8 Fast Food Chains That Will Sell You A Burger During Breakfast Hours

At one point or another, we all crave an early morning burger. Is it weird or out of the ordinary to crave this pinnacle of fast food before the time hits double digits? No — it's just one of those hankerings that is hard to get rid of until it's been properly fed. And while several fast food chains have copious breakfast sandwiches with eggs, cheese, and other breakfast staples, it's just not the same. It's a burger we desire, and an egg and cheese wrap simply won't tick the box. Lucky for us, there are plenty of fast food chains that serve burgers during breakfast hours. 

Several of these fast food restaurants are franchised, meaning that the hours and menus can vary  based on location, so we recommend you check your location for more specific information before heading out expecting a morning burger. However, based on restaurant websites, social media, and various Reddit threads, we were able to determine that these chains can serve you a burger during breakfast hours. Some are burgers that have been gussied up in breakfast attire — perhaps with an egg, bacon, and/or hash browns — while others are simply the same burgers you can get later in the day. Read on for the comprehensive list, and when that morning burger craving strikes, we hope you're nearby at least one of these restaurants so you can happily indulge.

Depending on where you live, you either have the luxury of living near a Carl's Jr, or a Hardees. Don't be confused by the different names — they're the same burger chain serving up similar menus, just under different regionally recognized monikers. That said, no matter which you're near, you can get yourself a Breakfast Burger in the wee hours of the morning. At Carl's Jr, you can get a charbroiled beef patty topped with crispy bacon, egg, American cheese, hash rounds, and ketchup on a bun, and at Hardees, you can get the Frisco Breakfast Burger, which is almost identical except for the buttery sourdough bread instead of the burger bun. Hours vary based on location, but if you're craving a burger before 10:30am, Carl's Jr and Hardees can and will answer the call.

Whataburger is open 24 hours a day, and it's also the type of place that knows what the people want — late night and/or early morning burgers. And so, the Whataburger Breakfast Burger satisfies the need for a beef burger, with a smattering of breakfast. A small bun (or a brioche bun for no extra charge) is topped with a small beef patty, egg, hash brown sticks, American cheese, bacon slices, and creamy pepper sauce. With a breakfast burger like this, it's not surprising that Whataburger is one of the best regional fast food chains in the US.

Jack in the Box is beloved for a lot of reasons, the most notable is the variety of foods on the menu. Whether you want a cheeseburger, an egg sandwich, tacos, or a crispy chicken sandwich, Jack in the Box has it ready and waiting for you. They don't have a dedicated breakfast burger, but the entire burger menu is available all day long. While Jack in the Box sadly got rid of its brunch burger, it's comforting to know that if it's 7 a.m. and a craving for a Bacon Double Smashed Jack strikes, it's within reach. See? You really can have it all.

If you've never pulled into a Sonic drive-thru and ordered a burger and a half price slushie, you're missing out. However, if it's morning and you are focused less on the aesthetics and more on the burger, Sonic is there for you. In addition to Sonic having a dedicated breakfast menu, they proudly serve the entire menu from 7 a.m. to midnight, so when that All-American Sonic Smasher beckons in the early hours, you can partake. Maybe throw an iced coffee in there too, just in case.

Sometimes an entire burger is too much of a commitment — and that is when you turn to White Castle to provide a downsized, but still delicious, version. And if the White Castle slider wasn't good enough on its own, there's even a breakfast option available to satisfy those burger cravings in the morning. The classic steam-grilled beef patty sits on a bed of onions along with an egg and your choice of American, jalapeño, or smoked cheddar cheese. Of course, you could always just order a few of the classic sliders — White Castle has sold over 30 billion of those sliders since opening in 1921 — because the rest of the White Castle menu is available at all hours of the day.

Steak 'n Shake doesn't have a dedicated breakfast menu, meaning that as soon as the doors open in the morning (opening hours tend to be between 10:00am and 10:30am depending on location), a steakburger and beef tallow fries is close to being yours. While the chain used to offer more breakfast-themed options, they have since streamlined the menu and made it available during all opening hours.

A fast food taco joint, for burgers? Why not just order a breakfast burrito? Because the breakfast options at Del Taco aren't exactly the most impressive. Not only is the entire lunch and dinner menu served all day at Del Taco, it's perfectly acceptable to grab a beefy burger in the morning hours if that's what you want. In a reddit thread in the r/DelTaco subreddit, an employee responded to a question about making non-breakfast items in the early hours. "We serve lunch and dinner at all times, and we are totally not inconvenienced by it because it's normal procedure to prep said foods at all times." Asked and answered.

While Smashburger isn't open in the early hours of the day, you can get yourself any burger of your choosing as soon as those doors open, which is typically around 10 a.m. We understand why this may be the burger you simply have to have, especially considering the secret ingredient that's added into the beef patties to make them so darn juicy (Spoiler alert: it's triple-roasted chicken skin). If you want your burger to feel like it has a breakfast vibe since there's no dedicated breakfast burger on the menu, order the Bacon Stack Smash, which has bacon underneath and on top of the beef burger patty. Burger perfection achieved.