Every Ingredient In McDonald's Scrambled Eggs (Hint, It's Not Just Eggs)

Did you know that McDonald's serves multiple types of eggs for breakfast? There are actually four different egg recipes used to create everything on the breakfast menu, and the only fresh eggs in sight go on the famous Egg McMuffin. The other eggs are delivered to each restaurant pre-made — the scrambled eggs included. They're real eggs, just delivered in a different form. And, just like most of the premade egg mixtures on the market, McDonald's scrambled eggs aren't just made with the one obvious ingredient. Aside from eggs, they also have an additive for preservation and texture: citric acid. 

McDonald's scrambled eggs arrive already scrambled and ready to go on a hot grill with butter for rapid-fire breakfast orders. Employees pour them from a carton into a rectangular mold to cook on the grill, an action documented in a now-deleted TikTok video posted by one worker in 2022. The video shows a person pouring the eggs from a container marked "Liquid Egg Product." It sparked a bit of backlash from customers and exploration of hacks to get fresh eggs on a McDonald's breakfast sandwich.

We love a good McDonald's breakfast so much that we ranked the sandwiches on the breakfast menu. (Of course, we had to try all of them!) Eggs are part of what makes McDonald's breakfast items so great. They're quick, easy hits of protein that help us get our day started. McDonald's scrambled eggs aren't freshly cracked, and they aren't just purely egg, but is that necessarily a bad thing? 

Citric acid is naturally occurring in citrus fruits, but the kind that's used as a food preservative in many products is made in a lab from black mold. It is added to the liquid eggs to preserve them and extend shelf life. It also enhances the taste and texture of the product. Black mold sounds like a scary source for a preservative we use for so much more than just scrambled eggs at McDonalds, but there's nothing to fear. While some studies have linked excessive consumption of manufactured citric acid with inflammation symptoms, it is safe to eat — and the food industry relies on it heavily. Experts assure there aren't any serious health risks associated with citric acid, and the mold used to make it is filtered out of the final product.