How McDonald’s transformed the Egg McMuffin sandwich forever with just one ingredient
By Brooke Steinberg
Published May 21, 2025, 10:07 a.m. ET
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There’s a reason McMuffins have been egg-stra tasty in recent years.
McDonald’s beloved Egg McMuffin has stayed pretty consistent in its recipe since its debut 50 years ago — but one ingredient swap changed the breakfast sandwich for the better.
If you order an Egg McMuffin, you’ll receive a sandwich consisting of a freshly cracked Grade A egg, melted American cheese, a slice of Canadian bacon, placed on a toasted English Muffin, topped with real butter.
McDonald's Egg McMuffin
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McDonald’s Egg McMuffin consists of egg, American cheese, Canadian bacon, all on a buttery English Muffin.
McDonald's
But the beloved menu item didn’t always feature real butter.
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If you’ve been a McDonald’s customer for over a decade, you might notice a slight change in taste, most believe a better taste, thanks to a small alteration in ingredients.
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McDonald's Big Breakfast and Egg McMuffin displayed at a restaurant in Fairfield, California in July 2015 during all-day breakfast testing
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McDonald’s celebrated the 50th anniversary of the beloved breakfast sandwich this year.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
In 2015, the fast food chain stopped using liquid margarine and switched to real dairy butter.
The swap came as Americans began to realize that margarine isn’t as healthy as everyone once thought it was, and the artificial product doesn’t compare in quality or flavor to dairy-based butter.
But such a seemingly small modification was actually a supersized venture for the chain.
According to The Takeout, the process of phasing out margarine and bringing in real butter to breakfast items took about six months — though many customers are lovin’ it and believe it was worth it.
View of a McDonald's restaurant sign in Northvale, NJ on February 22, 2025
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In 2015, McDonald’s stopped using liquid margarine and switched to real dairy butter.
Christopher Sadowski
McDonald’s celebrated the 50th anniversary of the beloved breakfast sandwich this year, which debuted in 1975.
According to McDonald’s, the Egg McMuffin was first invented in 1971 by Herb Peterson, who presented it to Ray Krock, who is widely regarded as the “Founder of McDonald’s,” as the concept of putting a diner classic, Eggs Benedict, in the palm of your hand.
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“When I watched my father introduce this idea to Ray Kroc, we could not have anticipated it would become the foundation for the renowned McDonald’s breakfast menu,” Peterson’s son and McDonald’s owner/operator David Peterson, said in a statement.
“It’s been remarkable to see people embrace this innovation over the last five decades, and now we get to share that heritage with a new generation of breakfast fans.”
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