McDonald’s burgers are shrinking, at least according to a fresh round of customer complaints online. A Reddit thread asking whether the chain has been quietly cutting portions while raising prices has fans swapping stories of “crazy thin” Big Mac patties. The official numbers tell a different story, and McDonald’s has not answered this latest round directly.
The thread, posted to Reddit’s r/NoStupidQuestions, asked a simple question: “Is it true that Mcdonalds has been recently shrinking the size of their food in America and raising prices?” It was picked up later by SheFinds, which described customers calling some items “slider-sized.”
What Fans Are Saying
The complaints center on classic menu items, not a single new product. The Filet-O-Fish, the cheeseburger, and the Big Mac all came up in the discussion. One commenter wrote that they had a Big Mac “for the first time in years and it was mostly bread,” adding that “the patties were crazy thin and way smaller in diameter than the buns.” The same person admitted, “Obviously I didnt weigh the patties,” and called the post “anecdotal.”
The thread is a collection of personal impressions, not measurements. Other commenters pushed back, arguing that the patties are made to the same pre-cooking weight they always have been and that rising prices make the same burger feel smaller.
READ: McDonald’s Giving Away 10 Karat Gold Cheeseburger Worth $15,000
This is not a new argument, either. Claims that the Big Mac has gotten smaller have circulated for years, often with side-by-side photos that are not true comparisons.
What McDonald’s Says Is in a Big Mac
McDonald’s own Big Mac product page describes the burger as “two 100% pure all beef patties and Big Mac Sauce sandwiched between a sesame seed bun,” topped with pickles, shredded lettuce, chopped onion, and a slice of American cheese, at 580 calories.
Those patties are small by design. Business Insider noted in March 2026 that the Big Mac uses two 1.6-ounce beef patties, while the Quarter Pounder uses 4 ounces of beef measured before cooking. That 1.6-ounce figure is a raw weight. Beef loses moisture and fat on the grill, so a cooked patty will always look and weigh less than the number suggests.
In other words, a Big Mac has always carried less beef than a Quarter Pounder. Its size comes from the extra middle bun and the stack of toppings, not from thick patties.
None of that rules out a thin patty or a sloppy build at a given restaurant on a given day. It just means a single disappointing burger is not proof of a chainwide change.
Has McDonald’s Responded?
Not to this thread, as of this writing. When Snopes examined a viral claim on May 25, 2026 that the Big Mac had lost 40% of its size since 1980, it found no evidence for the shrink. It also found the price figures in the meme were wrong: a 1980 menu listed the Big Mac at $1.20, not 50 cents, and the average U.S. price in January 2024 was $5.69, not $8. Snopes said it had contacted McDonald’s for comment.
READ: McDonald’s and KPop Demon Hunters Promotion Launches New Adult Happy Meals
The clearest company denial on record came from McDonald’s Australia in 2022, when a spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia there had been no changes to the proportions of its burgers, according to Snopes.
Why the Big Mac Feels Like a Big Slider
Price is the likely culprit. McDonald’s burgers cost more than they did a few years ago, and when the bill goes up, customers look harder at what is in the box. The chain has also leaned into bigger options, like the Big Arch, which launched on March 3, 2026, with two quarter-pound patties. Next to a burger like that, a Big Mac built on two 1.6-ounce patties can look like a slider.
So is the Big Mac shrinking? The public record says no. Are McDonald’s burgers a worse deal than they used to be? That’s a fair question, and it is the one fans are really asking.
Have you noticed your Big Mac getting smaller, or is it just the price that has grown? Sound off and let us know!
UP NEXT: Star Wars: Galactic Racer Scores an 88 on Metacritic, Tying the Best Star Wars Game Score Since 2003
