These Fancy New Menu Items Might Make McDonald’s Your New Starbucks

McDonald’s is really going for a breakfast reinvention this year. After it transforms the morning meal into an all-day affair, the fast food chain’s next move appears to involve a serious facelift to its current AM options. Looks like it may be time to drop the McMuffin for healthier, gourmet options sooner than later.

Eater reports that a “gourmet breakfast menu” is being tested out in Annerley, a Brisbane suburb in Queensland, Australia. The country has already been testing out the all-day breakfast menu in a region south of Sydney and those tests seem to be doing well, so the chain is moving on to a gourmet focus. This new upgraded menu includes items like corn fritters, a brioche bacon + egg roll, Belgian waffles and a Café Breakfast Platter that includes sourdough toast, two pork sausages, scrambled eggs, wilted spinach, grilled tomatoes, hash browns + tomato relish. The most important menu item though is obviously the avocado smash! Yep, McDonald’s could soon be serving up avocado toast! We’re gonna guess that would never land on the Dollar Menu, however :(

This news is promising for those of you intrigued enough to not be completely loyal to Starbucks or [insert go to morning cafe here] because Australia is where the McCafé + the Create Your Taste platform were both developed. And we know what happened with those ideas. Spoiler alert: They came to the US. So fingers crossed by the end of 2015 we’ll not only be able to grab a McGriddle at 11 pm (don’t judge, okay!), but we’ll also be able to start our day out with some avocado toast c/o the Golden Arches.

Would you stop by McDonald’s for its gourmet breakfast over your current go to? Let us know in the comments.

(h/t Eater, photos via McDonald’s + Lauren Waters)

Remember those easy days way back when life was so simple and McDonald’s graced us with the dream of an all-day breakfast? We could eat that delicious Sausage McGriddle at any time of day (or night), and it seemed as if all our dreams had finally (finally!) come true. Well, hold onto your hats, because while McDonald’s giveth delivery, McDonalds taketh away, nixing the all-day breakfast in a move that’s crushing us to the core. Fear not though, we do have a whole post on recreating your favorite McDonald breakfast items at home!

Does McDonald's serve breakfast all day?

McDonald's

Sadly, during the start of the 2020 pandemic, due to reduced staffing and a lack of dine-in traffic, McDonald's made the decision to end their super popular all-day breakfast to "provide better speed of service" to customers. We're still sad about it, TBH.

How late does McDonald's serve breakfast?

Polina Tankilevitch / PEXELS

While opening hours vary by McDonald's location (usually 5am, with some locations open 24 hours), breakfast now ends at 10:30am on weekdays and 11:00am on weekends. Sorry for the sad news, all, regarding McDonald's breakfast hours.

McDonald's does not serve any breakfast after 11:00am. 😭

What time does McDonald's stop serving breakfast?

Image via McDonald's

McDonald's typically stops serving breakfast after 11:00am, though the exact hours might depend on where you're located.

What is on McDonald's breakfast menu?

Erik Mclean / PEXELS

Here’s what the full McDonald's breakfast menu looks like:

  • Hash Brown McMuffin
  • Egg McMuffin
  • Sausage McMuffin with Egg
  • Sausage McMuffin
  • Bacon, Egg & Smoky Gouda McMuffin
  • Egg & Jalapeño Cheddar McMuffin
  • Bacon, Egg & Jalapeño Cheddar McMuffin
  • Egg BLT McMuffin
  • Chicken McMuffin
  • Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit
  • Sausage Biscuit with Egg
  • Sausage Biscuit
  • Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddles
  • Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddles
  • Chicken McGriddle
  • Bacon, Egg & Smoky Gouda with Plain Bagel
  • Bacon, Egg & Smoky Gouda with Sesame Bagel
  • Bacon, Egg & Smoky Gouda with Everything Bagel
  • Sausage McGriddles
  • Big Breakfast
  • Big Breakfast with Hotcakes
  • Hotcakes
  • Hotcakes and Sausage
  • Sausage Burrito
  • Hash Browns
  • Plain Bagel with Butter or Cream Cheese
  • Everything Bagel with Butter or Cream Cheese
  • Sesame Bagel with Butter or Cream Cheese
  • English Muffin with Butter
  • Egg BLT Bagel
  • Fruit & Maple Oatmeal
  • Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait

Will McDonald's all-day breakfast ever come back?

Photo by Lisa Fotios / PEXELS

No official news about the comeback of McDonald's all-day breakfast has broken, but in 2020, the company tweeted that they're "evaluating" the need to bring it back. Obviously, there haven't been any new 24-hour breakfast McDonald's locations to make our all-day breakfast dreams come true.

What happened to McDonald's all-day breakfast?

McDonald's

Originally, McDonald's planned an all-day breakfast option because of failing sales across the US. They hoped that giving so many of us what we’d been asking for so long would improve the company’s bottom line. Turns out, not only has it not worked, but the chain’s sales of all-day breakfast menu items such as McDonald’s Sausage McMuffins, Egg White Delights, Sausage Biscuits, and Sausage McMuffins to name a few have decreased by almost 2% in the last few months (!).

In an interview with Buzzfeed News, CEO Steve Easterbrook said that the chain is trying to figure out how to fix sales here at home, even though around the world, the company is still doing quite well. Easterbrook says that focusing on making McDonald’s the “restaurant of the future” is a top priority (although sales are down while wait times are up). New focuses include curbside check-in, mobile ordering and advanced kiosks.

Need a new breakfast go-to now that McDonald's all-day breakfast is gone?

Polina Tankilevitch / PEXELS

With many people turning away from fast food in favor of healthier options, the comfort of knowing exactly what you’re getting at every single McDonald’s still can’t be beat — we still love the occasional hash brown after noon, so needless to say, we’re beyond bummed about the change in McDonald's breakfast hours.

Need some early morning inspiration to get over the bad news? Here are some easy breakfast meal ideas to try from home!

Still hungry for McDonald's breakfast?

I'm Hungry For That

While we can't turn back time if you've missed the cut-off, here's a list of great Mickey D copycat recipes – and we'll specifically call out this awesome McGriddle recipe from I'm Hungry For That!

Ingredients:

For the meat patties:

  • 1lb. ground breakfast sausage (or 4 pre-made sausage patties)
  • Salt and pepper

For the omelette:

  • 6 eggs
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 4 tbsp. softened butter
  • Salt and pepper

For the pancakes:

  • 1 ¼ cups flour
  • ⅔ cup milk
  • Just under 3 tbsp. melted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tbsp. maple syrup
  • ½ tsp. salt

And to finish it off:

  • 6 slices of crispy bacon
  • 4 slices American cheese

Get the full recipe and instructions on I'm Hungry for That, and enjoy! In the meantime, RIP, McDonald's all-day breakfast. RIP.

More McDonald's Breakfast Copycat Recipes

Barley & Sage

Sourdough Bagels

Slather on all the cream cheese and jelly, or stack some scrambled eggs and sausage patties on these homemade bagels that taste so much better than the McDonald's drive-thru – plus, they'll stay good for longer! (via Barley & Sage)

Culinary Hill

Hotcakes

The best part about McDonald's breakfast is hotcakes. It's a spiritual experience to drizzle countless packets of syrup on them, before taking the sweetest, stickiest bite. Make them easily at home when you don't feel like leaving the house. (via Culinary Hill)

Feel Good Foodie

Fruit & Maple Oatmeal

Emulating McDonald's Fruit & Maple Oatmeal is super easy with a stovetop, a few ingredients, a short amount of minutes. This recipe nails it! (via Feel Good Foodie)

What’s your favorite McDonald’s breakfast item? Tell us @BritandCo!

This post has been updated.

Last year, some of us celebrated the holidays apart from our families for the first time. COVID has brought with it many changes, some of them arguably positive (like increased flexibility to work from home), some difficult (such as the realization of vastly different political and social views between family and friends), and some horrible (obviously, the health implications of a global pandemic). However, for some of us, celebrating the holidays without family members isn't exclusively due to COVID. In addition to so many of us living in different areas than our families of origin, some of us simply don't have close bonds with the people we grew up around. Sometimes, this can cause loneliness.

If you're not close with your family members, the holidays can be a difficult time. This is doubly true if you don't have a close circle of friends to call upon. But make no mistake, if this sounds like your situation, you're not alone — there are thousands of other people going through the same struggles you are. We sat down with Irad Eichler, founder of Circles, a website that connects people who are sharing similar struggles, like heartbreak, grief, or loneliness. Here are some of Eichler's tips for coping — and even thriving! — during the holiday season when you're not planning on spending it with your family, for one reason or another.

Don't Fall For "Perfect Families" On Social Media

Laura Chouette

The first VERY important step to having a joyous holiday season when you're going it alone is to stop believing the narrative that others' family situations are perfect, Eichler says.

"Remember people only post a moment in time, and only the moments when they look their happiest and best."

In addition to the fact that everything you see on social media is curated for the 'gram, it's also important to remember that by focusing on what others have and you lack, you risk failing to see the great things at play in your own life.

"These holiday periods can become a time of focusing on who and what we don't have, rather than who or what we do, and can cause a negative spiral into depressing and dreadful feelings of inadequacy," says Eichler.

Gratitude is the reason for the season, after all. So instead of only seeing the negative, try some gratitude journal prompts to help you focus on what's actually really wonderful about your life right now.

Make An Effort To Deepen New Connections

Joel Muniz

While it may seem like everyone has friends and family to spend time with during the holiday season, that doesn't mean no one is available for deepening a blossoming relationship or new friendship.

"Make a list of people you can or would like to connect with, and try to reach out to at least one of them," advises Eichler.

Reaching out doesn't have to mean a big plan or an hour-long conversation. Even a quick text letting a friendly coworker know you're thinking about them can go a long way toward deepening the relationship and moving it in the direction of closer friendship.

Don't have an acquaintance in mind? Then it's time to make new acquaintances. What's more in line with the Christmas spirit than attending a Meetup or event full of people eager to make new friends?

"Join groups with similar interests to yours, such as hiking, baking, or games. Push your boundaries and be brave - you might find new people who have much in common with you."

Give Back

Priscilla Du Preez

The holiday season is a great time to focus on giving back to your community, and coincidentally, acts of generosity and kindness are known to reduce loneliness and help people feel happier. One study found that knowing a few of your neighbors and doing small acts of kindness for them — such as cheering them up, listening to them, mowing their lawn, providing advice about local business recommendations and job opportunities, and chatting over the fence — was statistically correlated with feeling less lonely and having a lower risk of depression.

Helping out elderly neighbors can be a particularly gratifying way to give back.

"Notice older lonely people in your neighborhood or community who might have no family at all, and offer to help them," says Eichler. "These can become mutually meaningful connections, and help you 'adopt' a grandparent."

Connect With Others Online

Thought Catalog

Finally, use the Internet for its highest and best purpose: to connect people. Whether you're using Meetup to find in-person events, digital forums for having conversations about special interests, or programs like Circle for getting support from others in your situation, the opportunities to create new connections are practically endless.

"There are many interest groups that can be found digitally, where or any person can connect with others in the same life stage, going through the same challenges, or who would like to explore the same interests," Eichler states. "Meaningful connections can be formed easily in these circumstances. The Internet enables us to find and connect to people all over the world who fit this, and to whom we can become more easily attached, as we are able to find people with the exact interests that energize us."

If you're struggling with loneliness, you're not alone. Connect with our digital community of makers and creatives here at Brit+Co by following us on IG and signing up for our newsletter!

This post has been updated.

Pumpkin spice season has started especially early this year, courtesy of Krispy Kreme. While chains like Starbucks and Dunkin’ are rumored to drop their pumpkin-y fall menus late August, the famed donut joint kicked off fall on August 12, launching two tasty menu items to usher in the season.

Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme’s Pumpkin Spice Cake Doughnut and Pumpkin Spice Latte are available to order now. The doughnut combines a crumbly cake formula with classic pumpkin spice flavoring, and can be purchased as a single or in a dozen.

Krispy Kreme

You can also order the Pumpkin Spice Latte hot, iced, or frozen this year. It’s deliciously topped off with whipped cream and even more pumpkin spice!

Krispy Kreme

Dave Skena, Krispy Kreme’s Global Chief Brand Officer, upped the ante for the returning menu items.

“It’s August and we’re all ready for pumpkin spice, somehow. So, we’re bringing back the classics you’re craving,” he said.

“Our fans want their Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Spice Cake Doughnut and Latte right now, and we’re here for it,” he continued. “Stay tuned though, we’re not done spicing up the season.”

Krispy Kreme

We think he’s definitely hinting at additional pumpkin spice items to join the Krispy Kreme menu, which we simply cannot wait for! Though it has yet to fully cool off outside, we’ve totally got pumpkin spice on the brain. (And, of course, everything good that comes with the season, like cozy outfits, fall reads, and Halloween costumes.)

Krispy Kreme

In 2023, Krispy Kreme launched their fall menu on August 7 with a whole slew of pumpkin-spiceddoughnuts. The Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Swirl Doughnut, Pumpkin Spice Maple Pecan Doughnut, Pumpkin Spice Original Glazed Doughnut, and Pumpkin Spice Cake Doughnut hit menus alongside two drinks, the Pumpkin Spice Latte and Pumpkin Spice Coffee. We hope a few of these treats return, but we also want to see some new offerings from Krispy Kreme!

Subscribe to our newsletter for more fun future food launches!

Zach Bryan and Brianna "Chickenfry" LaPaglia's explosive breakup is everywhere right now. From his seemingly one-sided social media posts to all the bombshell revelations she keeps dropping, it's clear this split is NOT amicable. Both parties are dropping tons of lore, info, and everything in between — including new music?! — right now, so it makes sense if you can't keep up. Luckily, I'm here to help break this breakup down for you! Here's everything you need to know about Zach Bryan and Brianna Chickenfry's relationship...or lack thereof.

Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

October 22, 2024 – Zach Bryan Announces His Breakup With Brianna Chickenfry

On October 22, 2024, after some recent speculation that Zach Bryan and Brianna Chickenfry split up, Zach took to his Instagram stories. The country star said, "Addressing something: Brianna and me have broken up with [each other] and I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart. She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that I'll always thank her."

He continued, noting, "I have had an incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things. I thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go our different ways. I am not perfect and never will be. Please respect Brianna's privacy and space in this and if you have it in your heart, mine too."

To wrap it all up, he closed by apologizing to his fans. He said, "With everything I am and to anyone I let down, I am sorry. I try my best in everything. I failed people that love me and mostly myself."

www.youtube.com

- YouTube

Brianna hopped on her own Instagram stories shortly there after. She posted, "Hey guys I'm feeling really blindsided right now. Gonna hop off social media for a while and attempt to heal privately, when I'm ready I'll be back and ready to talk. I love you guys so much thank you for all of your kind words. Remember you are so loved and everything's always gonna be okay 🫶"

The Brianna got on Youtube next, posting a raw, emotional video about the situation. Sitting on the floor of her bathroom, she opened up as much as she could in the moment about her breakup. She said, "I just woke up to Zach posting on his Instagram that we broke up and I had no idea that post was going up. He didn't text me, he didn't call me. I just woke up to a bunch of texts, like, 'Are you okay?'"

Brianna, with her teary eyes and red face, explained she's been crying for "five days straight." She said, "I'm at the point where it's like, how can you give someone everything and love them so unconditionally, like through stuff that you shouldn't because you just love them and you want them... like you see the good in them?"

The internet personality said that this is all "so embarrassing" and "really, really heartbreaking." She elaborated that the couple broke up on October 21, but wanted to process on her own and "didn't want it to be public."

Much like her Instagram story, she told her audience that she'll come back when she's ready.

www.youtube.com

- YouTube

November 7, 2024 — Brianna Claims Zach's Emotionally Abusive, Wanted $12Mil NDA

Well, it appears this week, Brianna decided she's ready. On Barstool Sports' BFF's Pod November 7, 2024, Brianna gave an inside look at the breakup unlike any other. Not only did she claim Zach was abusive, but she also alleged that he offered her a $12 million NDA to "not talk about the relationship."

After saying it's been the hardest year of her life, she said. "I'm still scared right now because I'm scared of him. My brain's rewired and I'm scared to make him mad and last week, I didn't want to talk about it 'cause I was scared."

Brianna then described the alleged emotional abuse. She noted that everything was cyclical and that he would build her up only to break her back down again. "There was always another excuse as to why he was treating me so poorly and why I'm crying myself to sleep every night, why he's screaming at me," she said. "And then you wake up, it's the apology, it's the 'I'm going to be better like I need you in my life,' but if you've been through this — I don't expect people to understand emotional abuse if you haven't been through it. I hope you never have to go through it but if you've been there you know what I'm talking about."

Not only does Brianna allege she was offered an NDA, but she said that other women that came before her had to sign their own agreements. She declined the offer because she didn't want to "sign away [her] experiences and what [she] went through to protect someone that hurt [her]." She also wanted to share this experience for other women who've suffered something similar.

And when it comes to the logistics of losing out on the famous lifestyle and alleged $12 million? She said, "It was never about the money — I was with the dude because I loved the dude."

Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival

November 8, 2024 — Zach Quit Touring Amid Abuse Allegations

On November 8, 2024, Zach posted on Instagram — where he clearly loves to share all his big news — that not only is his new single "High Road" out today, but that he's also ending his tour early. Read his full statement here:

After not being home for a year and a half I drove out to my mothers gravestone in the dead of night a few days back on familiar Oklahoma roads and I came to realize just like in the past, that she never would call me again

Told her I quit touring because I got accepted to get my masters in Paris next year, I told her I was back in Oklahoma, told her about all my best friends in New York and all the nights we howled with the moon, told her about the immeasurable laughter my band and me have shared these last five years, all the calluses on my finger tips, every tear shed, told her about making it on The Rolling Stone and most importantly told her about porch swinging with my beautiful sister.
I wrote the chorus for this song a month or two back and finished it when I realized I was blessed with all these things.

I figured it was about time I released it.

Thank you guys for listening to ‘This Worlds a Giant’ last night and thank you to all the people who love me; who have truly carried the weight with me.

Seems that all these Quiet Dreams have gotten much too heavy but I’m home now and I’ll hold you through the pain.

High Road is out today and I appreciate all of you"

Looking to stay up-to-date on all your fave celebs? Follow us on Facebook for more!

Discover 83 Amazon products under $30 that are nothing short of pure gold. From stylish fashion finds to the latest beauty trends, these steals offer exceptional value without compromising on quality. We always ask, what's better than the perfect gift? Well, it's the gift that also doesn't break the bank! We're confident you'll find something in here to at least appease a few loved ones this holiday season.

Thanks for reading about our favorite finds from across the internet! FYI: We participate in affiliate programs and may get a share of the revenue from your purchase.