This McDonald's Menu Item Was Hot In The '90s, But It's Consumer Reports' Lowest-Rated Fast Food Breakfast Today

If there's any meal of the day McDonald's connoisseurs love, it's breakfast. From the beloved Egg McMuffin that changed breakfast sandwiches forever to the novelty of a maple-infused McGriddle, there's something for any fast food breakfast lover. People's dining preferences have changed over the years, however. Back in 1989, the Sausage Burrito was introduced. 

It's a tortilla filled with scrambled eggs, cheese, sausage bits, onion, tomatoes, and peppers, and it makes sense on a fast food menu. It was part of a short southwestern-style food marketing push (which included McDonald's discontinued Tex-Mex chicken fajitas). The Sausage Burrito survived through the 1990s, but, according to Consumer Reports, it is unfortunately the lowest-scoring McDonald's breakfast item on the current menu, with just 44 out of 100 points.

"Small, soft, doughy tasting flour tortilla filled with scrambled egg (that doesn't taste like fresh cracked eggs)," Consumer Reports says, later adding that the pellets of sausage were greasy. Its nutritional profile was also taken into consideration in the rating, and it scored a relatively average three out of five. For further perspective, the total score for McDonald's Fruit and Maple Oatmeal was a full 11 points higher, at 55 out of 100 points. If oatmeal at McDonald's beats a breakfast burrito, that's definitely saying something.

On paper, a breakfast burrito makes a great fast food item. It contains everything you want in an eggy breakfast, all in a convenient handheld format, but we're in agreement with Consumer Reports that there are some aspects about it that make it less-than-appealing. First of all, the eggs in McDonald's sausage burrito are that crumbly uniform kind you get at a budget hotel buffet. McDonald's even admitted that the eggs in this breakfast are microwaved, which doesn't inspire much confidence.

Second, the burritos are tiny. While burritos can run the gamut in size, the ones from McDonald's are thin, with more tortilla than filling. Lastly, it's called a sausage burrito, but that doesn't mean the meat is all that abundant. One of our taste testers, who tried every sausage breakfast item on McDonald's menu, said, "... I was a little dismayed at its lack of sausage. I only discovered morsels of diced sausage towards the very end, and when it finally joined in on the bite, it didn't exactly register." Fortunately, McDonald's does have its classics, like the aforementioned Egg McMuffin that's made with fresh-cracked eggs, and they're clearly much better regarded. Consumer Reports scored that breakfast sandwich much higher, with 64 out of 100 points.