Food & Drink

We tried McDonald’s new Double Big Mac with 4 patties — here’s how it went

This megaburger puts the quadruple in quadruple bypass — it’s no wonder obesity rates are through the roof.

McDonald’s beefed up its menu to the extreme Thursday by resurrecting the much-anticipated Double Big Mac: essentially a regular Big Mac, plus two extra patties, which clocks in at nearly 800 calories.

[This is a developing story, stay tuned for updates about heart attacks and diarrhea.]

“The Double Big Mac is double the fun, with four 100% all-beef patties,” declared McDonald’s corporate blog.

Starting Jan. 25, this four-tiered titan — which originally hails from Australia — will be available for a limited time at participating outlets. (Customers can find out which stores sell it by downloading the McDonald’s app.)

For McDonald’s die-hards, this marks a welcome return for the quadruple-decker sandwich, which debuted in the US in March 2020, before getting “furloughed” amid the burger joint’s COVID-era streamline.

So, how did the Double Big Mac hold up during its comeback tour? We decided to ascend this meaty Mount Everest and find out.

Ready, set, heart attack.

We tried the Double Big Mac to see if it puts the quadruple in “quadruple bypass.” Brian Zak/NY Post

As with most fast food noshes, the Double Big Mac matches its promo photo about as well as some Tinder profiles resemble the real person.

Without a food stylist fluffer as seen in ads, it’s not the size it promised to be.

But, it boasts the same ingredients as the two-tiered version: beef, pickles, lettuce, finely chopped onions, American cheese and Big Mac sauce — all bookended by three sesame buns.

However, in line with recent recipe makeovers, this Macdaddy features softer, more pillowy buns, meltier cheese, better-seared meat and more sauce.

The Double Big Mac is like a regular Big Mac, plus two extra burgers. Think the glutton’s equivalent of adding extra plates onto a barbell. Brian Zak/NY Post
The Double Big Mac (right) next to the regular Big Mac. Brian Zak/NY Post

It’s bulkier than the standard Big Mac, but not as Himalayan as other burgers out there — see this 36-patty monster from Burger King — though it did require stretching my jaw a bit like a Burmese python to get an adequate grip.

After taking a supersized bite, we can safely say we prefer the more buxom Double Mac.

The problem with the original Big Mac is the “mezzanine” bun in the middle completely throws the composition off kilter. The first bite is all bread, while the rest are spent bushwhacking through roughage to get to the CD-thin patty within.

Author Ben Cost ascends the meat Matterhorn. Brian Zak/NY Post
The real Double Big Mac looks different than its promo photo. McDonald's
The Double Big Mac boasts 780 calories, over 200 more than the original. Brian Zak/NY Post

Adding two extra patties lends the Mac the perfect meat-to-carb ratio, making it more on par with a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese. However, with 780 calories compared to a regular Mac’s 563, it likely also obstructs the arteries twice as fast.

The only other downside is that the one cheese square — the same portion as the regular Big Mac — is perhaps not enough to balance out the extra beef.

Also, be sure to grip this nosh extra tight — the added altitude makes the Double Mac twice as likely to topple apart like a fast food Jenga.

The Double Big Mac exemplifies the trend of ever-bigger burgers. McDonald's

Best of all, this four-tiered beast is only around $1.50 more than the original (although the price varies by location).

So why did the fast food chain decide to double down in the first place?

“We’ve identified an unmet customer need with a significant opportunity to drive future growth in beef and that is the large beef burger customer — a desire for larger, high-quality burgers that fill you up and are delivered in a convenient and affordable way,” Jo Sempels, McDonald’s president for international developmental licensed markets, said recently.

It’s “Super Size Me” all over again, 20 years later.

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