If McDonalds was actually healthy, this would be the recipe! First of all, no unfermented flour. Second of all, 100% real ingredients. This breakfast is an entire meal-in-one, a recipe I hope you’ll find yourself making again and again.

What Is A McGriddle?

A McGriddle is a type of breakfast sandwich served at McDonald’s chain restaurants. The bread consists of maple-flavored griddle cakes (similar to pancakes), while the filling is versatile, usually consisting of a breakfast meat, eggs, and/or cheese. The combination of sweet and savory flavors makes it a popular choice for breakfast among McDonald’s customers.

What I Love About This Recipe

I love the simplicity and versatility of this recipe. With this sheet pan breakfast, I simplify the McDonald’s McGriddle and make it sourdough. Using only five, simple ingredients for the “pancake” batter, everything comes together in five minutes or less. Play with the fillings and make it your own! (Okay, but not too much, because some ingredients just won’t work.) This breakfast is sweet and savory all in one and will satisfy even the youngest of the crew.

All The “Why’s”

The Filling: Eggs And Breakfast Sausage

Usually, pancake batters include some kind of oil or fat (such as melted butter). The purpose of this is to add moisture and flavor, as well as provide some nonstick properties when frying on the skillet. Instead, I chose to only lightly drain my breakfast sausage for a similar effect. The extra grease from the meat adds to the savory flavor, as well as works to keep everything moist. Bacon would have this same effect, if a substitute is needed for the sausage. Or, remove the meat completely and add 1/4 cup of melted butter to the sourdough discard mixture.

Sourdough Discard

Sourdough discard (extra, unfed sourdough starter) makes up the “pancake” portion of this sheet pan breakfast. It’s the main ingredient – it provides both moisture, flavor, and structure.

It is important to note that with this much sourdough discard, your sheet pan breakfast may or may not be sour. It all depends on your maintenance routine and the health of your starter. You can taste your discard (just a smidgen) before making this recipe – it’ll tell you what the results might look like! I have made this recipe many times and have never had a sour outcome, while others cannot even imagine making a recipe like this because their discard is so sour. Sourness comes from the bacteria in your starter. When they overpopulate, you can taste it.

Milk

Milk is added to thin the batter and enhance the flavor. We need the “pancake” to be pourable, and to spread easily over the sausage and eggs. It also plays a part in the Maillard reaction, helping the dish to brown in the oven.

Maple Syrup

I use maple syrup to sweeten the batter, in order to mimic the McDonald’s McGriddle. While McDonald’s injects their griddle cakes with a syrup jelly, I find the extra effort is not worth it and chose to use maple syrup to flavor instead. Depending on your personal tasters, the amount can be increased or reduced, or this sweetener can be substituted for another of your choice. However, I would not recommend removing the sweetener completely.

Sugar, in this case maple syrup, plays an important part in coloring the dish. Without sugar, your sheet pan breakfast will not turn brown! This ingredient plays a part in what’s called the Maillard reaction; without it, we cannot have golden brown pancakes.

Leavening

I prefer chemical leavening for sourdough discard recipes because we are using starter that is not in its prime state, and may not rise well (especially in this recipe, where we don’t add any flour). The truth is – without the baking soda, this dish would be much denser.

The baking soda reacts with the sourdough discard to leaven the batter: trapping carbon dioxide gases and creating bubbles which cause the batter to rise and become light and fluffy. It is the perfect match for a discard-heavy recipe like this one, since the acids in the discard allow the baking soda to do its work.

If your discard is on the older end, you’ll notice it doesn’t get too great of a rise. I do recommend using discard that is less than one month old, or that hasn’t gone completely dormant and started producing hooch.

If needed, you can substitute one tablespoon of baking powder (which contains the acids needed to leaven the dish) for the baking soda.

Salt

Salt brings out flavor. I use a teaspoon in this recipe to enhance all the flavors.

Quick Tip: Read the recipe in its entirety before you start cooking. This will help you understand the ingredients, steps, and timing involved, and allow you to prepare any necessary equipment or ingredients beforehand.