8 Wendy's Breakfast Hacks You'll Wish You Tried Sooner

Wendy's is now considered a major player in the fast food breakfast game. After a tumultuous history with its breakfast menu, Wendy's has really stepped up in the last few years. From a sandwich that does everything right to a clever breakfast twist on its fan favorite Baconator burger, it has established itself as a worthy alternative to the familiar comforts of McDonald's breakfast.

There is another factor that makes Wendy's breakfast items a contender for the best in their field — the many ways you can tweak them to your liking. Whether it's turning sides into sandwich components, swapping ingredients from one item for use in another, or recreating defunct favorites by tweaking existing ingredients, there are a number of ways to play with the Wendy's breakfast menu via both official substitutions and polite in-person requests to the staff of your local restaurant. We encourage you not only to try these hacks, but also use them as inspiration to do a little menu mixing of your own.

A common complaint among Wendy's fans is that the chain doesn't offer its seasoned potato wedges all day. But as it stands, those tasty wedges are one of the most compelling reasons to choose Wendy's in the morning over other fast-food breakfasts — especially if you put them directly onto your sandwich. It makes sense, as adding hash browns to McDonald's breakfast sandwiches is also a popular hack. However, one advantage to the wedges is that you can distribute them more evenly across the sandwiches, especially the larger ones, while a McDonald's hash brown comes as one big piece. 

Of course, it is entirely up to you what sandwich you add the wedges to. There really isn't a bad choice as all of the sandwiches pair nicely with the salty, starchy crunch of the wedges. But TikTok seems especially in love with adding the wedges to the Breakfast Baconator, so we'll second that recommendation as a good place to start with this hack.

Like most fast food chains with breakfast sandwiches, the differences between the various types of Wendy's breakfast sandwiches go beyond the bread. And an element that is unique to the restaurant's two croissant sandwiches as well as the Breakfast Baconator is a creamy Swiss cheese sauce. Some people love it, while others are turned off by the sauce's flavor and especially its consistency.

No matter where you land, you might want to try the swap that the Swiss cheese sauce haters prefer — and that's to opt out of the Swiss cheese sauce entirely and get sliced cheese instead. The only type of sliced cheese offered on the other Wendy's breakfast sandwiches is American cheese, so that might be your only swap option. However, you might find that you are able to request Asiago cheese — the other type of sliced cheese that is currently used for Wendy's non-breakfast options — if you request it in person, especially if you do so closer to lunchtime.

Wendy's doesn't only have breakfast sandwiches. You can also get a basic version of biscuits and gravy if you are so inclined, though that's literally all it is — a single buttermilk biscuit covered in sausage gravy. It's decent enough, but social media has come up with a better use for the gravy: As a sauce to dip your sandwich in. Whether it's one of the sandwiches, the burrito, or even the wedges, the gravy makes a tasty, hearty dip that not only elevates the item you're dipping in it but also makes for an arguably better use for the gravy.

It must be noted that a side of gravy isn't officially offered as a menu item, so you'll have to request it in person and hope for the best. But with the second most affordable Wendy's item being the biscuit and gravy, even if your local Wendy's won't give you a cup of gravy as a separate side, it won't break the bank to just order the biscuits and gravy and request the gravy on the side. Plus, you'll have a bonus biscuit anyway.

Many Wendy's fans were unhappy when the chain replaced the Frosty-ccino with the Frosty Cream Cold Brew back in 2023. The general consensus seems to be that the switch is a downgrade, and that people would rather have the Frosty-ccino back. Luckily, there is a way to hack a pretty respectable approximation of a Frosty-ccino with current menu items — as long as your location lets you order a Frosty in the morning, that is. The availability of Frostys in the morning varies by location and depends on when each restaurant gets their Frosty machine fired up for the day. That aside, your chances likely increase the closer it is to the start of lunch prep.

Anyway, once you've determined when and where you're able to get a Frosty during breakfast hours, here's how the revived Frosty-ccino is made. First, you need to order the Frosty of your choice and a Wendy's cold brew coffee with no ice. Then you have to eat some of the Frosty, mostly around the edges. Finally, you pour the cold brew into the empty space you left from where you ate the Frosty, and you've got your Frosty-ccino. You'll have to try it a few times to get the proper ratio down to your liking.

Fast food breakfasts tend to either be sweet or savory, with very little overlap. The Wendy's breakfast menu is no different. But TikTok wasn't having that and decided to do a little menu tweaking to create a sweet and savory Wendy's breakfast item that turns the French toast sticks into the bread for the sandwich of your choice.

The chicken patty that comes on the Honey Butter Biscuit and the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit is often recommended, especially the former, as it's just the chicken on a biscuit and is one of the cheapest items on the menu. But plenty of people have done this swap with all sorts of Wendy's breakfast sandwiches; it just involves buying pricier sandwiches and having to deal with moving more ingredients around.

Whatever you go with, don't forget the syrup that comes with the French toast sticks, with some opting to use it as a dip while others drizzle the syrup directly on the reconstructed sandwich. The latter is a bit messier, but it's the way to go for those that want a Wendy's approximation of a McDonald's McGriddle sandwich.

In our ranking of Wendy's breakfast sandwiches, we gave the two top spots to sandwiches that included chicken: the Maple Bacon Chicken Croissant and the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit. Clearly Wendy's is doing something right with its breakfast-specific breaded chicken patty. And thanks to the beauty of menu hacks and swaps, you don't have to settle for only having it on those two sandwiches — you can also add it to the breakfast burrito as recommended by TikTok.

The only meat that comes on the standard breakfast burrito is your choice of bacon or sausage. But some people want a meatier, more substantial burrito, which is where the addition of the chicken patty comes in. Bacon more traditionally pairs with a chicken patty, though there's no reason why sausage wouldn't also be tasty — especially if you want your burrito to be extra hearty. This hack is a little on the messy side, of course, so you might not want to do it in the car.

Whether you're trying to cut carbs and amp up the protein, or you just want something with a less bready profile, swapping the bread of your Wendy's breakfast sandwich of choice with two egg patties is a popular recommendation. People have reported being able to swap the bread for the egg patties just by ordering it that way — but if you are unsuccessful in that, you'll have to order a sandwich as-is, order the egg patties as an extra, and then construct the sandwich yourself.

It's also worth keeping in mind which sandwiches come with the Swiss cheese sauce, as that will likely be too messy to eat between egg patties. For those sandwiches, you'll also want to swap the Swiss cheese sauce for sliced cheese. Otherwise, nearly any Wendy's breakfast sandwich could work as a low-carb, high-protein version between two egg patties.

In the same way that timing — and a little bit of luck — can result in unique brunch items from McDonald's, you might be able to score something special from Wendy's if you go during the overlap between breakfast service and lunch prep. In this case, you can combine elements of the Breakfast Baconator and the standard Baconator for a brunch mashup of the two.

The Breakfast Baconator has a sausage patty instead of a beef hamburger patty, plus an egg patty and Swiss cheese sauce. If you order one close enough to lunchtime, you might be able to get the beef patty but keep the rest of the Breakfast Baconator components for a brunchy twist on the fan favorite burger. Again, If the Swiss cheese sauce isn't your thing, that's easy enough to exclude from the order and just have a regular Baconator with an egg patty. As to whether you want to eat the wedges as a side or add them to your brunch Baconator to fold another hack into it, that's entirely up to you.