How McDonald's Gets Its Eggs Extra Fluffy

There's obviously more than a little science behind much of McDonald's food, but for some things like its fluffy eggs, the secrets are surprisingly straightforward. While burgers and fries are the chain's bread and butter, no part of the menu seems to generate as much devotion as McDonald's breakfast. Even people who might normally scorn a Big Mac have a hard time denying the Egg McMuffin is a pretty stellar fast food breakfast sandwich. They are so popular that McDonald's even treated the country to a five-year run when you could get the McMuffin all day long before COVID-19 ruined the fun. And one of the things that makes the Egg McMuffin so special is those perfect circular eggs, which are made fluffy through good old fashioned steaming.

That's right, while some McDonald's eggs are made from packaged liquid eggs, the Egg McMuffin's soft, circular egg patty is cracked fresh, and they get their excellent texture from adding some water to the griddle to steam the egg while it's cooking. The steam in the pan helps the eggs set without excess browning, giving them a tender texture and keeping them moist. For a shop cranking out tons of eggs every day, it's a foolproof way to get the perfect egg every time.

As you might have guessed from the uniform shape of these egg patties, McDonald's also cooks its eggs in an egg round made to fit with an English muffin. If you want to recreate these eggs at home, you can use a mason jar lid or a stainless steel round cookie cutter. Lightly greasing the inside of the round will help ensure that the eggs slide out once they're cooked. Set the pan and egg ring over medium heat and crack the egg into the round. 

Egg McMuffin eggs are not scrambled but the yolks are pierced with a fork and mixed into the whites a bit for a more even distribution. Then comes the steam. Pour the water into the pan around the egg round, and then cover the pan. Let the egg steam for two minutes until it's cooked through and set. And that's it! You should have the ideal McDonald's copycat egg.

The classic McDonald's pairing is, of course, Canadian bacon, but you can use eggs cooked like this in any of your favorite breakfast sandwich recipes. You can also utilize this knowledge in other egg recipes as well. Adding just a teaspoon of water to your scrambled eggs before cooking creates steam in the same way, giving you extra fluffy results. Turns out you don't make breakfast sandwiches for the whole country every day without learning a few good tricks.