The McDonald's Breakfast Bagel Sandwiches Are Back, But There's A Catch

Hotcakes and sausage. A hash brown patty and a cup of coffee. The Egg McMuffin. Even if you didn't cheat by reading the title, you probably figured out we're talking about McDonald's, or more accurately, McDonald's breakfast. Since it debuted in the 1970s (via CNN), the company has gained a strong foothold in the fast food breakfast market. McDonald's has tested out all sorts of new breakfast items to better cater to its morning crowd. Some have been successful such as the McGriddle introduced in 2003 while others have been discontinued, like McDonald's bagel sandwich – or rather, it used to be discontinued.

According to Supermarket News, McDonald's introduced bagels in the year 1999. Customers had three options to choose from: steak or ham sandwiches with egg and cheese or the "Spanish Omelet" with pepper jack cheese, green peppers, and olives. In 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, bagel sandwiches joined several other McDonald's items that were discontinued as the chain focused on saving costs and streamlining its operations, much to the disappointment of many bagel fans (via LADbible).

A year later, it's been reported that McDonald's is beginning to reintroduce its bagel sandwiches to the breakfast menu. But there's one thing you need to know.

If you were thinking about taking a drive to McDonald's to grab a bagel sandwich, you might have a long trip ahead of you depending on where you live. According to MLive, select McDonald's locations in Michigan will offer the item for a limited time. The options include Steak, Egg, and Cheese; Bacon, Egg, and Cheese, and the Ham, Egg, and Cheese varieties. Strangely, this seems to fly in the face of McDonald's previous statements that the Bagel Sandwiches weren't going to be making a comeback any time soon (via The Holland Sentinel). Whether this was McDonald's bluffing or it bowing to the genuine demand for the sandwiches is unclear.

Indeed, there was a large outcry for McDonald's to bring back its bagels. A Change.org petition was launched in 2021 to demand the return of the bagel breakfast sandwiches, with 1,651 total signatures. A Twitter account, appropriately titled "BRING BAGELS BACK," has more than 720 followers, all with the same request: for McDonald's to bring back its Steak, Egg, and Cheese sandwiches. It seems that for some people, McDonald's breakfast bagels are too good to give up. Whether McDonald's bagel rollout will go beyond the Michigan area remains to be seen.