What's The Difference Between McDonald's Quarter Pounder And The Deluxe Version?
Clever fast food experts have come up with creative ways to improve their meals, like the simple bun hack that will upgrade any McDonald's sandwich or ordering McDonald's secret menu items. To upgrade a McDonald's Quarter Pounder, however, all you need to do is order from the menu. The Quarter Pounder Deluxe has all the features of the original burger — a quarter pound of beef topped with onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard, and cheese on a sesame seed bun — with the addition of shredded lettuce, three Roma tomatoes, and creamy mayo.
The additional ingredients slightly increase the price and the calorie count of the fan favorite burger. While other McDonald's burgers use frozen patties, for both the Quarter Pounder and the Deluxe version, the patties are cooked fresh on the grill when you order them. It stands to reason that non-frozen burger patties are generally juicer and fresher tasting than flash frozen patties that have been sitting in the freezer for a couple of weeks. If you haven't tried every Mickey D's sandwich yet, do yourself a favor and check out every McDonald's burger ranked worst to best.
Read more: Every McDonald's Burger, Ranked Worst To Best
In 1971, McDonald's franchise owner Al Bernardin (who owned multiple restaurants in Fremont, California) created the Quarter Pounder, named for the weight of its precooked burger patty. He felt there was a need for a burger that had more meat than bun, and it turns out he was right. The quarter pound burger was highly successful and became a trademarked menu item sold at McDonald's around the world.
In 2018, in an effort to compete with other fast food restaurants (like Wendy's) who were using fresh burger patties, Mickey D's switched from frozen to fresh patties cooked to order, but not for all its burgers. Interestingly enough, the Quarter Pounder is the only McDonald's burger that isn't cooked from frozen. After making the change, the fast food giant sold 40 million more Quarter Pounders in the first quarter of 2019 than it did during the previous year's first quarter (per Business Insider). In 2019, the Quarter Pounder Deluxe was introduced along with the Bacon Quarter Pounder.
In September and October 2024, the freshly made burgers took a hit when an E. Coli outbreak affected McDonald's Quarter Pounders, a result of contaminated slivered onions on the burgers. After temporarily removing the burgers from the menu, McDonald's has since added them back and stopped using onions from the facility where the E. Coli was discovered.
Read the original article on Chowhound.
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