Once more, with extra sauce.
McDonald’s Canada invited me to a Brampton location to sample their latest attempt at (finally) adding a vegetarian burger to the menu. Sure, the GTA already boasts an array of veggie burger options, but McDonald’s, as an ubiquitous and influential food brand, has the power to appeal to a wider customer base.
This marks the second time I’ve been invited to try a meatless burger from McDonald’s. Back in 2019, I wrote about the P.L.T., the Golden Arches’ first foray into the veggie burger market with a Beyond Meat patty, which is made primarily of pea protein. At the time, other fast food chains like Burger King, Tim Hortons and A&W rolled out their own faux-meat options, but McDonald’s experiment with Beyond Meat never made it past the testing phase.
When plant-based patties first hit the market, they generated a ton of hype. They were poised to take a big dent in the meat industry and help reduce the environmental impact of cattle farming, with chefs like Momofuku’s David Chang putting an Impossible Burger on his restaurant menu, and grocers selling out of these patties that eerily mimicked a bloody burger. But over time, sales cooled. Tim Hortons pulled its Beyond Meat breakfast sandwiche a few months after its launch, saying customers preferred eating real sausage patties.
It’s not to say veggie burgers at fast food giants are a fleeting trend. Many McDonald’s locations overseas have offered vegetarian options for years, but they’re actual plant-based burgers made from ingredients like carrots and potatoes, rather than trying to mimic beef. (McDonald’s India, for example, offers half a dozen different veggie burgers.)
How does it taste?
In Canada, McDonald’s is trying out what has already worked in other countries. From March 18 until April 14, the McVeggie burger ($5.69 plus tax) will be available at select McDonald’s Canada locations in Ontario, British Columbia and New Brunswick. During this time, the company is gathering feedback from diners and staff to determine if the veggie burger is fit for a nationwide launch.
When my McVeggie arrived at my table, I opened the cardboard burger box like a YouTuber doing an unveiling video. The sandwich consists of a deep-fried patty made from soybeans, potato, carrots and broccoli, topped with shredded lettuce, mayo and served on a sesame seed bun. There’s also a Spicy Habanero McVeggie ($5.99 plus tax) that swaps the mayo with a creamy habanero sauce already used in its Spicy McCrispy chicken burger.
Chef Jeff Anderson, culinary innovation lead at McDonald’s Canada, says while the McVeggie burger is new, it has a “familiar McDonald’s build” so that taste-wise it matches with the rest of the menu.
And he’s right — it does taste like a McDonald’s burger. The bun is that signature, slightly sweet, glossy brown bun used in the other burgers, complete with the one sesame seed that always gets stuck in my teeth. The shredded lettuce is that familiar size and look of translucent chartreuse. The mayo is the same sauce used in the McChicken. (The mayo contains egg, so the McVeggie is not vegan.) The patty itself has a crispy exterior and a mashed-potato-like centre, where I can see bits of carrots and whole edamame. While I try to cut down on deep-fried foods, the patty needed the crispy coating to contrast the soft centre. It’s like a McChicken, but with a veggie croquette rather than a chicken patty. I will always prefer the spicy version of anything, and this one will tickle the tongue without having to order an emergency McFlurry.
“The market is evolving and we’re listening to what guests are telling us,” Anderson says. “So you’ll see this is a veggie-first patty. It’s one of the things we’re getting to learn. What we found from the McDonald’s consumer is that they might not be able to come to us for religious reasons or cultural reasons, and we’re looking at something that fits within that.”
I don’t go to McDonald’s often these days, not since they took my Big Breakfast off the menu years ago. But if I found myself there, I could see myself ordering the McVeggie. As McDonald’s locations in other countries have already demonstrated, a good veggie burger can stand on its own, rather than be a second-best alternative to meat.
During the month-long test run, McVeggie is available across 37 McDonald’s locations in the following cities: Langley, B.C. Richmond, B.C. Surrey, B.C. Brampton (including the location where I tasted it, at 235 Castle Oaks Crossing, at Highway 50), Windsor, Ont. Dieppe, N.B. Moncton, N.B., Riverview, N.B. Sussex, N.B.
