A breakfast favourite on the UK McDonald’s menu is about to meet its match with a rival product set to arrive within weeks.

It marks the fast food giant’s latest shake-up to its offering of iconic burgers, sandwiches, salty fries and McCafe drinks and desserts.

McDonald’s is globally loved for its breakfast menu, so much so that it recently extended its serving hours to 11am.

And now lovers of its trademark hash browns will be able to get more for their money with the new arrival of a mini version of the savoury snacks.

Soon to be served across the 1,300 plus McDonald’s restaurants and drive-thrus in the UK, the bite-size hash browns will compete with the full-sized versions which have been around since the 1980s.

Launched in the US a decade earlier in the 1970s, hash browns joined UK McDonald’s breakfast menus in the early 1980s and quickly became a staple morning snack.

From October 16, foodies will be able to bag a five-pack of the mini hashbrowns costing £1.49. Superfans of the McDonald’s hash browns can indulge in a 15-piece share box for a bargain £2.99.

It’s an attractive pricepoint considering one single, regular-size hash brown costs £1.19, though it should be noted that prices vary across individual restaurants.

However, the caveat is that there’s no telling how long the mini hash browns will stick around for, so McDonald’s fanatics may need to be quick.

In 2022, the creators of the famed Big Mac added mini potato waffles to its breakfast offering. While they were a big hit with fans,v with many saying they were better than hashbrowns, they didn’t last long on the menu.

Described as “crispy on the outside”, full-sized hash browns are made up of potatoes, dehydrated potato and non-hydrogenated vegetable oils, among a few other ingredients.

The mini versions are likely to follow a similar recipe crafted into bite-size portions. The new potato-based item will be joining a whole host of other breakfast items including the iconic McMuffins and Cheesy Bacon Flatbreads.

McDonald’s usually updates its regular menu, which is served from 11am daily, every six weeks or so. However, its breakfast menu is a bit more stringent with new additions less frequent.

The most recent change came in January this year when the Breakfast Wrap returned after a four-year hiatus. Before this was the McMuffin, which made its debut in November 2022.

After being axed, the McMuffin made a long-awaited return in March last year and has been on the menu ever since.