If you love McDonald’s like a lot of people love McDonald’s, you’ll want to know the answer to the question “What time does McDonald’s stop serving breakfast?” for two key reasons.
First, you want to know when your window slams shut on Egg McMuffins, McGriddles, Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuits, and all the other offerings that make McDonald’s breakfasts what they are.
Second, you want to know the slim sliver of time in which the white whale of the American McD’s experience is possible: The McBrunch Burger, which brings the best of McDonald’s breakfast and OG menu fare together.
Here’s what you need to know to master McDonald’s at all hours of the day.
When does McDonald’s stop serving breakfast?
First of all, because most McDonald’s locations are operated as franchises by owners who buy into the company, there’s not one set time. McDonald’s official site notes, “Local lunch menus and hours may vary by restaurant, which Co-Ops and franchisees decide at their discretion, but the lunch menu generally begins serving at the time the breakfast menu changes over.”
As we reported in a previous explainer, for most locations, that’ll be at 10:30 a.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. on weekends. You can use the site’s locator to see which locations are open. It might not give you insights on the changeover time, but at least will let you know the lobby hours vs. the drive-through hours.
It’s also a case of “your mileage may vary”—what you experience when breakfast gives way to lunch might be different from store to store and day to day.
Is 10:30 a.m. the worst time to go to McDonald’s?
Well, Chef Mike Haracz certainly thinks so! The TikTok creator and former McDonald’s chef weighed in on the testy subject via his preferred platform. In a Daily Dot article, the expert declared 10:30 a.m. to be the worst time to go to McDonald’s, in part because “the grills have a different time and temperature” for lunch items than for breakfast items, and everything has to be recalibrated.
It seems like all-day breakfast might be the move, but McDonald’s discontinued it in 2020—according to a tweet, to “simplify operations in our kitchens, which we saw provided better speed of service and order accuracy for our customers.” It seems, from what they’re saying, that trying to do breakfast and lunch at the same time gums up the works.
But what about the McBrunch Burger?
10:30 a.m. on weekdays is also the ideal horizon in which to order what’s known as the McBrunch Burger. Though permutations may vary, the order hinges on McDonald’s breakfast staples like the round egg and the hashbrowns, paired with various elements of the burgers just starting to come on line that time of day.
While the Daily Dot’s article recommended using the Jalapeño Double as a launchpad for the McBrunch Burger, you might have to settle for whatever you can get, as the McBrunch Burger isn’t officially on the McDonald’s menu.
Haracz, referring to it as the 10:35 Burger in a TikTok on the subject, noted that he was interested in getting something akin to it on the official menu. He emphasizes that your best opportunity to get it is around 10:35 a.m. at a McDonald’s discontinuing breakfast at 10:30 a.m., provided that you have a friendly McDonald’s willing to play along.
So, while it’s the worst time to go to a McDonald’s, it’s also arguably the best if this is what you want in your life.
A form of the burger does exist on a McDonald’s menu, incidentally, but you have to travel far from the U.S. to get it. Meet the Big Brekkie Burger, an offering available at Australian McDonald’s. According to the Down Under version of the McD’s site, “it starts with a warm, crisp hash brown, melting cheese, rasher bacon and a freshly cracked egg.” It’s then “finished with a 100% Aussie beef patty and a generous dollop of BBQ sauce in between a toasted sesame seed bun.”
So, while you’re no longer wondering, “What time does McDonald’s stop serving breakfast?” you might be wondering when the U.S. will take Australia’s lead.
