McDonald’s Brings Back a Fan-Favorite Breakfast Item After a 4-Year Hiatus

The bagel sandwich is back, and we're lovin' it.

McDonald’s breakfast menu is about to return to its former glory, thanks to the return of a greatly missed menu item.

McDonald’s bagel sandwich has returned to the popular Chicaogo-based fast food chain’s morning menu in select markets. Customers in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Florida, Tennessee, Iowa, West Virginia, California, North Carolina, Ohio, Alabama, and beyond have all reported the glorious revival of the hot menu item at local franchises. Even New York, the nation’s bagel capital, is seeing the McDonald’s bagel return to some locations in the city and upstate. 

McDonald’s bagel’s return is expected to be a nationwide rollout, but the company has yet to confirm a schedule, list of locations where the bagel will be available, or when it will be available.

Related: The Best Bagels in America

Luckily, the good people of the Internet are helping track down McDonald’s breakfast bagels. A public spreadsheet lists the confirmed McDonald’s locations serving the breakfast bagel sandwich. And several Reddit threads are already reporting and speculating on regional McDonald’s bagel reprises. A Facebook group, Where is my McDonald’s Bagel? has nearly 12,000 members, with active users posting about where they’ve found the ever-elusive morning treat and reporting back their direct communications with managers and customer service on upcoming bagel offerings.

McDonald’s bagel sandwiches are a riff on the popular McMuffin — but built on a plain bagel instead. They’re available as bacon, egg, and cheese; sausage, egg, and cheese; or steak, egg, and cheese. Additionally, plain ol’ egg and cheese is also available for non-meat eaters. 

To the dismay of fans, the breakfast item was discontinued in early 2020, the same year McDonald’s ended its popular all-day breakfast menu. Now, breakfast hours shift by location, but most restaurants only offer the breakfast menu through 11 a.m., instead of ‘round the clock.

Related: How to Make a Lox Bagel Sandwich

Those who love breakfast baked goods with a hole in the middle may also be happy to learn that McDonald’s announced a partnership with Krispy Kreme this week, promising to offer the fan-favorite doughnuts in McDonald’s stores across America by 2026. 

But McDonald’s isn’t the only fast food chain to offer (or not offer, depending on where you’re ordering) breakfast bagel sandwiches for those seeking a drive-thru experience. Wendy’s has a bagel egg sandwich with bacon or sausage and Dunkin’ has a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel — plus a bagel with cream cheese, with bagel flavors like multigrain, everything, sesame seed, white cheddar twist, and more. Panera Bread, of course, also offers a slew of bakery-style bagels (the cinnamon crunch is elite) as does the bagel-dedicated chain, Einstein Bros.

Still, if you’re craving a side of hash browns, a McCafé, and a side of mac sauce for dipping, you can’t replace the McDonald’s breakfast bagel sandwich. Good luck finding it!

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