Photo: McDonald'sCheeseburger
The burger most people had as their first McDonald’s, and the hardest one to fake at home. Nothing in it is fancy: a thin patty, a slice of cheese, pickles, onions, ketchup and mustard. The magic is in proportions and texture: that soft, steamed-feeling bun and the sharp-sweet balance of the condiments. Get those right at home and the rest follows.
The story
Apart from the plain hamburger, this is the oldest thing McDonald’s sells. When Richard and Maurice McDonald shut their San Bernardino drive-in in 1948 and reopened it with a stripped-down menu and a kitchen laid out like an assembly line, the 15-cent hamburger and the 19-cent cheeseburger were the entire point. No plates, no cutlery, no carhops, and only a handful of items so the line could move. Everything McDonald’s has invented since is a variation on a burger the brothers had already cut down to its cheapest workable parts.
What’s inside
Make it at home
My copycat first, then everything I built on top of it.- My copycat
McDonald's Cheeseburger (Copycat)
The Cheeseburger on YouTube
Everyone who has cooked, copied or taste-tested it on camera.
Similar burgers at other chains
Built around the same things as the Cheeseburger.- Spangles · beef and cheese
SignatureThe Beast Steakburger - Pasibus · beef and cheese
SignatureKlasyk - Wendy's · beef and cheese
Jr. Cheeseburger - Carl's Jr. · beef and cheese
Big Cheeseburger
More from McDonald's
About McDonald's
Nobody sells more burgers. McDonald’s began as a single drive-in run by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California, and became a burger machine in 1948, when the brothers threw out most of the menu and rebuilt the kitchen like a production line. Ray Kroc, a salesman who sold them milkshake mixers, started franchising it in 1955 and later bought the brothers out.
More than 40,000 restaurants in over 100 countries.
Not affiliated with McDonald's. Trademarks belong to their owners. The photo is credited under it and is used to illustrate this menu item; it comes down on request.