McDonald’s Adds New Vegan Burger to the Menu

McDonald’s is aiming to become even more vegan-friendly with the launch of its latest menu item. Home to fan-favorite burgers like the Big Mac and the Quarter Pounder, the Golden Arches’ latest burger swaps out the beef patty for a plant-based option: a yam patty. The fast-food chain has officially launched the new YAMburger by Eosta, though it is currently only available in a single country.

Also dubbed the McYam, the new YAMburger is set to debut at McDonald’s locations in the Netherlands sometime this summer. The burger was created amid a desire from the chain to keep its food affordable amid an impending meat tax in the Netherlands that “will make hamburgers up to three times more expensive,” according to Veg News, per The Street. Hoping to avoid a drastic price hike, the Golden Arches teamed with Dutch multinational food company Eosta to develop a meat-free vegan burger. Amid their search for the best option, a yam-based vegan burger was created, with Trend Hunter reporting that a yam patty was selected “because of its closeness to meat as well as its low, 50-cent production cost.”

The YAMburger’s patties contain purple yam, protein, and a small amount of fat, making it comparable to plain red meat. The patty is also flavor-diverse due to its subtle sweetness.” While the yam patty is a stark contrast to the traditional beef patty, the rest of the burger is near identical to the chain’s other burgers, boasting onions, pickles, and condiments. Eosta CEO Volkert Engelsman said in a statement, “Actually, you hardly need to add anything to make it tasty. Of course, you do need an organic bun, organic sauce, and fried onions.”

McDonald’s is set to begin testing the YAMburger in the Netherlands. It is unclear if the chain is considering rolling the new burger out worldwide or if the burger will remain a Netherlands exclusive.

The launch of the YAMburger comes amid McDonald’s ongoing effort to offer more vegetarian and vegan-friendly ordering options. In January of this year, and following an initial test in eight select restaurants last year, the chain expanded the test of its plant-based McPlant burger to 600 locations in the San Francisco Bay and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. The burger was created as part of its partnership with Beyond Meat and features a patty made from plant-based ingredients like peas, rice and potatoes. The McPlant burger also features a vegan sesame bun with a vegan sauce, lettuce, onion, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and mustard, as well as a pea protein-based vegan cheese.