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A Big Mac costs $6.49 and carries 590 calories. The sauce is not Thousand Island dressing, whatever you have read, and the ingredient list proves it.
A Big Mac costs $6.49 and contains 590 calories with 25g of protein. The meal with medium fries and a medium drink is $10.99 and 1,120 calories. Two beef patties, three bun pieces, Big Mac sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onion.
This page covers what a Big Mac costs across the country, the full nutrition, exactly what goes on it, and what is genuinely in the sauce — which is not what most guides tell you. It also covers the Double Big Mac, the Chicken Big Mac and where the Big Mac sits now that the Big Arch has arrived. Prices for the rest of the range are on our McDonald's burgers menu, and the full board is on the McDonald's menu with prices.
Our surveyed national midpoint is $6.49 for the sandwich and $10.99 for the meal with medium fries and a medium drink. McDonald's restaurants are around 95 percent franchisee owned and set their own board, so the real spread runs from about $5.79 to $7.99.
It is 590 calories with 25g of protein, not the highest calorie burger McDonald's sells, despite the third bun — a Double Quarter Pounder is 740, because beef carries far more energy per gram than bread does.
25g for 590 calories works out at 4.2g per 100, which is mid-table. A Double Quarter Pounder gives 6.5g per 100 and an Egg McMuffin gives 5.5g. The third bun is what drags the ratio down: it adds carbohydrate without adding any meaningful protein.
Eight components, and the build has been unchanged since Jim Delligatti created it in Pittsburgh in 1967. Two beef patties, three bun pieces, Big Mac sauce, shredded lettuce, one slice of American cheese, pickle slices and rehydrated onions.
Contains wheat, sesame, egg, milk and soy. Full ingredient detail on McDonald's own product page.
The claim on almost every recipe site is that this sauce is Thousand Island dressing, or Thousand Island with a few tweaks. The published ingredient list says otherwise, and the difference is not subtle.
Copycat salad, casserole, sliders, tacos, bowls and pizza are all the same idea: take the sauce, the pickle, the onion and the beef, and drop the bun. They work because the sauce is doing the identifying, not the bread. If you are making any of them, the mustard is the ingredient most recipes get wrong — the real sauce uses both mustard seed and mustard bran, which gives a sharper edge than prepared yellow mustard does.
The sauce contains egg, soy and wheat, so it is not suitable for gluten free or vegan diets. In the UK and Ireland McDonald's has sold the sauce separately as a dip; it is not sold on its own in the United States.
Three variations come up constantly in searches, and only one of them is reliably on the US menu. Here is where each currently stands.
Not on the US national menu. It has run as a limited-time item in the States on and off, and returned in the UK and Ireland during 2026 as part of a promotional menu. If your app shows it, your region is running it; if not, there is no way to order one. Chicken options currently on the US board are covered on our Chicken McNuggets page.
The index is an informal currency comparison published by The Economist since 1986. The idea is simple: the same sandwich is made to the same specification almost everywhere, so comparing its local price is a rough way to judge whether a currency is over or undervalued.
Prices are a national midpoint recorded from restaurant menu boards in August 2026 and vary by location. Nutrition figures are McDonald's published US data. The full board with current pricing is on our McDonald's menu with prices, and every item's calorie count is on the nutrition page.
$6.49 at the national midpoint. Rural restaurants run closer to $5.79 and airport locations to $7.99. Franchisees set their own board, so there is no single nationwide price.
$10.99 with medium fries and a medium drink, which is 1,120 calories. Buying the three separately comes to roughly $12.70, so the meal saves about $1.70.
590 calories, with 25g of protein, 34g of fat and 46g of carbohydrate. That is McDonald's own US figure. Some guides publish 580, which appears to come from an earlier formulation.
Two beef patties, three pieces of sesame seed bun, Big Mac sauce, shredded lettuce, one slice of American cheese, pickles and rehydrated onions. The build has not changed since 1967.
A mayonnaise-style base of soybean oil and egg yolk, with sweet pickle relish, distilled vinegar, mustard seed, mustard bran, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika and turmeric. There is no ketchup and no tomato in it at all.
No. Thousand Island is defined by its tomato content, usually ketchup or chili sauce, and this sauce contains neither. The orange colour comes from paprika and turmeric. Copycat recipes built on ketchup taste sweeter and more tomato-forward than the real thing.
The middle piece is called the club. Jim Delligatti added it in 1967 so the sauce and lettuce had a surface to sit on rather than sliding off a double burger. It adds roughly 70 calories and gives the sandwich its recognisable shape.
Not on the US national menu. It has run as a limited-time item in the States before and returned in the UK and Ireland during 2026. Check your app: if it is not listed for your restaurant, there is no way to order one.
Beef, mostly. The Big Arch uses two 4oz patties against the standard two 1.6oz ones, adds a third cheese slice, and drops the middle bun. It is 1,020 calories against 590.
720 calories with 38g of protein, at $8.29. It uses four patties in the same three-part bun with the same sauce. Availability rotates, so it is not always on the board.
An informal currency comparison published by The Economist since 1986. Because the sandwich is made to the same specification worldwide, comparing local prices gives a rough sense of whether a currency is over or undervalued. Prices in every market we track are on our international menu page.
25g, which is 50 percent of the daily value. That works out at 4.2g per 100 calories. A Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese does better at 6.5g per 100, because it carries more beef and less bread.
Prices shown are based on typical U.S. McDonald’s menu prices as of August 2026 and may vary by location. Check your local restaurant or McDonald’s app for the latest prices.
Timing questions are answered on breakfast hours .