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McDonald's Sausage McGriddle
Sweet maple-flavored griddle cakes sandwiching a savory breakfast sausage patty and melted American cheese. The iconic McDonald's breakfast sandwich you can make any time of day.
breakfast · mcdonalds · fast-food · sandwich
🕑Prep15 min
🍳Cook15 min
⏱Total30 min
🍽Serves4
⭐DifficultyMedium
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups pancake mix (Bisquick or similar)
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup, plus extra for the griddle cakes
- 4 breakfast sausage patties (Jimmy Dean or homemade)
- 4 slices American cheese
- Butter for the griddle
Instructions
- 1.Make the maple griddle cakes. In a bowl, whisk together the pancake mix, milk, egg, and 3 tablespoons of maple syrup. The batter should be thick but pourable. Heat a buttered griddle or skillet over medium heat. Pour small rounds about 3.5 inches in diameter — these are not full-sized pancakes. Cook for 2 minutes per side until golden. You need 8 cakes total.
- 2.Cook the sausage patties. In a separate skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage patties for 3-4 minutes per side until browned and cooked through. If using Jimmy Dean, they come pre-seasoned. For homemade, season ground pork with sage, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar.
- 3.Add the maple pockets (the secret). While the griddle cakes are still warm, drizzle a small amount of maple syrup onto the inside surface of each one. The syrup soaks into the warm pancake and creates those sweet pockets of maple that make the McGriddle unique.
- 4.Assemble the sandwiches. Place a sausage patty on one griddle cake, top with a slice of American cheese, and close with a second griddle cake. The residual heat from the sausage melts the cheese.
- 5.Optional: wrap and steam. Wrap each assembled McGriddle in a paper towel and microwave for 15 seconds. This steams the sandwich together and gives it that soft, compressed texture of the restaurant version.
McDonald’s Sausage McGriddle
The McGriddle is a work of fast food engineering genius. It replaces the bread in a breakfast sandwich with two small maple-flavored pancakes, and it works so well that it is hard to believe no one thought of it sooner. The sweet maple pancakes against the savory, peppery sausage and melted American cheese create a flavor combination that is uniquely satisfying.
McDonald’s serves these only during breakfast hours (unless your location does all-day breakfast). Making them at home means McGriddles whenever you want them.
Why Make It at Home?
A Sausage McGriddle at McDonald’s costs about $4-5. Making four at home costs about $6 total. More importantly, you can make them at 2 PM on a Saturday when the breakfast menu is long gone, and you can use better quality sausage than what comes out of a fast food kitchen.
Tips & Variations
- The maple syrup pockets are the key. The real McGriddle has maple syrup baked into crystallized pockets in the griddle cake. You can approximate this by drizzling syrup onto the warm pancake and letting it soak in, or by folding small drops of syrup into the batter before cooking.
- Keep the griddle cakes small. These are not breakfast pancakes. They should be about the size of your palm — just big enough to hold the sausage patty.
- Add an egg. The Sausage Egg McGriddle is the upgraded version. Fry an egg in a ring mold to get a perfectly round shape that fits the sandwich.
- Use sage sausage. If making your own patties, sage is the dominant flavor in McDonald’s sausage. Combine ground pork with rubbed sage, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a pinch of sugar.
