Griffin Parker
It’s a special one today, folks. While McDonald’s regularly adds new items to the menu, they don’t launch new burgers too often–let alone one even bigger than the Big Mac. Our ears perked up at the news that the Big Arch burger is seriously packed with “new.” Inside a single burger, McDonald’s is debuting white cheddar cheese slices, crispy onions, and a mustard-tomato-pickle-embued “Big Arch Sauce,” all inside a bun peppered with sesame and poppy seeds.
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The reason we’re getting all this innovation at once is pretty simple: The McDonald’s Big Arch burger is only new to us Yanks. The Big Arch burger debuted at McDonald’s locations overseas in 2024, with ingredients more common to those international markets; we’re getting the full, authentic experience with this stateside release. McDonald’s was nice enough to McDeliver an early Big Arch burger to Sporked‘s resident fast-food test subject (even though I technically tried the Big Arch burger for the first time last year). Let’s find out what makes this new burger so special.
What was that about trying the Big Arch burger for the first time last year?
Back in October, I went to a convenience-store trade show in Chicago to cover as many product reveals as I could. While I was in town, I stopped by the McDonald’s restaurant on the ground floor of their Global Headquarters (right next door to Hamburger University). This “Global Menu” restaurant features a rotating menu of international items. Fellow Sporked contributor Tyler Bowers and I feasted on sweet potato fries, a variety of filled donut holes called “McPops,” Biscoff McFlurries, and the first stateside release of the Big Arch burger. I didn’t write up a detailed review at that time, but I do recall that experience being far less messy; I’ll chalk that attention to detail up to those particular employees being just a floor away from their bosses’ bosses’ bosses’ bosses’… You get the idea. (And yes, the ice cream machine worked.)
Jordan Myrick
Gwynedd Stuart
Ariana Losch
I thought it was gonna suck but mine was actually way better than expected. Mine wasn’t messy, not too much sauce, only thing in the bottom of my box was a few strands of lettuce.
That being said, I think it’s insane they made this a double quarter pounder. I’d love a smaller version that’s just a single with (hopefully) a price adjustment to match lol
My ‘beef’ with the Big Arch is the price? Really? 11.00? Too much for a fast food burger.
The real issue to me is the insane calorie count. You’re better off buying a QPC or heck, a DOUBLE QPC, which is still 250+ calories shy of the Big Product. That’s bananas!
Or do what I did, share it with a loved one, each eating half, and think, “I could have had my own Quarter Pounder with Cheese instead” while eating it.
When McDonald’s introduced the “Bold” Big Arch Burger, it was presented as something big, layered, and attention-grabbing. In a very different way, the Unique Identification Authority of India built Aadhaar to be bold in purpose rather than size. While a burger stands out on a menu for its scale, Aadhaar stands out in governance for providing every resident with a unique 12-digit identity number supported by biometric and demographic verification.
Unlike a limited-time food item, the my Aadhaar concept represents a lifelong digital identity that simplifies verification and strengthens transparency. The Aadhaar system enables secure KYC processes, supports direct benefit transfers, reduces duplication in welfare schemes, and allows authentication through OTP and biometrics. From banking and telecom services to government subsidies and pensions, Aadhaar acts as a foundational digital backbone that keeps India’s identity ecosystem structured, reliable, and accessible.
I’m sure this BIG Burger is Not all that big just like their other Burgers, they’ve shrunk the sizes and raised the prices, the McDouble is the size of the McMuffin now but twice the price it used to be. McDonald’s is pricing themselves right out of the market. People used to get good food at good prices here but NOT anymore. I had. Quarter Pounder today and the meat was a regular sized patty not thick like it used to be, What a ripoff.
I tried to sub in white cheddar for a double cheeseburger and I got shot down! They said they “didn’t have a button for that.” No bueno.