If foodies are going to spend the extra time on busy weekday mornings (or get out of bed early on slow weekends) to wait in the drive-thru line for fast food breakfast, then the payoff had better be worth it. Our advice? For the best start to the day, hit Wendy’s. In Tasting Table’s ranking of 11 popular fast food breakfast sandwiches, we ranked Wendy’s higher than McDonald’s. Specifically, Wendy’s sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit beat out McDonald’s Egg McMuffin.
McDonald’s Egg McMuffin comprises an egg patty with lean Canadian bacon and American cheese, all housed in a buttered, toasted English muffin. The interplay of the salty, slightly sweet Canadian bacon with the texturally plush egg patty makes Mickey D’s Egg McMuffin a reliable, comforting, familiar classic. However, when paired side-by-side with other competitor fast food breakfast sandos, it sadly got overshadowed and lost in the mix. In addition to being somewhat forgettable, the Egg McMuffin could also be a little heartier and a little cheaper. As we mentioned in our review, “The price has jumped to nearly $5 after tax, hardly making it the value meal Ronald McDonald once advertised.” We’d much rather stay home and replicate the Egg McMuffin with this copycat version.
Wendy’s sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit follows a similar format. It stuffs a savory, peppery sausage patty, an egg patty, and American cheese between a sliced buttermilk biscuit – and that biscuit both steals the show and edges Wendy’s breakfast sando out over McDonald’s.
Wendy’s serves a tastier start to the day than Mickey D’s
On both flavor and texture, Wendy’s biscuit dominated the competition, bringing up the average of the entire sandwich and making the sausage, egg, and cheese greater than the sum of its parts. Comparatively, noted our reviewer, Wendy’s biscuit “was noticeably lighter in both color and texture [than Burger King’s], with a rich golden crust. It was much fluffier than its rival’s and buttery enough to crumble into each bite. Wendy’s slid past McDonald’s all thanks to that perfect biscuit. I’m usually a huge English muffin cheerleader, but it’s possible Wendy’s biscuit could have redeemed the McMuffin.”
Still, it’s worth mentioning that Wendy’s sausage, egg, and cheese English muffin is actually our number-one favorite offering on the chain’s breakfast menu. But, however you dig this sandwich, we aren’t the only ones digging it. One Reddit thread in r/Wendys raves, “[T]he sausage egg cheese classic is the best breakfast sandwich hands-down. […] Piping hot. Wrapped in foil, it’s almost steamed in a sense. It’s so good. […] I’ve never had a bad McDonald’s Egg McMuffin. I’ve had bad Classics from Wendy’s. But I’ve also never had an amazing McMuffin. And I’ve had some AMAZING classics from Wendy’s.” Not only does Wendy’s biscuit totally sweep, but the sando also clocked in at $4 in our review, making it both tastier and cheaper than McDonald’s Egg McMuffin.
