Dunkin's New Mike's Hot Honey Menu Lacks Fire
Dunkin' just released its new summer menu, consisting of items like the Bonfire S'mores Frozen Coffee, S'mores Cold Brew, S'mores Donut, and a new Tornado Twist Sparkd' Energy drink (flavored to taste like raspberry, strawberry, peach, and lychee). But the hot food items are what caught the Takeout's glittering eye. Dunkin's now jumped on the sweet and spicy hot honey trend with a brand we're well-familiar with: Mike's Hot Honey, which is honey infused with hot chile peppers. Mike's Hot Honey has been on a massive co-branding tear in the past few years, with items like Utz potato chips, Maille dijon mustard, and even a breakfast item at the restaurant chain First Watch.
Dunkin's new items start with the Hot Honey Snackin' Bacon, which is a serving of bacon seasoned with Mike's Hot Honey. Then there's the Hot Honey Bacon Wake-Up Wrap, which is a small tortilla filled with a fried egg, white cheddar cheese, and Mike's Hot Honey Bacon. Finally, there's the Hot Honey Bacon Sandwich, which has the same hot honey bacon, egg, and white cheddar cheese on a brioche bun with even more Mike's Hot Honey. This menu is available for a limited time starting today, June 1.
This is Dunkin's first new seasoned bacon since 2019, so we wanted to see whether Mike's Hot Honey made for a good pairing with a quick Dunkin' morning bite or if it ended up being a big ol' flame out. Sadly, it was much closer to the latter.
Dunkin' Mike's Hot Honey Snackin' Bacon is sweet, but not spicy
I started with the Mike's Hot Honey Snackin' Bacon ($3.39 at my location, but prices may vary), because who doesn't like a bag of bacon to snack on? Too bad the bacon itself is terrible. Dunkin' doesn't have a full kitchen on-site, so it relies on a lot of pre-made products, including bacon. The bacon is rapidly heated to order in an oven before it's served, and if you've ever had pre-cooked bacon, you probably know that the stuff is typically soft, chewy, and unappealing. That's exactly the problem here.
That being said, despite the sub-par bacon, the Mike's Hot Honey Snackin' Bacon at least tastes pretty good, especially if you're a big fan of the combination of salty and sweet. I'd say it's aggressively sweet, even, which tempers the bacon's innate saltiness. In terms of spice, however, there's none at all. I'm pretty sure even those who are extremely spice-averse could handle it, because I noticed no burn whatsoever. Normally I'd be fine with this, but since a good deal of the marketing draw is in the promise of heat, many people are guaranteed to be disappointed.
The lack of spice aside, if the bacon itself were crisp, I think it would be a good snack to pair with a cold and sweet cafe drink, or even a beer. But as it stands, I can't recommend it by itself.
The Hot Honey Bacon Wake-Up Wrap is salty, sweet, and soft
Next up is the Hot Honey Bacon Wake-Up Wrap ($3.29), which consists of a fried egg, cheddar cheese, and hot honey bacon folded up into a small flour tortilla. I'm not entirely sure why, but my wrap somehow came out sopping wet (though at least it was piping hot). Odd sogginess aside, there's nothing remarkable about this thing — the added volume of the egg, cheese, and tortilla dilutes the flavor of the honey, making the candy-sweet cured pork less intense.
Again, this wrap would have benefited quite a bit from the chile heat it promises, because then it'd frankly be less boring. I'd recommend this if a bacon, egg, and cheese wrap is something you like to order from Dunkin' and you want to change up a little bit. Sweet and salty is fun every now and then, and the portion size is small enough that it's sufficient to satiate your cravings without going overboard.
Dunkin's Mike's Hot Honey Bacon Sandwich is just right
Out of all three items, the Mike's Hot Honey Bacon Sandwich ($5.79) was my favorite. It's a relatively straightforward egg sandwich with hot honey bacon and white cheddar, all on a toasted brioche bun with more hot honey added. I say "toasted" even though part of my bun was actually blackened, but despite that charred color, I didn't detect much acridity. You'll have to trust me on that part, considering how burnt it looked.
Finally, we're at a Goldilocks point where everything is just right in terms of flavor and proportion. There's just enough egg, bacon, and cheese to fill the airy and squishy bun, and the extra hot honey gives the sandwich an assertively sweet flavor. Again, there's no spice level to speak of, but I'd given up on that expectation by this point. Overall, it's a perfectly serviceable sandwich for something that comes from a toaster oven, but that price point of nearly $6 is hard to choke down. Not everyone will appreciate how sweet it is, either; I shared the sandwich with my wife, and she thought there was way too much honey drizzled on the bottom bun.
Is the Dunkin' Mike's Hot Honey Menu trying overall?
If you're excited about the prospect of eating breakfast items that are savory, spicy, and sweet, this Dunkin' and Mike's Hot Honey collaboration will leave many of you wanting to add hot sauce. Mike's isn't super spicy to begin with (though the company does currently offer an extra hot version), and the heat usually gets lost when the honey isn't the main ingredient in a dish.
And Dunkin's really late to the game on this — the spicy and sweet thing has been done so many times in popular food that this effort feels like an afterthought. Coupled with the fact that the only thing worth getting, the Mike's Hot Honey Bacon Sandwich, is so expensive, I'd say the new hot food items are a bust. I don't think you should be surprised, considering Dunkin's not exactly a hot food destination.
Next time I visit Dunkin' for an emergency caffeine run, I'll just stick to a good ol' Boston Kreme and leave the fast food breakfast sandwiches squarely in the hands of McDonald's. You should too.