Smoked bacon, and pickled jalapeño slices. They’re topped off with a creamy cheddar cheese sauce and served on a toasted sesame seed bun," the company shared on its website.
