Best McDonald's Breakfast Menu Hacks (2026): How to Order Them

Short answer: The most popular McDonald's breakfast hacks are putting a hash brown inside a Sausage McMuffin with Egg or a McGriddle, swapping in the fresh-cracked round egg, ordering hash browns well done, making pancake tacos with hotcakes, and adding the bagel breakfast sauce to other sandwiches. Some are buttons in the app. Others you have to ask for at the counter.

1. Hash brown inside your sandwich

How to order: Order a Sausage McMuffin with Egg (or any McGriddle) and a Hash Brown, then put the hash brown inside the sandwich yourself.

2. Swap in the fresh-cracked round egg

McDonald's uses different eggs: the round egg on the Egg McMuffin is cracked fresh, while biscuits and McGriddles get a folded egg made from liquid eggs. Fans swap the round egg onto other sandwiches.

How to order: Look in the sandwich's customization options at the kiosk, or ask at the counter. You can also add an extra round egg. Mashed reports McDonald's lists it in the app for about $1.50.

3. Ask for hash browns "well done"

How to order: Ask for your hash brown well done for crispier edges. It's a quick request at the counter or drive-thru.

4. Pancake tacos

How to order: Get the Big Breakfast with Hotcakes (1,340 calories) or Hotcakes and Sausage. Lay the hotcakes flat, add the eggs, sausage and hash brown, drizzle syrup and fold each one like a taco.

5. Bagel breakfast sauce on everything

The Steak, Egg & Cheese Bagel and other bagel sandwiches come with a creamy breakfast sauce. Ask for it on a biscuit, burrito or hash brown.

6. The "Norwegian" Egg McMuffin

How to order (in person): Ask for an Egg McMuffin with lettuce, tomato and onion, and swap the Canadian bacon for a hamburger patty (or sausage). Try it near the end of breakfast hours, when lunch ingredients are ready.

7. Chicken and waffles

How to order: Get a McChicken Biscuit or Chicken McGriddles where available, and add honey or syrup. Or swap McGriddle buns onto a chicken sandwich.

8. Build your own Triple Breakfast Stack

The Triple Breakfast Stack is gone, but you can rebuild it. How to order: Pick a biscuit, McGriddle or McMuffin and add bacon, a round egg, two sausage patties and two slices of cheese. Some add-ons are in the app; others you have to ask for.

9. Order à la carte

You can ask for a single sausage patty, scrambled eggs or a round egg on their own. At the Los Angeles-area McDonald's we checked online, a side of sausage was $2.99, scrambled eggs $3.19 and a round egg $2.50.

Not breakfast, but popular: the "poor man's Big Mac"

Order a McDouble with no ketchup or mustard, and add Mac sauce and shredded lettuce. At the Miami McDonald's we checked online, a McDouble was $3.69 before add-ons, and a Big Mac was $8.19.

Prices

Breakfast prices from a Los Angeles-area McDonald's (online ordering, Nov 7, 2026):

Prices vary by restaurant and are often lower in the McDonald's app. See every price on our McDonald's menu prices page, and add up your order with the McDonald's nutrition calculator.