McDonald’s is testing the McPlant, a Beyond Meat meatless burger

McDonald’s new plant-based burger, aptly named the McPlant, is coming to eight restaurants across the US (via CNBC). The fast-food chain teamed up with Beyond Meat to make the meatless option. This comes about a year after McDonald’s ended its P.L.T. pilot, another Beyond Meat branded burger.

It’s still unclear what the differences are between the McPlant and the P.L.T., other than the name. A post on McDonald’s website says that the McPlant patty will contain peas, rice, and potatoes and will also be topped with tomatoes, lettuce, onions, pickles, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, and American cheese. That sounds a lot like the P.L.T., but we won’t really know until the start of its test on November 3rd. It’s also important to note that the McPlant will be cooked on the same grill as beef burgers, so it might not be classified as purely vegan or vegetarian.

McDonald’s briefly ran the P.L.T. in Canada from 2019 to 2020. And as CNBC noted, at the time, McDonald’s said that it had no plans to resurrect the burger. Something must’ve changed McDonald’s thinking — maybe it was the results from the McPlant test that it’s been running in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, and the UK.

Meatless options have been growing in popularity at fast-food restaurants, with Burger King kicking off the trend with the Impossible Whopper in 2019. Other chains also hopped on the bandwagon that same year, with Subway introducing the Beyond Meatball Marinara and KFC piloting plant-based fried chicken.

If your mouth waters just thinking of the McPlant, you’ll soon be able to find it at McDonald’s in Irving, TX; Carrollton, TX; Cedar Falls, IA; Jennings, LA; Lake Charles, LA; El Segundo, CA; and Manhattan Beach, CA while supplies last.