The Steak You Need For Copycat McDonald's Steak, Egg & Cheese Bagels
The McDonald's Steak, Egg & Cheese bagel is not the typical breakfast steak sandwich. The meat in the bagel is not a solid, singular slab of meat, and it's not "steak" in the traditional sense. A Quora user who said he was a shift manager at a Mississippi McDonald's posted a picture of the box in which the steak bagel meat comes. The label read "Thick Cut Beef Steak Patty Sliced and Formed," with a photo of a piece of the meat. The cut of beef is not identified on the box. However, according to former McDonald's Chef Mike Haracz's TikTok video, the meat in the popular steak sandwich is derived from the sirloin cut of beef.
The former Golden Arches chef went further to tell his viewers where to find the same steak outside the restaurants. He said home cooks can buy Steak-EZE Sirloin Break Away Steak Lightly Marinated, found at food service retailers. Get the unseasoned product but not the "sheets" version. Steak-EZE can be a bit pricey, so Haracz explained in a follow-up video how he found and taste-tested the grocery store equivalent as well, and surprisingly, it is a store-brand product. "Walmart is where you need to go for Great Value Sirloin Philly Steak," Haracz said in the video.
The seasoning is just as important as the steak meat
Finding the meat is most of the battle when duplicating the steak bagel at home. Seasoning that steak is also important, and Haracz has a solution for that. He said McDonald's seasoning is similar to McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning. A few users who claim to be former McDonald's employees also offer the same information on a Reddit post, so that's the teak seasoning to use on the Steak-EZE. You can also make your own steak seasoning from the ingredients listed on the McCormick product: coarse salt, garlic powder, onion flakes, red pepper flakes, black pepper, sunflower oil, and paprika. The Great Value Sirloin Philly Steak already comes seasoned, so Haracz said the Montreal Steak Seasoning is not required when using this product for your bagel sandwich.
There is a bonus for those who buy the Walmart store-brand steak substitute. Haracz revealed that McDonald's steak, which is used for this bagel sandwich, contains phosphates, while the Great Value brand does not. Haracz says that the store brand is a good choice for McDonald's Steak, Egg & Bagel lovers who are also trying to "eat cleaner" while enjoying their favorite foods. Once the seasoning is down, the rest is just an egg, cheese, and a bagel.