Skip McDonald's And Burger King: These Other 2 Burger Chains Serve High-Quality Breakfast Sandwiches

When it comes to America's long-running burger wars, McDonald's and Burger King are the front-running pair. But if it's breakfast sandwiches you're looking for, skip these two quick-service behemoths and look further down the fast food chain at Wendy's or Whataburger. Both of them made it on our list of nine chain restaurants where you can grab high-quality breakfast sandwiches — a list that included fast food spots as well as gourmet options. While Wendy's and Whataburger bookended the list, the breakfast options from McDonald's and Burger King did not make the cut. 

Not only does Wendy's use Grade A, fresh-cracked eggs for its breakfast sandwiches, but it also offers a wide range of them, served in croissants, biscuits, buns, and burritos. This includes the popular Breakfast Baconator, which has sausage, egg, American cheese, Applewood smoked bacon, and a signature cheese sauce. The Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit is another morning favorite. 

Whataburger, meanwhile, is quietly serving one of the highest-quality breakfast sandwiches — the Breakfast on a Bun. The chain prides itself on making fresh food made with simple ingredients, and the Breakfast on a Bun is a good example of this. It features just four ingredients — a sausage patty, a fresh USDA Grade AA egg, and melty American or Monterey Jack cheese served on a bun. If you're someone who likes to start your morning with something sweet, the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit is a popular option, too.

When we made the high-quality breakfast sandwich list, we only featured chains that used top-of-the-shelf ingredients, like free-range eggs, freshly cut vegetables, and never-frozen meat. Turns out this is the kind of food that goes down well with the public as well. Opinion online is overwhelmingly positive about the breakfast sandwiches at Wendy's and Whataburger, with only a few dissenting voices.

"I think their breakfast is the best thing going at Wendy's. Those potatoes are so good and the biscuit, bacon, egg and cheese is better than McDonalds," one customer wrote on Reddit. When another customer said they preferred McDonald's on a thread discussing the Breakfast Baconator, the response was swift. "You will change that [opinion] if you try the Wendy's breakfast options. I was a McDonalds breakfast guy... then I tried the Wendy's offerings. This is my go-to now," a Wendy's fan responded. 

Fans of Whataburger, where breakfast is famously available from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m., are an equally vocal lot. "The breakfast on a bun is the single overall BEST item on the entire menu. It's simple, flavorful, and cheap," one Redditor said, with several others similarly praising it. Interestingly, the original poster on that thread thought the sandwich was too dry and the sausage too overpowering. However, they found a great alternative — the Breakfast Burger. "It has all the right ingredients and the hamburger meat [complements] the crispy hashbrowns, bacon and eggs with melted cheese. The creamy pepper sauce is perfection to tie the flavors together," they wrote.