About This Recipe
What is a McGriddle?
A McGriddle is a type of breakfast sandwich served at McDonald’s chain restaurants. The bread consists of maple-flavored griddle cakes (similar to pancakes), while the filling is versatile, usually consisting of a breakfast meat, eggs, and/or cheese. The combination of sweet and savory flavors makes it a popular choice for breakfast among McDonald’s customers.
What I love about this recipe:
I love the simplicity and versatility of this recipe. With this sheet pan breakfast, I simplify the McDonald’s McGriddle and make it sourdough. Using only five, simple ingredients for the “pancake” batter, everything comes together in five minutes or less. Play with the fillings and make it your own! This breakfast is sweet and savory all in one and will satisfy even the youngest of the crew.
Why this recipe works
Discard + Milk
Sourdough discard (extra, unfed starter) makes up the “pancake” portion of this sheet pan breakfast, and I use milk to thin out the batter, making it easy to pour over the fillings for this quick sheet-pan breakfast.
Maple Syrup
I use maple syrup to sweeten the batter, in order to mimic the McDonald’s McGriddle. While McDonald’s injects their griddle cakes with a syrup jelly, I find the extra effort is not worth it and chose to use maple syrup to flavor instead. Depending on your personal tasters, the amount can be increased or reduced, or this sweetener can be substituted for another of your choice or eliminated completely.
Baking soda
The baking soda reacts with the sourdough discard to leaven the batter: trapping carbon dioxide gases and creating bubbles which cause the batter to rise and become light and fluffy. It is the perfect match for a discard-heavy recipe like this one, since the acids in the discard allow the baking soda to do its work. If your discard is on the older end and your starter has gone completely dormant, you can substitute one tablespoon of baking powder (which contains the acids needed to leaven the dish) for a guaranteed fluff.
The Fillings: Breakfast Sausage
Usually, pancake batters include some kind of oil or fat (such as melted butter). The purpose of this is to add moisture and flavor, as well as provide some nonstick properties when frying on the skillet. Instead, I chose to only lightly drain my breakfast sausage for similar effects. The extra grease from the meat adds to the savory flavor, as well as works to keep the end result moist. Bacon would have this same effect, if a substitute is needed for the sausage.
FAQs
Does the activity of my starter matter in this recipe?
Definitely not! You can make these with active or inactive starter (discard). Depending on which you choose, you will notice a slight difference in the consistency of the batter, which will not matter much for this recipe. If your discard is older (and thinner) you may choose to reduce the amount of milk.
Does this dish taste incredibly sour?
This fully depends on your sourdough discard. Though it may seem this dish would be incredibly sour (since the batter is made almost fully from sourdough discard), I find it to have a fairly neutral flavor! This may be due to the addition of baking soda, which is said to neutralize acids in the sourdough starter. Ultimately, it will depend on your personal tasters, home environment (environment where the discard is kept), and care routine. Older and/or acidic discard is likely to taste more sour than fresh discard.
Do I have to use breakfast sausage and eggs as the filling?
You do not! I do recommend including a meat in this recipe for the reasons stated above, or adding a tablespoon or two of melted butter or oil to the batter if you choose not to use meat. Otherwise, feel free to play around with the inclusions as desired.
How long will it take me to make this dish?
It takes five minutes (or less!) to mix up the batter, and twenty minutes to bake everything in the oven. Including ingredient prep of the sausage and scrambled eggs, these can be made from start to finish in approximately forty-five minutes.
McGriddle Sheet Pan Sourdough Breakfast
Course: BreakfastCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Beginner25
minutes20
minutes1
half-sheet panIngredients
- Prepared Fillings
1 lb breakfast sausage, cooked (grease roughly drained)
6 eggs, scrambled
- Batter
3 cups sourdough discard (675 g)
½ cup milk (120 g)
⅓ cup maple syrup (105 g)
1 tsp baking soda (5 g)
1 tsp salt (5 g)
Directions
Preheat your oven to 400 F.
Grease a half-size sheet pan all over with softened butter or cooking spray, or line with parchment paper or a silicone mat to prevent sticking.
Prepare the fillings: Cook the breakfast sausage and roughly drain the grease (it is not necessary to rinse the cooked meat).
Scramble six eggs, seasoning to taste. I salt and pepper my eggs, and add a splash of cream. If you are someone who likes to soft-scramble your eggs, do not soft-scramble for this recipe. Cook them longer, until they are harder and will evenly distribute/chunk over your sheet pan.
Pour the sausage and eggs onto the sheet pan and distribute evenly.
Make the batter: Whisk together all ingredients for the batter. You'll notice the baking soda causes the mixture to puff up immediately!
Pour the batter onto the sheet pan and spread out all over the sausage and eggs, distributing evenly.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until lightly brown and cooked through.
Enjoy!
How to store: Store sliced and in the refrigerator 3-5 days.
To reheat: Toast the slices 4-5 minutes (I like to do this in my air fryer set to 400 F) or microwave 30-45 seconds, until warmed through.
Watch the Video
Notes
- Alternative Fillings: Try using bacon instead of breakfast sausage, or adding cheese or hashed potatoes.
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Wow! This recipe is surprisingly easy and DELICIOUS! My kids all loved it and my 8 yr old said I should give it 5 stars! Winner!
Yay! So glad it was a hit in your home!♥️
What are the measurements for a 1/2 sheet pan, please?
Thanks!
Hi, Tonia!
Just to confirm – do you mean a half-size sheet pan (standard for home kitchens and what this recipe uses), or half of a half-size sheet pan (quarter-size sheet pan)?
Since the first is what this recipe uses, I’ll go ahead and answer for the second so that you aren’t left to wait for my response! For a quarter-size sheet pan, everything in this recipe can just be cut in half. Use:
-1/2 lb breakfast sausage
-3 eggs
-1 1/2 cups sourdough discard
-1/4 cup milk
-3 tbsp maple syrup
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
Hope this helps!