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Shame On You Dunkin’ Donuts’

July 2, 2013   39 Comments

Snack Girl is late to this party, but she is ready to rumble.

Dunkin Donuts Sandwich

Dunkin’ Donuts’ is one of my least favorite venues of all the chains that I review. Three years ago, I wrote this about one of their summer drinks - You Can De-Ice an Aircraft With This New WORST Drink Winner.

In June, Dunkin’ Donuts’ (DD) received a lot of press for a Doughnut Bacon Sandwich that was described as:

mounds of fried eggs and slices of lightly salted, cherrywood-smoked bacon gathered into the sweet, sweet embrace of a “light and fluffy” split glazed doughnut.

A journalist at Time Magazine proclaimed that it “isn’t as bad as you think”. Really? ( Time Magazine Article on Dunkin’ Donuts’ Doughnut Bacon Sandwich.)

Maybe he drank a Coolatta before he wrote that article.

Some people think this sandwich is genius, others think it is disgusting. Before I go any further, you have got to look at this ingredient list:

Glazed Donut: Donut [Enriched Unbleached Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron as Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamin Mononitrate, Enzyme, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Palm Oil, Water, Dextrose, Soybean Oil, Whey (a milk derivative), Skim Milk, Yeast, Contains less than 2% of the following: Salt, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda), Defatted Soy Flour, Wheat Starch, Mono and Diglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Cellulose Gum, Soy Lecithin, Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum, Artificial Flavor, Sodium Caseinate (a milk derivative), Enzyme, Colored with (Turmeric and Annatto Extracts and Beta Carotene), Eggs], Glaze [Sugar, Water, Maltodextrin, Contains 2% or less of: Mono and Diglycerides, Agar, Cellulose Gum, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Artificial Flavor]; Fried Egg: Egg Whites, Water, Egg Yolks, Modified Corn Starch, Natural Sauteed Flavor (Soybean Oil, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Natural Flavor), Salt, Artificial Butter Flavor (Propylene Glycol, Artificial Flavor), Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Coarse Ground Black Pepper; Bacon: Pork, cured with: Water, Sugar, Salt, Sodium Phosphate, Smoke Flavoring, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite.

I love “artificial butter flavor” in the morning. With 730 mg of sodium and 8 grams of saturated fat, this sandwich will start your day in exactly the wrong direction.

Here is a photo:

I took exactly one bite of this and tossed it out. It tasted like the ingredients - chemicals. How do you screw up a donut, bacon sandwich? DD seems to have achieved the impossible – an inedible donut, bacon, and egg sandwich.

The egg was like rubber and the whole thing tasted off. Even the bacon was strange!

I don’t know why DD finds it necessary to create something like this. They seem to be ignoring the obesity health crisis and perhaps they think it is funny to promote food that resembles a toy.

They did get a lot of press out of creating this combo - and, perhaps, they wanted BUZZ. I'm going to buzz right past my DD in protest.

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39 Comments:

Ewww, that is so gross! I love Dunkin Donuts, but not this kind of stuff! Yuck!!!

Lisa- it looks like you made an error in your post:

"...perhaps they think it is funny to promote food that resembles a toy."

This isn't food.

I'd have appended a smiley face to my comment, but honestly, I don't find any of this craziness amusing.

People (Americans?) are having a tough time eschewing these salty/sugary/fatty tricks, but purveyors of this, excuse me, crap, just keep pushing more of it on us.

Stop eating these "food-like substances". Vote with your wallet and with your feet.

Food isn't something hilarious that we should make as unhealthy as possible; even in its more subtle Western-diet form, I contend that the I-can-eat-anything mentality kills hundreds of thousands of people each year.

Whoa. That soapbox was pretty high up. Stepping down now, sorry... :(

That sandwich looks really bad,and with the ingredients list...yuck. I like their iced coffee. I have tried a egg white sandwich,it has vegetables in it. I liked it. But now I wonder what other "mystery ingredients were in it". Maybe I should stick with the iced coffees.

Well, they are a donut shop, not exactly the kind of place one expects to find healthy food.

@Mike aka Monolith - excellent point.

I might not even go there or my coffee after reading this. Ugh, gross

Eww this reminds me of the KFC burger that using fried chicken as the bun. Why make something even more unhealthy? As much as I try to eat real foods, we all need a little treat now and then. But what other ingredients do you need for an egg besides egg and a bit of seasoning? That's just ridiculous. We don't have Dunkin Donuts here. Thankfully!

Don't you usually use black and white or dulled color to illustrate "food" that isn't really food? :)

No words were even needed at the beginning of this post! The picture was simply enough...."Drive Thru".....

I ate their egg white sandwich. It was good. I hope the nutritional info is correct.

Whether you like ithe product or not, thankfully we are still free to choose what we would like to eat. Would this be my choice, no, (I dont like the taste of their donuts) but DD is still free to create what they wish.

I must admit, I do love my Dukin Donuts coffee! But, when I saw this on a poster recently, I thought it even looked gross (and thought Snack Girl will be on this one!) As one of our WW leaders said, if you go to DD for a coffee, get a coffee! (not all the other junk). They do have a good nutrition site where you can get the nutritional info on their products http://www.dunkindonuts.com/content/dunkindonuts/en/menu.ht…. Also, the "smart" menu isn't bad if you are in a pinch (i.e. veggie flatbread sandwich), but I must admit I haven't looked at the ingredients.

Nothing in Dunkin Donuts is healthy not even the healthy options. The name isn't even good for you. Some places are just a no brainer, stay away.

You actually don't have to get this disgusting sandwich, ya know? They never said it was a healthy choice. Just saying.

Dear Snack Girl, I love Dunkin' Donuts coffee so It hurt's me that you are bashing them. It's one of my happy places. As far as donut's are concerned they are not here for nutrition, they are here for a snack(albeit not healthy) once in a great while, not as a steady diet.

I am gluten intolerant and can't eat anything DD has. I do love the coffee, though. I don't buy the sweet, calorie laden frozen drinks. That sandwich looks disgusting!!!

The just read a NYT article mentioning this foods like item. A study was found that even when health conscious people went to fast foods joints they picked unhealthy items. I wrote about my thoughts on this on my blog yesterday. Health conscious people don't eat at places like this when they do they probably order what they want and consider it a treat. Places that offer healthy items on their menu can't seem to sell them. Companies are going to sell what makes them money. They are a for profit after all. We are in the middle of a health crisis. I don't know how you fix it other than education. We sure can't rely on money hungry companies to do it.

@Madeline

Donuts are NOT nutrition. They are a treat. Treats are indeed nice things once in a while -- repeat: ONCE IN A WHILE -- but this abomination of a sandwich is supposed to be breakfast.

I thought "artificial butter flavor" sounded bad, then I read the ingredients list and saw "Natural Sauteed Flavor" - just, why?!

As you and Kelly Lynn suggest, if this were made with a real fried egg, homemade bacon, and a fresh donut made at a corner bakery, it might not be that bad for a (very) rare treat. But the fried egg would have two ingredients (egg, butter), not ten.

Thanks for sharing!

They make it because people buy it. It's the same concept as the celebrity gossip. If there wasn't a market it wouldn't be there. DD is the land of unhealthy food so I'm not sure why there is all the shock and dismay. NOW, if Subway were to create this I could understand the outrage - they brand is "health" (yeah, I used quotes!).

God Bless You, Snack Girl. My Superhero!

DO NOT try their chicken salad sandwiches. Pure salt flavor. I grabbed this in a pinch and have regretted it ever since. It is chicken salad, celery, cheese and bacon. I wasnt looking for a completely healthy sandwich, but I was looking for flavor. I didnt get any. Everything was covered in sodium and thats all I could taste. One bite and I tossed the rest. I miss their old chicken flatbread sandwich. :-(

Andy D, please no need to apologize. I agree with every last word of your post (and of course, Snack Girl's) -- THANK YOU for saying them. What you describe is exactly what is happening in this country, and around the globe because of what we push on them. I think we are literally brainwashed into thinking that we can eat anything you want. But give it a few decades, and the big big diseases is what we get. Please keep talking.

@Helena- thank you for your kind words and support.

About ten years ago, I'd go out to lunch with a couple of co-workers and we frequented an amazing little Mexican restaurant. They, as many such places do, would bring a basket of tortilla chips and salsa and we'd gobble them up. The server would ask, "Mas chips?" and we'd all grunt affirmatively. Then, basket number three and sometimes four.

One day, I thought, "Maybe I don't need to eat 100 tortilla chips to have an enjoyable lunch. How about if I limit myself to 20? I won't feel deprived, but I also won't be eating these things mindlessly."

Eventually, I thought, "Why am I even eating these fried things? Is the meal itself not good without them?" (Hint: The meal is just fine without them.)

Anyway, long story short, that was the beginning of a decade-long evolution in my eating habits which really boiled down to being more mindful of what I was sticking in my piehole.

When I'd crave something, I'd ask myself why and if it was something I could actually live without or portion out (e.g., not eat the entire bag of chips at once) or do something else to quiet, I'd try that.

Foods with sugar and fat have survival value. Finding and eating ripe fruit (sugar) and nuts (fat) saved our human ancestors precious gathering time and energy, so craving those foods makes sense. However, that was then and this is now. And now = "foods" with sugar and fat are not scarce as they used to be in nature; they're ubiquitous.

About three years ago, I stumbled upon this article: http://www.feedyourheaddiet.com/1/post/2011/07/quinoa-prono…

and I, Mr. Totally Afraid Of The Kitchen, decided that making it couldn't be that hard and what did I have to lose? $1.80? I started making big batches and storing them in the fridge. At least I had a base to which I could add other stuff.

When I saw this article by Lisa: https://snack-girl.com/snack/college-healthy-snacks/

I realized that this was the solution: Always have a quiver full of healthy choices and you will not panic and grab a Dunkin Donut sadwich (oh, my, did I misspell that?) on your way to XYZ.

Do you know how to avoid eating crap? Don't keep it in the house and don't stop at places that sell crap. When you shop, buy real food, cook big batches of it when you have time, and draw from that healthy supply during the week. A rice cooker (especially one with a slow-cooker function) can save you oodles of time when preparing stuff. A toaster oven (lined with aluminum foil) can let you roast veggies in almost no time.

The more healthy food you keep around, the less crap you will eat. (And if you think that you can be healthy and eat out all the time (especially at fast-food places), I think you might need to re-evaluate your definition of 'healthy'.)

Okay, last I checked, this was Lisa's blog, so I'm really stepping off my soapbox this time. :)

This is quite disgusting to look at and to even think about.

That being said, I'm echoing the sentiments of other commenters when I say...it's a donut shop, not a health food store. Personally, I don't go into places that might tempt me to get junk like this. I don't think it's Dunkin' Donuts' responsibility to baby their clientele because of the obesity epidemic. It's the personal responsibility of the clientele to make the choice whether or not to buy it. Sadly, people buy it which is why DD makes it. Supply & demand and all that.

I do love their coffee though. It's my favorite.

Sounds yucky! I love Dunkin Donuts, wish I had a store here in our area of Utah.

Not even sure why this a topic. If one is watching his/her weight and also trying to eat healthy, then Dunkin Donuts would not even be on their radar! Do you really need to warn your readers about a DONUT shop?For the most part, food places like that do not even exist in my "world". Everyone needs to take responsibility for themselves and if anyone thinks they would get anything remotely healthy or weight loss related at a DONUT shop, they don't know the definition of FAT!! rant over!!! -:)

I agree that sugar and fat are a real problem here and the last two sodium ingredients at the bottom of the list. Bacon is where some of the sodium comes from 232 mg for 2 slices but where is the rest? I don't see it. 730 mg of sodium is about half of the daily amount advised but where are the other 498 mg? Perhaps in the donut. And, calories, the donut alone is 260 calories and the egg is 80 calories plus the 60 calories in two slices of bacon, 2 teaspoons of sugar is 40 calories and that is a total of 440 calories. Grand total 440 calories which is not so bad plus it is high in protein about 12 grams. Total daily requirements are from 46 to 56 grams per day for an adult woman and man. So you have carbs, protein and fat. This is good to keep one going until midday. I looked on the Dunkin Donuts site and could not even find this sandwich. So, I am led to believe this sandwich is no longer available. I would have liked to see the full nutritional accounting of this sandwich. I think it must have been a flop. In the grand scheme of total daily calories 440 calories is not that much especially for active working people. But, could you be specific about the chemicals that you say are in this meal and what the detriment is? Oscar Meyer now has bacon available that is uncured and that is what we buy. We buy it because hubby is sensitive to MSG and nitrites and nitrates. Granted there are other choices that may be healthier and we must try to break the sugar, fat cycle. The combination is the problem. Switch out the donut in this sandwich and it may not be such a bad choice. So, if I ate one of these sandwiches for breakfast, had a high protein low fat lunch and had salad or veggies and healthy yogurt smoothie for dinner, I think it would not be so bad. As my grandmother used to say, "everything in moderation" and she lived to be 98.

Starbucks is worse! Plus Starbucks is addictive!

Unfortunately people buy this crap. I may have a donut once in a while, but I could never go this far. I usually try to only eat what I make or grab a Lara bar. When I forget to bring a snack to work (I eat breakfast at 5AM, I go to Wawa and buy the hardboiled egg to hold me over. You are only fooling yourself to rationalize eating something like this.

Palm Oil? Because of the Western world's appetite for this rubbish whole species are endangered, for example the Asian Elephant. Their terratory is being bulldozed to grow and extract Palm Oil. They then wander into villages etc and are killed or maimed. Dunkin Donuts are now responsible for that! Yuck. Glad we don't have that chain in this part of Europe! Healthy? I reckon these are toxic.

Dunkin Donuts is just copying Krispy Kreme. I'm not a fan of that type of breakfast, so it doesn't faze me at all.

I have to agree with Victoria Cary. I can't even remember the last time I had a donut it has been so long ago. I don't think it is wise to try and tell others what to eat, however, the choices you make today may certainly affect your health going into old age.

Good nutrition is important but we all have to face the facts that genetics play a big part in manifestation of certain diseases as well as a poor diet and environmental elements. There are very poor people who have what we consider very poor diets yet they live into their 90's and 100's. There are many factors to consider not just a Dunkin Donut sandwich or donut. And, if you don't live in the U.S. or have this chain in your country or eaten at said chain you must only be commenting to spread your agenda and not from experience with this chain. BTW 35 countries all over the world raise palm trees and the products from those trees which are many support the people of those countries. Here are a couple of scientifically based studies:

http://aciar.gov.au/files/node/748/PR125%20full%20text.pdf

and another

http://www2.bioversityinternational.org/publications/Web_ve…

I think it is importasnt not believe eveything written in a blog or posted by people who are passionate about a cause but don't have studies cited to back up their passionate remarks. This is how misinformation and partial truths are spread. Substantiate your broad statements please from doctors, scientists and university legitimate studies.

There needs to be a balance of protecting the environment and protecting people, for me,people should always come first so don't believe everything you read on the internet from companies trying to sell you something or a group with another agenda that only serves that agenda.

Totally agree! The town that I live in just opened a Dunkin Donuts and the line on the highway to get in was so long it almost caused wrecks!! What? Everybody had to get some fried dough!!!

I want the scrambled egg sandwich back!

Now that you have bashed DD into the ground, I believe it should be time to start bashing Starbucks. You know who Starbucks is, right? The one that people get ADDICTED to?

Way to go Snack Girl, trying to keep the healthy people healthy is your game and you are trying....I do like DD's donuts tho, and their coffee is ok, but I would not buy the egg donut tho.....so you made your point.....regardless if some liked it or not.....I would just say too bad for those who did not....carry on snack girl and do your wonderful job.....just sayin...............

Brilliant! This looks absolutely outstanding.

Donuts and coffee okay. The sandwiches smell burnt and taste like burnt oil or plastic. Starbucks sandwiches are way better in taste at least. Its weird. The smell and taste combined do not agree with me ... sorry DD I will never eat your sandwiches if you continue making them this way.

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