The Easy Tip That Makes Copycat McDonald's Egg McMuffins At Home

The Egg McMuffin is a superstar on the McDonald's breakfast menu. It was developed in 1972 by franchise owner Herb Peterson in Santa Barbara, California and went national by 1975. Thanks to its success, the first McDonald's Breakfast Menu came online two years later. The sandwich is fairly simple to recreate, using an English muffin, butter or oil, Canadian bacon, egg, and a slice of yellow American cheese. But the egg requires a special hack to copy the sandwich perfectly at home.

Part of the Egg McMuffin's identity is its perfectly circular egg disk with the yolk slightly scrambled and fully set. When Peterson tested the sandwich, he got a local blacksmith to create a custom iron ring coated in Teflon. The idea was it would be the same size and shape as the signature English muffins Peterson landed on, and which would help him to evoke eggs Benedict in sandwich form.

These days, McDonald's uses custom griddles that cook six eggs at a time, but it's easy to mimic the effect at home using egg rings like Peterson did 50 years ago. You could order something like the Cotey 3.5-inch nonstick version. But if you're hungry right now, there's a clever trick made even easier if you happen to have homemade jam or pickles sitting in your fridge. That would be the lidless ring or band closure off a wide-mouth Mason or Ball jar (the jar and band are also useful when you don't have a coffee maker).

You'll find examples all across the internet outlining the steps needed to achieve that circular cooked egg at home. Essentially, you set the ring into a well-oiled pan and crack the egg into it. Add water to the pan, and cover so you're poaching the whole egg while the bottom fries.

Using silicone or coated metal egg rings is ideal. But an easy hack involves a three-and-a-half-inch metal band or ring from a wide-mouthed Ball or Mason jar. Invert it into the pan and crack your egg right into it. The flat rim of the flipped, lidless ring helps keep the egg in place, The band doesn't retain much heat, removing the egg should be easy. You can also use the circular lid that normally sits inside the band, so the egg touches the pan less and pops out easily.

For even greater ease of removal, spray the pan with oil before setting down the egg ring, then spray the ring itself. Make certain your stovetop and pan are level, and both pan and ring are clean and free of deformities (otherwise, the egg may seep out). If using a Mason jar ring, ensure it isn't coated or painted and that the interior of the ring is rust free. Egg McMuffins not your thing? Consider upgrading to a hot honey breakfast sandwich or adding this three-ingredient sauce that's perfect for breakfast sandwiches.