McDonald's named its first major breakfast sandwich the Egg McMuffin, introduced in 1971.
Herb Peterson, a McDonald's franchisee in Santa Barbara, California, developed the sandwich with assistant Jeff Lang. Its central idea was to adapt the flavor and convenience of eggs Benedict into a portable restaurant item. The sandwich used an English muffin, a round egg, Canadian bacon, and cheese.
The Egg McMuffin became a foundational product for McDonald's breakfast branding. It helped establish breakfast as a regular restaurant occasion rather than a limited side offering, and its standardized format fit the company's broader identity of fast, repeatable service.
The Egg McMuffin is often confused with later breakfast products such as the Sausage McMuffin and McGriddle. Those are separate menu items. The Egg McMuffin specifically refers to the original egg-and-Canadian-bacon sandwich served on an English muffin.