What You Need To Know About McDonald's New Big Macs

The McDonald's iconic Big Mac is, as any kid who grew up in the '70s or '80s could recite (or sing) in their sleep, made up of "two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun" (via The New York Times). According to the McDonald's menu, it's a substantial-sized sandwich, coming in at 540 calories — and that's without any accompanying fries, soda, or that All-American apple pie.

While the OG Big Mac has been selling pretty well over the past 50 years, that's never stopped Mickey D's from trying to mess with success. In 2017, and again in 2018, they released, as limited-time offerings, the Mac Jr. and the Grand Mac. The first of these, according to Business Insider, was a single-patty version which their food critic described as basically a cheeseburger with Big Mac sauce. The Grand Mac was a Big Mac with significantly larger patties (61 percent more beef) and bigger buns.

For 2020, McDonald's just announced two new variations on a classic theme: the Little Mac (which appears to be a renamed Mac Jr.) and the Double Big Mac, which consists of four all-beef patties (plus the obligatory special sauce, lettuce, cheese, and so on).

The Little Mac, with its 320 calories, might be seen by some as snack-sized, but for anyone who's actually trying to keep to an acceptable daily calorie count, it might be a better way to satisfy a burger craving without going overboard. The Double Big Mac, however, comes in at a hefty (hefty hefty — ok, we're kind of in a commercial-quoting groove here) 720 calories — although carb counters may be glad to know that it only has one more gram (46 to the original's 45) than the standard Big Mac — probably due to the fact that it uses the same-size buns. Perhaps that extra carb comes from the slightly larger portion of sauce used.

These two new Macs are available for the proverbial "limited time only," but they don't mark the end of McDonald's attempts to push its signature product on a new generation, as Business Insider reveals the shocking fact that only 1 in 5 millennials has ever eaten a Big Mac, and Gen Z's numbers may be even lower. 

In the words of some anonymous Golden Arches PR hack, however, "we're not done with the Big Mac love just yet and can't wait to show you what's next." What we can't wait to see, ourselves, is just how many Double Big Macs Joey Chestnut is capable of inhaling — once he recovers from his recent record-breaking "cheat day" with the original Big Mac, that is.