Dehydrated Onions Are A Must For Authentic Copycat McDonald's McDoubles

Truth in advertising — is this really something that you'd expect from Mickey D's? If so, you must have missed numerous news items over the years that indicate that McDonald's isn't above telling a few lies for a good cause (one that most likely involves bettering its bottom line). For one thing, there's the mystery of those always-broken ice cream machines — does the fault lie with the machine itself, or do the workers just not feel like operating the troublesome beast? For another, there's the fact that the chain has claimed in the past that its fries are vegetarian when at the time they were fried in oil containing beef tallow. While the "secret" of the McDouble isn't quite so shameful, this burger nevertheless may fall under the category of a milder form of misrepresentation.

According to Mashed recipe developer Angela Latimer, "McDonald's burger product photos are shown with fresh, white onion pieces." She is fairly sure, however, that the chain is more likely to use rehydrated dried minced onions in the actual food products they serve. As a result, her copycat McDonald's McDouble recipe calls for dried onions as opposed to fresh ones, which means that you can cook yourself a tasty taste-alike without having to shed a tear.

The McDouble, in case you haven't memorized the McDonald's menu, consists of two thin patties (hence the name), one slice of American cheese, a few pieces of pickle, plus some chopped onion, with both ketchup and mustard used as the condiments. Oh, and there's a bun too, of course. If you choose to follow Latimer's copycat recipe exactly, she suggests using dried minced onion as she feels this ingredient "will provide a more authentic McD's copycat." Of course, as the onion is dehydrated, it needs to be rehydrated, which she recommends doing by steeping it in boiling water until it softens up. Once it does, you'll drain it and let it air dry.

If you'd rather go the fresh onion route, of course you can do that, too. One good reason to make a McDonald's copycat, after all, is to improve upon the original when possible. Should you choose to do so, Latimer recommends using a white onion and dicing it finely. As dried onion is more potent than fresh, you'll also need to double the amount of the latter to obtain a similar level of pungency.