We Tried McDonald’s New Veggie Burger

Shania Twain’s all-dressed fries may have been a hit this summer, but McDonald’s has a new queen in town, and she’s the McVeggie: a deep-fried, breaded veggie patty topped with a mayo-style sauce and shredded lettuce on a sesame-seed bun. And for a fast-food veggie burger? It’s honestly pretty good.

The patty is made of a blend of vegetables (including carrots, green beans, zucchini, peas, soybeans, corn and broccoli)—pieces of which you can actually see when you cut the sandwich in half. Vegetables at McDonald’s? Groundbreaking. 

Team Chatelaine tasted both the classic McVeggie and its spicy counterpart, topped with a creamy habanero sauce. Most taste-testers were impressed with the quality for a McDonald’s sandwich (and one that costs just $6)—the patty featured an unexpectedly nice variety of vegetables, and it tasted fresh. Some, however, wished there was a better bun-to-patty ratio (the veggie patty has a similar profile to the beef you’d find in a Big Mac).

If you’re looking for a healthy alternative to your standard McD’s burger, though, the McVeggie is not it. The sandwich boasts almost double the number of calories as a standard cheeseburger (470 versus 290), and the most sodium (710 mg, to be precise) of its comparable chicken (McChicken), beef (Cheeseburger) and fish (Filet-O-Fish) counterparts. 

The burger is also, according to McDonald’s, not technically vegetarian: though it’s made entirely of vegetables and seasonings, it’s fried in the same baskets as the Filet-O-Fish. 

The McVeggie is part of a larger expansion in the McDonald’s Canada menu to make its offerings more “inclusive,” catering to customers with dietary restrictions. Additional menu options include a tomato and lettuce snack wrap Happy Meal and the option of oat milk in McCafé coffees. (The brand previously tested a plant-based burger made with Beyond Meat in Canada, but it never made it to the permanent menu.)

The bottom line? The McVeggie may not be the healthiest item on the McDonald’s menu, but it’s  still a decent sandwich—and it will certainly make road-trip pit stops with your plant-based friends much easier.