Making McDonald’s Burger Seasoning at Home is Easy with This Perfect Ratio

One of the most important elements to building the perfect burger is properly seasoning the meat. Salt helps bring out flavors, and it’s an essential part of bringing a dish to life. Even fast food chains like McDonald’s have specific seasoning ratios, in which salt is often the key ingredient, to ensure the burger patties are as palatable as possible. Rumor has it the restaurant uses a seasoning blend of 86% salt to 14% black pepper.

While McDonald’s beef patties come from an external vendor, the seasoning is what gives them their signature flavor. According to a TikTok posted by former McDonald’s corporate chef Mike Haracz, the seasoning is sometimes called grill seasoning but often referred to just by its ratio name “86-14” at McDonald’s restaurants. The easiest way to get the most accurate percentage is by measuring 8.6 grams of salt on a food scale and 1.4 grams of black pepper. The rest is pretty simple: Combine the two, season the burger patties, and pretty soon, you’ll have copycat McDonald’s burgers that taste just like the real deal.

Perfecting the burger seasoning is only step one of building your own delicious McDonald’s burger. Other aspects like topping ratios, copycat sauces, and even buying a similar processed cheese are all important to creating dupes on your own. According to another TikTok from Mike Haracz, Walmart’s Great Value Deluxe American Cheese tastes almost exactly the same as the chain’s iconic yellow cheese, so start there to replicate the flavor.

You can easily recreate McDonald’s Big Mac sauce at home, too. It’s just a base of mayonnaise enhanced with relish, mustard, white vinegar, and paprika. Other spices, like granulated garlic and onion powder, add a little extra flavor, too. McDonald’s traditionally uses sesame seed buns on its burgers, which aren’t hard to find in stores. As long as you stick with the right seasoning ratio, plus similar ingredients and sauces, you can enjoy a fast food burger at home without ever making a pit stop at the drive-thru again.