These Viral Muffin-Tin McGriddles Are a Breakfast Delight (and They Freeze Well, Too!)

In a perfect world, almost every breakfast would be a delicious home-cooked meal. In reality, though, every now and then, you likely just want a rich and filling fast-food breakfast classic. Enter: the almighty McGriddle, otherwise known as McDonald’s MVP breakfast menu item. Complete with breakfast sausage, melty cheese, and scrambled eggs sandwiched between maple syrup-infused pancakes, the McGriddle is amazing. 

As a long-time fan of the McGriddle myself, I’m always intrigued by clever ways to make it at home. Luckily I was fortunate enough to stumble upon these muffin-tin McGriddles from food writer and influencer Shay Spence, who recently competed on the most recent season of Gordon Ramsey’s Next Level Chef. 

As part of an Easter brunch series on TikTok, Spence kicked things off with this miniature version of the beloved fast-food staple. Aside from being a fan of the McGriddle, I was motivated to try these myself because they’re conveniently portioned, they’re great for kids and families, and they seem like they’d freeze well for meal prep.

For equipment, you’ll need a muffin tin (more important info on this below!), a skillet, a spatula, a pastry brush, and a liquid measuring cup with a spout. 

For ingredients, you’ll need cooking spray, eggs, mini breakfast sausage patties (or breakfast sausage divided into scant tablespoon patties), slices of cheddar cheese cut into quarters, frozen mini pancakes, and maple syrup. 

To start, Spence beats the eggs in the liquid measuring cup with a whisk and adds a pinch each salt and pepper. Next, he coats the muffin tin with cooking spray and pours the beaten eggs into the measuring cup, about a quarter of the way. Spence then bakes the eggs in the oven at 350°F for 8 minutes, until almost all the way set. Lastly, he removes the eggs from the muffin tin. 

Spence browns the sausage patties in a greased skillet until almost cooked through. To assemble each mini McGriddle, he adds one mini pancake to the bottom of each muffin cup, a cooked egg, a sausage patty, a slice of cheese, and then a second mini pancake. To top it off, he brushes the top of each top pancake with a generous amount of maple syrup before putting the muffin tin back in the oven for about 8 more minutes.

I followed Spence’s recipe almost exactly as it is written. Shay calls for a mini muffin tin, but I quickly realized that mine is not the same size as the one that he used — it’s much smaller. I had to smush the first pancake into my muffin cups a bit for them to fit. I didn’t mind it too much, as it kind of created a “pancake cup” of sorts, and held the eggs nicely. I made it work, but after re-watching the video a few more times, I wonder if he actually used a standard 12-cup muffin tin. 

I also couldn’t find those mini sausage patties near me anywhere. Using a package of breakfast sausage, I made my own patties using scant tablespoons for each. If you can regularly find the premade mini sausage patties, you should definitely use them since, as they will save a good amount of time. 

Lastly, Spence’s recipe says to use quarter slices of the cheese for each McGriddle, although I found even the quarter slices to be too large for my muffin tin. Instead, I just used eighths as opposed to quarter pieces.

Although my version varied very slightly from Spence’s, overall I’d say that these muffin-tin McGriddles are a tasty breakfast delight! They might not all come out super perfect-looking (especially the first few), but they are a delicious mix of sweet, salty, and comforting. This is also a clever and thoughtful idea for making a well-portioned breakfast for kids. Plus, you can make a large batch of them to freeze for a quick and easy future breakfast

• Use a standard 12-cup muffin tin. This is probably the most important note! Although my “McGriddles” came out well, I had to press the bottom pancakes to fit in the tin. Next time, I’d use a standard 12-cup muffin tin to make sure everything fits securely!
• Use a toothpick to remove the McGriddles. Removing the mini McGriddles from the muffin tin wasn’t too difficult with a fork, although I think using something like a toothpick would make pulling them up from the tin even easier. Plus, if you decide to freeze a bunch ahead of time, the toothpick would also make sure they stay together while they freeze. 
• Add a small slice of cheese between the pancake and sausage patty and between the pancake and egg layer. The cheese can help a lot by acting as a “glue” for the sandwiches. Two small slices of cheese would help keep the bottom and top pancakes more intact.