If you’re craving one popular McDonald’s breakfast sandwich but don’t want to jump in the car, here’s a hack that might satisfy your craving.
TikTok creator Mike Haracz (@chefmikeharacz), a former McDonald’s corporate chef, has built a following from his expert opinions on the fast food chain’s menu. Some of his most popular content has been about finding menu duplicates, or “dupes,” out in the wild. He’s previously tackled Big Mac sauce and chicken nuggets, for example.
Over the weekend, Haracz posted his latest find: A decent substitute for the cakes you get with McGriddles. The viral video has more than 416,000 views and 24,000 likes.
Haracz made the video as a follow-up to a previous TikTok about the three McDonald’s menu items for which he couldn’t find good dupes. (The other two: breakfast sauce and McChicken patties.)
“Do you wanna buy McGriddles from the store?” he asks viewers in the new video, going on to say to his followers, “You, the internet, let me know some info.” The winning find from viewers: Dutch griddle cakes from the Trader Joe’s frozen food section.
He tried out the dupe himself. “They are better than a McGriddle, alright? Don’t get mad at me. You buy it and try it yourself,” he says.
Haracz clarifies that he checked the ingredients of the actual McGriddle on the McDonald’s website and compared them with the Trader Joe’s dupe. “It is very different, OK?”
“After I got these, i did a little more research and apparently, people have already been making a McDonald’s McGriddle with these,” he says. That’s correct—TikTok creators have been wise to the griddle cake hack for a bit.
If you want to best approximate the McGriddle, you should microwave the Trader Joe’s cakes, but they’re better when toasted, he says.
Commenters were grateful for the tip.
“I see these all the time and never get em,” one person wrote. “I think the McGriddle is the best fast food breakfast invention ever. So def picking these up!”
“I work at Joe’s, literally just saw those the other day and thought ‘Huh, these would make a good McGriddle,’” another person commented.
“Better than McDonald’s to me. I put the griddle cakes in the air fryer. Amazing,” a viewer chimed in.
“I’ve been doing this ever since McDonald’s took away there 24 hour breakfast menu now I never go to McDonald’s cause I only went there for [breakfast],” a comment read.
The Trader Joe’s Dutch griddle cakes might be hard to get your hands on, though.
“Y’all sold out the griddle cakes,” someone commented.
“The unfortunate thing about the trader joes griddle cakes, they are a seasonal item,” another comment read.
“The Dutch griddle cakes sell out in minutes here apparently. I’ve only had them once. They are delicious though,” a viewer wrote.
Some commenters offered alternatives to the alternative.
@chefmikeharacz Former #McDonalds corporate chef tells you where to buy the #McGriddles at. #mcdonaldshacks #mcdonaldssecrets #mcdonaldssecret #mcdonaldshack #mcdonaldslife #mcdonaldstiktok #FastFood #fastfoodlife #fastfoodmenu #fastFoodhack #fastFoodMenuHack #MenuHack #FYP #ForYou #ForYouPage #fastfoodtiktok #McGriddle #mcgriddles4life #mcdonaldsmcgriddle #mcgriddlesathome ♬ original sound – Chef Mike Haracz
“Not quite the same as a McGriddle, but the Jimmy Dean Sweet Maple Griddle Cake breakfast sandwiches are a good quick option. 75 sec in microwave,” someone wrote.
Another person commented, “i just pour pancake batter into a ring mold and get my mcgriddles at home.”
In an email interview with the Daily Dot, Haracz said he tries to check out suggested dupes before recommending them to viewers.
“Also, for any viewers that work in a McDonald’s kitchen, if you want to try an amazing version of the McGriddle, just throw it in the deep fryer until crispy!” he told the Dot.
The Dot also reached out to McDonald’s and Trader Joe’s via email.
According to Parade, the McGriddle was introduced in 2003. The typical McGriddle is a sandwich made of bacon or sausage, egg, and cheese between two maple-flavored griddle cakes. Like Haracz mentioned, the ingredients for McDonald’s cakes are online; they include water, enriched flour, sugar, dextrose, and palm oil, with a little bit of brown sugar and other stuff.
According to the Trader Joe’s website, their Dutch griddle cakes are “made for us by a supplier in the Netherlands.” The main ingredients listed are wheat flour, canola oil, water, egg, sugar, and whey powder.
