McDouble Copycat Recipe: How to Make It at Home

To make a McDouble at home, cook two thin 1.6-ounce (45 g) beef patties on a very hot griddle, salt and pepper them only once they hit the heat, and melt one slice of American cheese between them. Stack everything on a plain white bun with ketchup, yellow mustard, dill pickle chips and rehydrated dried onions. That’s the whole burger. The patty weight, the seasoning method and the onions come from published sources on the US McDouble. The griddle heat, the cooking time and the condiment doses are my own estimates, and I flag each one below. This is a copycat, not McDonald’s official recipe.

What is in a McDouble? The official ingredients

A McDouble is two 100% beef patties, one slice of pasteurized process American cheese, pickle slices, onions, ketchup and mustard on a regular bun. That is the list on McDonald’s US product page. When I went to check it in October 2026, the official McDouble page returned an error, so I read the same list on a mirror of the menu. The Takeout describes the same build: two 1.6-ounce patties, one slice of American cheese, ketchup, mustard, chopped onions and pickles on a white bun.

Canada has it too. The McDonald’s Canada McDouble page lists two patties of 100% Canadian beef, a slice of processed cheese, pickles, onions, ketchup and mustard, on a bun it calls toasted.

What McDonald’s confirms and what I assume

Some of this burger is documented and some of it isn’t. The patty size, the salt-and-pepper seasoning and the rehydrated onions are on record. The bun weight, the cheese brand, the sauce doses and the griddle heat are not, so I filled those gaps myself. The table shows which is which.

What McDonald’s confirms vs what this McDouble copycat assumes: two 1.6 oz (45 g) frozen patties, salt and pepper on the grill and rehydrated onions are confirmed; beef fat ratio, sauce doses, bun and griddle heat of 400-450°F are estimates. (Table: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from The Takeout, Food Republic, EatHealthy365 and McDonald’s Canada)

How much does a McDonald’s patty weigh?

A regular McDonald’s patty weighs 1.6 ounces, about 45 g, before cooking. The trade calls it a 10:1 patty: ten of them make a pound. McDonald’s freezes these patties and cooks them on a two-sided clamshell grill, according to this analysis of the patty. A McDouble takes two, so each burger starts with 3.2 ounces (90 g) of raw beef.

McDouble copycat recipe ingredients (makes 2 burgers)

These amounts make two McDoubles. I weigh the beef to the gram, and you should too: on a patty this thin, an extra 10 g changes how it cooks and how it eats. McDonald’s doesn’t publish its doses of onions, pickles or sauce, so those are my estimates.

• 6.4 oz (180 g) ground beef, about 80/20, for 4 patties of 1.6 oz (45 g)
• 2 plain white hamburger buns
• 2 slices of American cheese
• 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
• Hot water, enough to cover the onions
• 4 to 6 dill pickle chips
• Ketchup, about 10 small dots
• Yellow mustard, about 10 small dots
• Fine salt and ground black pepper

Equipment: kitchen scale, parchment paper, a flat griddle or cast-iron skillet, a stiff metal spatula and an instant-read thermometer.

Times: prep 20 minutes, freezing 1 hour 30 minutes, cooking about 5 minutes, total about 1 hour 55 minutes. The onions soak while the patties freeze.

How to make a McDouble at home, step by step

Get the patties thin and frozen, the griddle hot enough to sear them in a minute, and the salt on only once the meat is cooking. After that it’s just assembly. My starting point was a McDonald’s-style cheeseburger recipe on Food.com, which I adjusted to the McDouble build.

1. Weigh and shape the patties

Divide the beef into 4 portions of exactly 1.6 oz (45 g). Press each one thin and flat between two sheets of parchment paper. No salt or pepper in the meat.

2. Freeze the patties

Freeze the patties between their parchment sheets for 1 hour 30 minutes. McDonald’s patties arrive frozen, and a firm patty keeps its thin shape when you press it on the griddle. Of all seven steps, this is the one I would never skip.

3. Rehydrate the onions

Cover 1 tablespoon of dried minced onion with hot water and soak for 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well and set aside.

4. Heat the griddle

Heat a flat griddle or cast-iron skillet to 400 to 450°F (200 to 230°C). McDonald’s doesn’t publish its grill temperature. I picked this range because a patty this thin has to sear fast or it dries out before it browns.

5. Cook and season the patties

Lay the patties on the griddle and press each one for 3 seconds with the spatula. Salt and pepper the top right there on the heat. Cook about 1 minute per side, until the center reads 160°F (71°C), and lay a slice of cheese on two of the patties after the flip.

6. Warm the buns

Warm each bun for 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave so it stays soft. McDonald’s Canada calls its bun toasted and the US page is silent, so if you like a crisper crumb, toast the cut side on the griddle instead.

7. Dress and assemble

Put 5 dots of ketchup and 5 dots of mustard on each top bun, then the onions and 2 to 3 pickle chips. On the bottom bun, stack a cheese-topped patty and then a plain one, close the burger and eat it right away.

Rehydrated McDonald’s onions: the detail that matters

The onions are where most copycat recipes go wrong, in my view. McDonald’s puts dehydrated onions on most of its burgers and rehydrates them in water in the restaurant. The Quarter Pounder is the exception, with fresh onions, Food Republic reports. At home, The Daily Meal recommends soaking dried onions in hot water for 15 to 20 minutes, then draining them. Fresh chopped onion makes a different burger, sharper and crunchier, closer to a Quarter Pounder than a McDouble.

A glass jar of dehydrated onion labeled “Onion, Dehydrated, August 2016” at a Colorado State University Extension food-drying tasting. Soak dried minced onion 15 to 20 minutes in hot water to get the soft McDonald’s-style onions. Illustrative photo, not McDonald’s onions. (Photo: Nutrition, Food Safety & Health (Colorado State University Extension), CC0 1.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dehydrated\_onions\_ready\_for\_sampling.jpg)

Safe internal temperature for a McDouble patty

Cook ground beef to 160°F (71°C) in the center, the USDA safe minimum. One minute per side is where I’d start with a thin 1.6-ounce patty. It isn’t a guarantee. Check with a thermometer, and give the patty more time if it isn’t there yet. My burger patty internal temp guide shows how to probe a patty this thin.

Why this copycat gets close to the McDouble

It sticks to what McDonald’s and the press actually document: the 1.6-ounce patty, salt and pepper on the heat, and rehydrated dried onions. Salting on the griddle instead of in the mix keeps the meat loose. Salt worked into ground beef firms it up toward a sausage texture, and plenty of copycat recipes do exactly that. One slice of American cheese and a soft white bun keep the original’s proportions. There’s no special sauce. Ketchup and yellow mustard do the job, sweet first, then sharp.

Five Guys goes the other way, with fresh, unseasoned patties. My colleague Julia breaks that method down in her Five Guys cheeseburger copycat recipe.

McDouble vs Double Cheeseburger vs Daily Double

The McDouble and the Double Cheeseburger differ by one slice of cheese: the Double Cheeseburger has two, the McDouble has one. Nothing else changes, according to Wikipedia and McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger page. The Daily Double keeps the two patties and the single slice but swaps every topping.

A McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger cut in half in Fairfax County, Virginia (2020): two thin patties, a dill pickle chip, small rehydrated onions, ketchup and mustard. The McDouble has the same build with one slice of cheese instead of two. (Photo: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=94972995)

McDouble vs Double Cheeseburger vs Daily Double: all three use two 1.6 oz patties; the McDouble has 1 slice of cheese, the Double Cheeseburger 2, and the Daily Double (US-wide since July 22, 2025) swaps pickles, onions, ketchup and mustard for lettuce, tomato, fresh onion and mayo. (Table: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from Wikipedia, McDonald’s US and The Takeout)

The Daily Double has been sold across the US since July 22, 2025, The Takeout reports. For the rest of the chain’s 2026 lineup, see new McDonald’s burgers in 2026.

Where the McDouble comes from

The modern McDouble launched in 1997. The name goes back further: in 1964, a McDouble was a burger topped with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise, according to Wikipedia. For the longer story, read our history of the hamburger.

How much does a McDouble cost in 2026?

The McDouble sits in the $3 tier of the US McValue menu launched on April 21, 2026, per Sporked. McDonald’s also ran a limited-time $2.50 McDouble and a $6 McDouble Meal with 4 McNuggets, small fries and a small drink, Fox News reported on May 6, 2026. These prices are indicative, at participating restaurants, as of October 2026. Our 2026 burger value wars report compares these deals with the other chains’ offers.

How much does a McDouble cost in 2026? $3 tier of the McValue menu (since April 21, 2026), $2.50 limited-time deal and $6 McDouble Meal with 4 McNuggets, small fries and a small drink (May 2026). Indicative prices at participating US restaurants. (Chart: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from Sporked (https://sporked.com/article/mcdonalds-new-mcvalue-menu-2026/) and Fox News (https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/mcdonalds-2-50-mcdouble-sparks-backlash-americans-say-fast-food-no-longer-cheap), rendered with QuickChart)

McDouble calories and nutrition

A US McDouble has 390 calories, 22 g of protein, 33 g of carbohydrates and 850 mg of sodium, per Fast Food Nutrition. Wikipedia’s 2025 figures agree on calories and protein and give 32 g of carbohydrates. The sources disagree on fat, so I’ve left it out until the official page can be checked. These are McDonald’s figures, not those of the homemade version.

McDouble nutrition: 390 calories, 22 g of protein and 32 to 33 g of carbohydrates depending on the source (Fast Food Nutrition vs Wikipedia 2025). Values for the US McDonald’s burger, not the homemade copy. (Chart: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from Fast Food Nutrition (https://fastfoodnutrition.org/mcdonalds/mcdouble) and Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDouble), rendered with QuickChart)

McDouble copycat FAQ

What is in a McDouble? Two 100% beef patties, one slice of American cheese, pickles, onions, ketchup and mustard on a regular bun, as listed for McDonald’s US.

What is the difference between a McDouble and a Double Cheeseburger? One slice of cheese. The Double Cheeseburger has two slices of American cheese; the McDouble has one. Everything else is the same.

How much does a McDonald’s patty weigh? A regular McDonald’s patty weighs 1.6 ounces (about 45 g) before cooking, ten to the pound.

Does McDonald’s season its beef? Yes, with salt and pepper only, sprayed evenly on the patties once they are on the grill, not mixed into the meat, per The Takeout.

How do you make McDonald’s onions at home? Soak dried minced onion in hot water for 15 to 20 minutes, then drain. McDonald’s rehydrates its dehydrated onions in water the same way.

What is the difference between a McDouble and a Daily Double? Both have two patties and one slice of cheese. The McDouble adds pickles, rehydrated onions, ketchup and mustard; the Daily Double adds lettuce, tomato, slivered fresh onion and mayonnaise.

How many calories are in a McDouble? 390 calories for the US McDouble, with 22 g of protein.

More fast-food copycat recipes

If rebuilding chain burgers at home is your thing, try my Whopper copycat recipe with the full ingredient breakdown, or browse every recipe in the Burger Breton recipes section.