A great fast food breakfast sandwich is the best way to start a day. Well, okay, maybe a great homemade breakfast brought to you in bed after sleeping in on your day off is the best way to start the day, but who has time for that? When you’re pressed for time and on the go, a salt-heavy carb-bomb breakfast sandwich absolutely slaps. So which fast food drive-thru deserves your time and money?
We tried to answer this back in 2021 by ranking 11 of our favorite breakfast sandwiches and again this year by blind taste-testing our five favorites against one another but in two years a lot has changed — so we updated our ranking with some new sandwiches and swapped out a few that we’ve gradually soured on.
If you rely on the fast food drive-thru for your lunchtime eating rather than breakfast, you might not be aware that the AM hours are where all the innovation hides. Some of our favorite new fast food items this year landed exclusively on breakfast menus. Do you realize how annoying that is? We don’t want to have to wake up early just to get the best fast food but as the old saying goes — the early bird flies through a bunch of traffic to eat the best breakfast in a parking lot while listening to a podcast about people getting stabbed.
Since fast food breakfast is always changing, always evolving, we’re here to break down the best breakfast sandwiches you can order right now. Let’s dive in!
15. Starbucks — Bacon, Gouda & Egg Sandwich
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
You’ve got bacon, gouda, and egg on an artisan roll — this can’t possibly be bad right? Wrong! Starbucks has a gift for making normally edible things inedible. Their muffins: dry. Scones: bland. Hot sandwiches: cold. They just can’t get it together.
Biting into this sandwich you’re be greeted by a weird milky texture (that’s the egg) followed by the thinnest yet greasiest bacon you’ve ever tasted and cheese that is one note (salty). Also… I’m not entirely sure it’s gouda to begin with
The Bottom Line:
It’s actually mind-blowing how bad Starbucks’ breakfast sandwiches are. Just order some madeleine cookies and your favorite coffee, and you’ll be much better served.
Find your nearest Starbucks here.
14. Subway — Bacon, Egg & Cheese Wrap
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
Not every Subway has the breakfast time Bacon, Egg & Cheese wrap so before you set your alarm to wake up early for this one, check with your favorite local Subway first. Or you know… don’t. Because this thing is not worth eating. We ordered this so that you don’t have to.
The fried egg in this sandwich is surprisingly flavorless, it’s all texture, the bacon is pathetically thin and way too sweet, and the cheese tastes and looks like melted plastic. The only good thing about this sandwich (if you want to call it that) is that you can add any of Subway’s other ingredients to it to make it better. Our suggestion is to add bell peppers and spinach to make this more like an omelet.
The Bottom Line:
Not great. Skip it and order one of Subway’s other sandwiches instead.
Find your nearest Subway here.
13. Sonic — Sausage Breakfast Toaster
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
Sonic doesn’t have the strongest breakfast sandwich game (they do have a handful of great breakfast burritos though), leaving you with only two options: the Bacon Breakfast Toaster and the superior Sausage Breakfast Toaster.
The sandwich features a folded egg, a thin sausage patty, American cheese, and two thick pieces of Texas toast. While the build sounds fine, the execution is lacking. This bread is way too thick and often stale and stiff, it dominates the entire flavor of the sandwich making the end result taste like bland and greasy bread, rather than the winning combination of sausage, egg, and cheese.
On its own, the sausage is decent, it’s peppery and meaty, but you just can’t taste it underneath all the bread. The best move here is to add bacon to the sandwich to make it a bit meatier.
The Bottom Line:
You’re at Sonic, get a breakfast burrito or go somewhere else.
Find your nearest Sonic here.
12. McDonald’s — Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddle
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
People swear by the McGriddle, it tops many publications’ best breakfast lists, and I know a handful of people who think the McGriddle is the greatest gift McDonald’s has ever given us, yes even more than the fries. All of those people are wrong — the McGriddle isn’t just overrated, it’s… kind of bad.
It’s way too sweet, the bun is like a very thick fluffy pancake and has a strong maple flavor to it. Admittedly that makes an interesting combination with the smokey bacon, but the use of cheese here really throws things off. Maple and cheese just don’t mix, creating a clash of flavors that comes across odd.
Amongst McDonald’s other breakfast options, I’d say this is a strong contender, but compared to all the other breakfast sandwiches out there from the other brands, this one just can’t compete.
The Bottom Line:
A clash of flavors and textures that don’t come together the way they should.
Find your nearest McDonald’s here.
11. Burger King — Fully Loaded Croissan’Wich Bacon, Ham, and Sausage
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
Burger King has a ridiculous amount of fast food breakfast sandwiches (over 10) but far and above the best is the Fully Loaded Croissan’Wich with Bacon, Ham, and Sausage. The sandwich features bacon, sweet and salty Black Forest ham, American cheese, a thick and meaty sausage patty. It also has a rather disturbing egg, served on top of a flaky, buttery croissant bun.
The sandwich is a medley of smokey, sweet, salty, and savory flavors with a buttery finish and lots of great texture. It’s so well thought out and balanced that I’m surprised it comes from Burger King. This sandwich is such a winner that it even beats out BK’s line of breakfast burgers, and this is Burger King we’re talking about, they’re supposed to be the king of burgers!
They should rename themselves Breakfast King.
The Bottom Line:
Layers of sweet, salty and smokey meats and a wonderful crispy texture, this breakfast sandwich may just be one of BK’s top three menu offerings of all time.
Find your nearest Burger King here.
10. Dunkin’ — Sourdough Breakfast Sandwich
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
Here is my issue with Dunkin’, the chain’s breakfast offerings are a fast food version of what a local bagel shop or bakery does best: croissant, sourdough, and breakfast sandwiches. They don’t taste nearly as good as the real thing, but at the end of the day they come pretty damn close, so if you’re in an unfamiliar city and all you can find are Dunkin’s (“Welcome to Boston!”), the breakfast is good enough to take a chance on.
Our favorite in the lineup is the Sourdough Breakfast Sandwich. The sandwich features two eggs that, get this, actually taste like eggs with five pieces of crispy smokey bacon topped with sharp melted white cheddar on a toasted crispy sourdough bun. The bread isn’t real sourdough, it’s a lot softer and easier to chew through, but it has that characteristic tang, which pairs nicely with the other ingredients.
The Bottom Line:
Starbucks take note — this is how a coffee chain makes a delicious breakfast sandwich.
Find your nearest Dunkin here.
9. Chick-fil-a Chick-n-Minis
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
When I published my last ranking of fast food breakfast sandwiches, a lot of people reached out to me and complained that we didn’t include Chick-fil-A’s Chick-n-Minis in our ranking, so I’m begrudgingly putting them into this ranking.
To call this a breakfast sandwich is being incredibly generous, the Chick-n-Minis consist of Chick-fil-A’s delicious chicken nuggets sandwiched between mini yeast rolls. The chicken is delicious, tender, juicy, crispy, and full of flavor, but these yeast rolls don’t bring anything to the table but more carbs. Wouldn’t you rather sandwich one of these nuggets between two waffle fries instead?
The Bottom Line:
Very delicious but incredibly over-hyped. Do yourself a favor and order an 8-count nugget meal and sandwich those nuggets between your waffle fries.
Find your nearest Chick-fil-A here.
8. Jack in the Box — Loaded Breakfast Sandwich
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
The Bottom Line:
Jack in the Box owns every other fast food brand in the sourdough department. Is this real sourdough bread? No. But the flavor is on point — it’s dense, chewy, and has a subtle sourness that is incredibly addicting.
Add smokey bacon, a thin slice of grilled ham, a freshly fried egg, two slices of cheese, and a pepper-forward sausage patty and you have a damn good breakfast sandwich. Ham is always a weak choice on fast food breakfast menus (looking at you McDonald’s) but JiB makes it work by grilling its ham, giving it a nice toasty flavor and a seared edge that adds a tiny bit more texture to this already heavily textured sandwich.
That ham adds an emphasis on sweetness which pairs well with the smokey bacon flavors and the meaty savory sausage patty.
The Bottom Line:
A delicious breakfast sandwich that offers a nice texture and a whole lot of shifting meaty flavors.
Find your nearest Jack in the Box here.
7. Farmer Boys — 2-Egg Breakfast Sandwich with Bacon
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
The Bottom Line:
Getting a breakfast sandwich at Farmer Boys is a missed opportunity. Why order a sandwich when you can have a full plate? Pancakes, French toast, omelets, epic breakfast burritos — Farmer Boys has all of that, so the simple 2-egg Breakfast Sandwich with Bacon is hands down the weakest choice you can make.
Which is a real shame, because this sandwich is pretty delicious. On a brioche bun is a tasty folded egg fried to perfection. It’s not too moist or too dry, on top of that are two pieces of thick smokey bacon that tastes just as good as anything you’d make at home on a toasted and heavily buttered brioche bun. The bun is spongey enough that it doesn’t get in the way, making way for the egg and bacon to really shine.
You also have the option to order this sandwich with sausage or ham, but since the quality of bacon is so high, your best bet is going with bacon.
The Botton Line:
Farmer Boys’ other breakfast options offer more food and better flavors, but if you’re on the go, this bacon-topped sandwich is a perfect choice.
Find your nearest Farmer Boys here.
6. Panera — Chipotle Chicken, Scrambled Egg & Avocado on Ciabatta
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
I know what you’re thinking. You’re looking at this delicious sandwich and wondering how it’s ranked in the middle of this list rather than at the top. I mean it has Peppadew peppers, salt and pepper, cilantro, gouda cheese, Chipotle aioli, smoked chicken, scrambled eggs, and avocado, all served on an artisan ciabatta bread. It looks and sounds amazing right?
And yet, something about this sandwich comes across as a bit flavorless. The chicken is bland, the egg is just fine, and the chipotle aioli is too sour and doesn’t provide enough heat, leaving the avocado (never ripe), peppers (good), cilantro, gouda, and bread to do all of the work. It comes across as a real missed opportunity.
The bread is legitimately delicious though. Panera makes some seriously bland food, but they know how to bake some damn good bread.
The Bottom Line:
Not bad tasting by any means, just not nearly as good as it should be.
Find your nearest Panera here.
5. Chick-fil-A — Spicy Chicken Biscuit
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
Simple, very tasty, but a bit boring. All of the elements of this sandwich deliver, the biscuit is soft, buttery, and a bit salty, which works well with the spicy cayenne pepper heavy flavor of the chicken breast filet. Each bite is sweet, crunchy, and has a nice kick of heat to it on the back end.
My issue with it is that it feels like it’s missing something. I think some sauce or an additional ingredient (maybe some bacon) would go a long way to making this sandwich go from simply tasty to straight-up delicious. Considering Chick-fil-A’s lunch menu is fully available during breakfast hours, I’m not sure what the incentive to order this over the Spicy Deluxe lunch sandwich (which comes with pickles, tomato, and cheese) is.
So overall, this just feels skippable.
The Bottom Line:
Great flavors, but you get a sense it’s missing something.
Find your nearest Chick-fil-A here.
4. Carl’s Jr — The Breakfast Burger
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
Sausage and bacon are the standard breakfast meats, but they don’t have to be. If you’d like to start off your day with a big juicy flame-grilled burger, Carl’s Jr is the place. The breakfast burger features a single charbroiled hamburger patty topped with crispy mini hash browns, two strips of bacon, a folded egg, American cheese, and lots and lots of ketchup.
Each bite is bursting with flavor, its meaty, savory, moist, sweet, salty, crispy, smokey, each bite is a medley of indulgent flavors. You could make an easy case for the Carl’s Jr’s Breakfast Burger being the ultimate breakfast sandwich. But we won’t because as delicious as it is, it’s not our favorite.
The Bottom Line:
Charred with notes of smokiness and a satisfying audible crunch. This sandwich makes the case for the hamburger patty as a breakfast staple.
Find your nearest Carl’s Jr. here.
3. McDonald’s — Sausage McMuffin with Egg & Cheese
The Sausage McMuffin with Egg & Cheese used to be the ultimate fast food breakfast sandwich but those days are behind us now. Still, while I think there are a couple of better options out there, this sandwich is still pretty damn good.
The sausage is savory with a meaty flavor and strong black pepper prominence while the cheese adds a salty component and the fried egg adds some soft texture that serves as a counterbalance to the toasty English muffin bun. The bun is the real star of the show here, it’s craggy, toasted to perfection, and works as a sort of sponge for all of the flavors to soak into, but when the best aspect of your sandwich is the bread, you’ve got a serious problem.
The Bottom Line:
As good as this sandwich is, it’s not our favorite. It’s still a classic though and is definitely worth braving the long McDonald’s breakfast line for.
Find your nearest McDonald’s here.
2. Wendy’s — English Muffin Sausage Sandwich
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
We use to ride hard for the Breakfast Baconator, but Wendy’s new muffin sandwiches deserve the top spot. We’ll be real with you, Wendy’s copycat Sausage McMuffin drops the ball on the bun compared to McDonald’s. The English muffin isn’t bad by any means, it’s nicely toasted, but just a bit too soft. Congrats McDonald’s, you make a better English muffin, but everything else about this sandwich is straight-up better.
The sausage patty is incredible, yes incredible! It has a prominent smokey flavor, some mild sweetness, a heavy dose of black pepper and some herbal depth courtesy of thyme and fennel. Those herbs help to deepen the flavor of the meat, making it the best sausage patty in all of fast food.
And that’s just the sausage! The egg is also great, it’s perfectly cooked rather than over-fried (looking at you McDonald’s), the American cheese adds a nice salty finish to the sandwich, and the browned butter that is spread across the muffin adds a rich almost caramel component.
The Bottom Line:
It’s clearly inspired by McDonald’s best breakfast sandwich but it improves upon it in almost every way, resulting in a much better breakfast sandwich.
Find your nearest Wendy’s here.
1. Wendy’s — Bacon, Egg & Cheese Muffin
Thoughts and Tasting Notes:
I feel pretty self-conscious about giving Wendy’s the top two spots in this breakfast sandwich ranking, but it is what it is, Wendy’s is doing breakfast better than any other brand and we need to celebrate that. The sausage-topped version of this sandwich is a must-order, but the bacon version is something that you should actually make an effort to wake up early for. It’s a perfect breakfast sandwich.
Wendy’s bacon is the best in the business, it’s smokey, thick, crunchy, and oven-baked in-restaurant every morning, resulting in a strip of bacon that is perfectly rendered and full of flavor. Add a freshly fried egg, melted American cheese, and a toasted browned butter English Muffin, and you have a sandwich that is crunchy, textural, savory, buttery, and smokey with a slightly sweet aftertaste.
Every element of this sandwich just delivers. Add a side order of Wendy’s amazing breakfast potatoes, and you have the best breakfast meal in all of fast food.
The Bottom Line:
Yes, Wendy’s two new breakfast sandwiches deserve the top two spots. They’re both that good. Fast food is all about convenience, but this is a sandwich so good we actually recommend you set an alarm and wake up early for it, whether you’re on the road and looking for a quick bite to eat or not.
Find your nearest Wendy’s here.
