✔ Updated · new copycat recipe with step photos
This copycat McDonald's Arch Deluxe brings back the 1990s grown-up burger: a juicy quarter-pound patty, peppered bacon and that tangy mustard Arch sauce on a soft potato bun. It takes 35 minutes, and honestly it tastes like the burger the ads promised.
How Do You Make a McDonald's Arch Deluxe at Home? (Quick Answer)
Whisk mayonnaise with Dijon, lemon, sugar and pepper for the sauce. Bake coarse-peppered bacon on a rack at 400°F for 15 to 18 minutes. Sear 4-ounce beef patties in a very hot cast iron pan, add American cheese and cook to 160°F. Toast sesame potato buns, sauce both halves, then stack the patty with ketchup, slivered onion, bacon, tomato and leaf lettuce.
At a glance
The one tip that matters: Make the Arch sauce first and chill it. Ten minutes in the fridge softens the mustard bite and makes it taste rounder.
Why You'll Love This Arch Deluxe
- A lost burger, back on your plate with the leaf lettuce, peppered bacon and split-top style bun people remember.
- The Arch sauce a tangy mayo and Dijon spread that tastes nothing like Big Mac sauce.
- Restaurant crust at home from a screaming hot cast iron pan and a thin, wide patty.
- Done in 35 minutes with the bacon and sauce made while the pan heats.
- Easy to make your own swap the bacon, go double patty or turn the sauce up with horseradish.
What Was the McDonald's Arch Deluxe?
The Arch Deluxe launched in 1996 as McDonald's burger for grown-ups, with a bakery-style potato bun, leaf lettuce, peppered bacon and a mustard sauce instead of the usual pickles and onions. Business Insider reported the rollout cost an estimated $150 million to $200 million in advertising, and by 2000 it was gone. It's still one of the most famous flops in fast food.
I remember the TV ads more than the burger, if I'm honest. That's exactly why I wanted to build it at home: does it actually taste as good as the ads made it sound? With the sauce right, I think it does.
Is it still on the menu? No, you can’t order the Arch Deluxe at McDonald’s in the US today. It disappeared from menus within a few years of its 1996 launch, and a later fresh-beef Archburger test brought Arch sauce back to a handful of Oklahoma and Texas restaurants only. Menus change, so check your local McDonald’s app.
What Is in Arch Sauce?
McDonald's sold the Arch Deluxe with a sauce of mayonnaise and mustards, and the 2018 Archburger test described Arch sauce the same way, as a mustard and mayo combination. The company never published amounts, so my version is built by taste.
Here's what I landed on: creamy mayonnaise and sharp Dijon, with a little lemon juice, a pinch of sugar and black pepper. It's tangy and grown-up, which was the whole point.
Ingredient Notes
Exact amounts are in the recipe card below.
- Ground beef, 80/20: enough fat to stay juicy in a hot pan. Leaner beef dries out fast.
- Bacon: regular bacon with coarse pepper pressed on, or buy peppered bacon if your store has it.
- American cheese: it melts into a smooth blanket like the original. Cheddar works but turns oily.
- Potato buns: the original bun was made with potato flour, which was described at launch as soft and pillowy with sesame seeds on top.
- Mayonnaise and Dijon: the heart of the Arch sauce. Use a sharp, smooth Dijon.
- Green leaf lettuce, tomato and white onion: big fresh leaves, a thick ripe slice and just a few slivers of onion.
Step-by-Step Photos
Here's how it comes together. Exact amounts, times and temperatures are in the recipe card below.
Tips for Success
- Press the patty wider than the bun. Beef shrinks as it sears. A patty a little wider than the bun ends up the perfect size, and a shallow thumb dimple in the middle stops it puffing into a meatball. My mum taught me that thumb trick and I still use it every time.
- Get the pan really hot. Very hot cast iron gives you the deep brown crust that makes a quarter pounder taste like a restaurant burger. If it doesn't sizzle loudly when the meat goes in, wait another minute.
- Bake the bacon on a rack. The Arch Deluxe came with peppered bacon. Pressing coarse pepper onto regular bacon and baking it on a rack at 400°F gets you there, and it cooks flat and evenly while you deal with the burgers.
- Taste the sauce cold. It's just mayo and Dijon, but the balance matters. Taste it straight from the fridge before you add anything. Swap in yellow mustard and it tastes like a hot dog stand instead.
- Sauce both halves. It sounds greedy, but a thin layer top and bottom means every bite gets that tangy hit. I learned this after my first try tasted like a plain bacon cheeseburger.
- Leaf lettuce, not shredded. Big ruffled leaves were part of the grown-up look. They also stay crisp under a hot patty much better than shredded iceberg.
- Check the beef, not the clock. Ground beef needs to reach 160°F in the center. An instant-read thermometer slid in from the side takes two seconds and saves you a gray, overcooked burger.
It's number 6 on my lost fast food countdown, which covers 25 favorites from every chain.
The Arch Deluxe isn't the only one we lost: here are more McDonald's items that disappeared, from the Hula Burger to the McDLT, with ways to make them at home.
Copycat McDonald’s Arch Deluxe With Arch Sauce
4
burgers15
minutes20
minutes720
kcal35
minutesA copycat-style Arch Deluxe: a seared quarter-pound beef patty with American cheese, peppered bacon, green leaf lettuce, tomato, slivered onion and ketchup on a toasted sesame potato bun, finished with a tangy mayonnaise and Dijon sauce. Makes 4 burgers.
Ingredients
- For the Arch Sauce
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 pinch black pepper
- For the Burgers
1 lb ground beef, 80/20 (4 portions of 4 oz)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
8 slices bacon
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper, for the bacon
4 slices American cheese
- To Assemble
4 potato buns, sesame or split-top if you can find them
4 large green leaf lettuce leaves
1 large ripe tomato, sliced
1/4 small white onion, slivered
4 teaspoons ketchup
Directions
- Make the sauce first: whisk the mayonnaise, Dijon, lemon juice, sugar and pepper. It should taste sharp at the front and creamy at the back. Chill it while you cook so it mellows.
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Press the coarse pepper onto the bacon, lay it on a rack set in a sheet pan and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until crisp. Halve each slice, so you have 4 pieces per burger.
- Divide the beef into four 4-ounce balls and press each into a patty a little wider than the bun, because they shrink. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
- Get a cast iron skillet very hot. Sear the patties for about 3 minutes, flip, add a slice of American cheese and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, until the center reads 160°F.
- Toast the cut sides of the buns in the pan for about 1 minute, until golden.
- Build it bottom up: sauce on the bottom bun, the patty with its cheese, a little ketchup, the slivered onion, the peppered bacon, a slice of tomato, the lettuce, and more sauce on the top bun. Serve right away.
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Arch Deluxe vs Big Mac vs Quarter Pounder
If you're wondering how this burger sat on the old menu, here's how my copycat compares with the burgers you can still order.
| Arch Deluxe (copycat) | Big Mac | Quarter Pounder with Cheese | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patty | 1 quarter-pound patty | 2 small patties | 1 quarter-pound patty |
| Sauce | Mayo and Dijon Arch sauce | Sweet, tangy Big Mac sauce | Ketchup and mustard |
| Toppings | Leaf lettuce, tomato, onion, peppered bacon | Shredded lettuce, pickles, onion | Pickles, slivered onion |
| Bun | Sesame potato bun | Three-part sesame bun | Sesame bun |
| Vibe | Grown-up, tangy, smoky | Classic, saucy | Simple, beefy |
Variations
Once you've made it the classic way, try one of these.
- Double Arch: two thinner patties with cheese between them. Smash them to 1/4 inch and sear 2 minutes per side.
- Spicy Arch sauce: stir 1 teaspoon of prepared horseradish or a pinch of cayenne into the sauce.
- Chicken Deluxe style: use a crispy or grilled chicken breast cooked to 165°F with the same toppings and sauce.
- Mushroom swap: skip the bacon and pile on mushrooms sauteed in butter with a little black pepper.
Make-Ahead and Storage
The Arch sauce keeps in a covered jar in the fridge for up to 5 days, and you can shape the patties a day ahead, layered between parchment and kept cold.
Cooked patties keep for 3 days in the fridge. Reheat them in a covered skillet over medium-low heat until 165°F, then build the burger fresh. A dressed burger doesn't reheat well, the lettuce wilts and the bun goes soggy.
More McDonald's Copycats
If this one hits the spot, my copycat Big Mac with homemade sauce is the obvious next burger, and the classic McDonald's cheeseburger is a quick weeknight win. For the full drive-thru feeling, add a batch of McDonald's-style french fries.
You'll find every burger, sauce and dessert in my McDonald's copycat recipes collection, and the rest of the restaurant favorites in our copycat recipes roundup.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was on the McDonald's Arch Deluxe?
The Arch Deluxe was a quarter-pound beef burger with American cheese, peppered bacon, leaf lettuce, tomato, onions and ketchup on a sesame potato-flour bun, finished with a mustard and mayonnaise Arch sauce. This copycat builds it the same way with ingredients from any grocery store.
What is in Arch Deluxe sauce?
McDonald's never published the recipe, but it was sold as a sauce of mayonnaise and mustards. My version uses 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons Dijon, a little lemon juice, a pinch of sugar and black pepper. It's tangy and creamy, not sweet like Big Mac sauce.
When was the Arch Deluxe discontinued?
The Arch Deluxe launched in 1996 as McDonald's burger for grown-ups, and it was gone from US menus within a few years after weak sales. Business Insider reported in January 2018 that a fresh-beef Archburger test brought back Arch sauce at a handful of restaurants in Oklahoma and Texas.
Why did the Arch Deluxe fail?
It was priced above the regular menu and marketed to adults, while most customers came to McDonald's for value and family meals. Business Insider reported its launch campaign cost an estimated $150 million to $200 million, which made it one of the most famous flops in fast-food history.
Can I make the Arch Deluxe without bacon?
Yes. The bacon was optional on the original too. Skip it and add an extra slice of cheese or a few sauteed mushrooms. The Arch sauce, leaf lettuce and potato bun still give you the burger's character.
What bun is closest to the Arch Deluxe bun?
Look for a sesame potato bun or a split-top potato roll. The original used potato flour for a soft, slightly sweet, pillowy bun. Brioche works if that's all you can find, but it's richer and sweeter.
Can I make the Arch sauce ahead?
Yes. Arch sauce keeps in a covered jar in the fridge for up to 5 days. The flavor actually gets better after a day, and it's great on chicken sandwiches and fries too.
