McDonald's Honey Brown Butter Bacon Egg Cheese Biscuit Review: Nothing To See Or Taste Here, Folks

New lunch and dinner items at McDonald's seem to get most of the buzz and attention, leaving new breakfast items often flying under the radar. Why last year, around this exact high point of sweltering summer, everyone was going gaga over the return of Snack Wraps, but in the morning, Spicy McMuffins were turning up the heat with their own tasty results. Flash forward to today, just as a Caesar sauce hit stores and is already being hailed for its awesomeness (as I can attest), along comes a new butter and breakfast item dropping — Honey Brown Butter, which is featured in a Bacon Egg Cheese Biscuit.

Honey brown butter? What does that exactly mean? It's like butter with brown sugar and honey? Or are they just three nice words that sound lovely when placed one after the next? Naming conventions aside, all I really care about is if it tastes any good. The Takeout took out the new sauce and sandwich for a ride to see where the truth lies. Now all can be revealed in this hopefully saucy chew and review.

After noticing a sign for the Honey Brown Butter Bacon Egg Cheese Biscuit at my nearby McDonald's, I popped inside to give it a whirl. I ordered one as is, as well as a second with extra sauce. Out of curiosity, I also ordered a Chicken Biscuit with the Honey Butter Sauce on it.

This review is a summation of my own personal tastes and opinions. I also took into consideration my previous experiences with McDonald's, its breakfast sandwiches, its sauces, and my current experience with this new one. The ultimate criteria considered for this chew and review were flavor, appearance, presentation, smell, texture, familiarity, originality, uniqueness, and ultimately, whether this sauce is worthy of your time and dime.

I unwrapped my Bacon Egg Cheese Biscuit, and to the side, on the wax paper, was a dab of the Honey Brown Butter. It resembled McDonald's Sweet 'N Sour sauce, if it was watered down a bit. I took a quick fingertip taste of it, and beyond a pinch of honey, it really didn't have a strong overall flavor.

The sandwich itself appeared both stacked and small at the same time. The biscuit was well contoured and sturdy, bookending its contents consisting of a neatly bright yellow folded egg, a few non-greasy strips of bacon, and a square slice of melty American cheese. I lifted the top bun, and where normally it's a clean and blank white surface, the Honey Brown Butter was smothered all over. Here, it looked more like the kind of browned topping that would adorn a cinnamon roll. I took another fingertip swipe, hoping to discern a deeper flavor, but again, my mouth was unable to detect anything of note.

Without further ado, I dove right in. There's no denying that this sandwich is a tasty one. In fact, McDonald's biscuits make for its best sandwiches, and the BEC does its usual quality work as a triad of savoriness. Since the Honey Brown Butter didn't make that much of an impact on its own, as you could imagine, it got lost even more so when nestled within all these other ingredients. Yes, there was still a nudge of honey, but I wanted to be bowled over by it, and in a "brown"er way.

I was disappointed that the Honey Brown Butter wasn't able to make much noise in any single bite of my biscuits. I had actually ordered one Honey Brown Butter Bacon Egg Cheese Biscuit as is, and a second with an extra dose of the Honey Brown Butter. While one did appear to have more of the shiny, brown-freckled butter under the hood, the more of it didn't appear to be any merrier.

In search of a better conclusion, I decided to order a less fussy biscuit sandwich — a McChicken Biscuit — with the addition of the Honey Brown Butter spread. Under the hood of this sandwich, the butter appeared to be slathered in abundance, but the song remained the same — there was nothing really to see or taste here. I would have been better off just ordering a standard Bacon Egg Cheese Biscuit and a side cup of honey and drizzling it all over to create something more standout than whatever the Honey Brown Butter obviously wasn't delivering.

Before, during, and after this taste test, I had a similarly named product on my mind — Wendy's Honey Buddy Chicken Biscuit. I first had it at an airport years back, and one bite literally blew my mind and taste buds. Today, it remains one of Wendy's best breakfast options, and If you've never had the pleasure before, I suggest you try its maple-greatness over this current McDonald's offering. 

The Honey Brown Butter Bacon Egg Cheese Biscuit appears to be slowly rolling into participating locations of McDonald's. It appears to be a limited time only offering, here for an unspecified amount of time, and only while supplies last. The sandwich can only be ordered during breakfast hours, which usually stars at 5:00, and remains available until that tricky time sometime between 10:30 and 11, when the menu turns over to the lunch crowd. It can be ordered in store at the counter, a kiosk or drive-thru where available. Advanced ordering for dine-in, carry your, or delivery is available through McDonald's app.

Although the Bacon Egg Cheese Biscuit is the featured item with this new Honey Brown Butter, this butter can actually be added to most breakfast sandwiches, from a McMuffin, McGriddle, bagel or even other biscuit creations. At my local Manhattan McDonald's, the Honey Brown Butter Bacon Egg Cheese Biscuit sold for $4.99. Extra amounts of the butter can be added to this biscuit for $.50 cents, or for $.45 cents to any of the other applicable sandwiches. 

If you're looking to sample the butter at the cheapest option, it appears your best bet is the Sausage Biscuit, which brings the total to a mere $2.44. It does not appear that the Honey Brown Butter can be ordered as an á la carte condiment, but perhaps the kind employees at the counter can be of assistance. Prices and availability may vary by location. 

McDonald's Honey Brown Butter Bacon Egg Cheese Biscuit is made up of a biscuit, a folded egg, pasteurized process American cheese, thick-cut applewood smoked bacon, honey brown butter sauce, salted butter, and clarified butter. The honey brown butter sauce consists of honey, sugar, water, distilled vinegar, modified food starch, salt, invert sugar, spices, dehydrated butter, nonfat dry milk, potassium sorbate, milkfat, buttermilk, paprika, and natural flavors. It also contains the following allergens: wheat, milk, soy, and egg.

A single one of these biscuit sandwiches nets an eater 490 calories, 17 grams of protein, 45 grams of carbohydrates, 27 grams of total fat, 13 grams of saturated fat, 215 milligrams of cholesterol, 1,430 milligrams of sodium, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 9 grams of total sugars, 7 grams of added sugars, 180 milligrams of calcium, 3 milligrams of iron, and 240 milligrams of potassium.