McDonald’s to Revamp Classic Burgers, Here’s How

Mcdonald’s plans to revamp its classic burgers by how it will cook the patties. This method will improve upon a year-long shortcoming reported in the Wall Street Journal.

The patties will include over 50 modifications. Today, the company announced that it is changing its burgers, including new, softer buns and more Big Mac sauce on its signature Big Macs. Other tweaks have also been made to the cooking process to yield a more consistent sear and meltier cheese, and the company is adding white onions at the grill for a caramelized flavor.

The changes were initially introduced in a few international markets, including Australia, Canada, and Belgium. They have already started rolling out in some markets on the West Coast. They are now available in LA, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Denver, Boise, Tucson, and surrounding cities. They will be available nationwide by 2024.  

“We can do it quickly and safely, but it doesn’t necessarily taste great. So, we want to incorporate quality into where we’re at,” Chris Young, McDonald’s senior director of global menu strategy.

“We found that small changes, like tweaking our process to get hotter, meltier cheese and adjusting our grill settings for a better sear, added up to a big difference in making our burgers more flavorful than ever,” Chef Chad Schafer, senior director of culinary innovation, said in a statement.

“Our classic burgers are what made McDonald’s famous. They’ve become a cultural icon over the years. We saw the opportunity to make a few changes in our kitchens to make them even more delicious and get back to what people loved most about them in the first place, making them hotter, juicier, and tastier,” Tariq Hassan, McDonald’s USA Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer, said in a statement. 

McDonald’s last changed its burgers in 2018 when it transitioned its Quarter Pounder with Cheese to fresh beef cooked to order. That same year, the company removed artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives from its entire burger lineup.

Removing artificial preservative(s) from the classic burgers is the latest in McDonald’s U.S. customer-driven initiatives. Previous commitments include sustainably sourcing all McCafé coffee by 2020 and transitioning to cage-free eggs in US and Canada by 2025. By 2020, McDonald’s has also committed to sourcing some of its beef from its top 10 beef-sourcing countries from suppliers participating in sustainability programs aligned with the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef principles and criteria.