What was McDonald’s first national breakfast sandwich?

The Egg McMuffin was McDonald’s first national breakfast sandwich.

Herb Peterson, a McDonald’s franchise owner in Santa Barbara, California, created the sandwich in 1971. It used a toasted English muffin, a poached egg, Canadian bacon, and cheese, giving McDonald’s a portable breakfast product with a format distinct from its hamburger menu.

The sandwich was initially tested locally before McDonald’s expanded it nationally in 1975. Its success helped establish breakfast as a major part of the McDonald’s brand and encouraged the chain to develop a broader morning menu.

The Egg McMuffin is sometimes confused with the later McGriddle, which uses griddle cakes, or with the Big Breakfast, a platter-style meal. Its importance in branding history comes from making a standardized McDonald’s breakfast recognizable across the United States.