SEAGuide
The Best Breakfast Sandwiches In Seattle
Breakfast foods are a social construct, but just about everyone can get behind going to town on bacon, egg, and cheese between bread with their morning coffee. And while it can be tough to find a truly great breakfast sandwich in a city that doesn’t have a bodega or bagel shop on every corner (we’re not bitter about it), Seattle does have some standouts. From loaded english muffins with daikon and mushrooms to a diner’s stacked biscuit, these are the best breakfast sandwiches in town.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Erin Lodi
The toasty, stuffed english muffin at B-Side Foods has it all. There’s sharpness from crumbled Beecher’s, tang and crunch from pickled daikon, spice from hot sauce-doctored mayo, and tender scrambled eggs with green onion folded in like grassy confetti. Add thinly shaved country ham or slow-cooked mushrooms, and you have Seattle’s very best breakfast sandwich, let alone Capitol Hill's.
photo credit: Nate Watters
We kind of lied when we said B-Side has it all. They don’t have bacon. For the greatest bacon breakfast sandwich in town, Mas Cafe in Wallingford is the place. This tiny roadside coffee shop uses fluffy Macrina buns as vehicles for a crackly-edged fried egg, chunky grilled onions, a swipe of aioli made slightly sweet by red chile sauce, white cheddar, and the crowning glory: a fistful of extremely well-done bacon. We’re talking an actual pile of bacon so crispy that, one time, a stray shard cut our face and we’re not even mad about it. No pain, no bacon, as they say. And if bacon isn't your thing, go for the sausage version, loaded with two paper-thin patties and nutty provolone.
photo credit: Brooke Fitts
The crown jewels of this Phinney Ridge bakery are the tangy sourdough english muffins, which are springy with a tender crackle, and taste even better in breakfast sandwich form. Ben's is stuffed with egg soufflé and crispy country ham (or bacon, depending on the day) that shatters into a million pork chips on each bite, and it's perfect if you're a breakfast sandwich purist but you also happen to watch a lot of The Great British Bake Off. On Saturdays only, you'll find a fancied-up version on brioche with greens and fontina, but we'd sooner brave the slightly shorter weekday line for that english muffin.
Chances are, you’re at this incredible White Center donut shop for donuts. The breakfast sandwich, however, is another reason to line up outside before they open. It comes with either chopped bacon or sausage mixed into cheesy soft scrambled eggs, all packed into a pillowy baguette. The crispy pieces of meat hidden inside the creamy eggs add a salty snap to every bite, and we can't stop thinking about how well the bread soaks up the filling. Getting this sub should be a Sunday morning priority.
photo credit: Erin Lodi
Stumble across Saint Bread and you might think that you’ve fallen through an enchanted portal into a rustic boathouse with stained glass windows in a remote waterfront village. Only instead of buoys and barnacles, this little shed on the University District side of Portage Bay is filled with great brunch food, like a breakfast sandwich on a fluffy Japanese melonpan that’s topped with a thin layer of cookie dough before baking. Glory be to this creation, stuffed with jammy-but-not-messy fried eggs and sticky american cheese that fuses to the bacon grease that fuses to the rogue granulated sugar on your fingertips. Embrace the sweet-and-salty McGriddle energy.
photo credit: Nate Watters
Most spots serve egg sandwiches with sausage, but the McMainstay Muffin at Mainstay Provisions in Phinney Ridge is essentially a sausage sandwich with egg. The pork here is casually the size of a hockey puck, savory and juicy with soft bits of onion throughout the mix. And despite its burger-like girth, the sausage’s flavor is just subtle enough to support an over-medium egg and gooey cheese, all on a homemade, aioli-slathered buttermilk english muffin.
photo credit: Brooke Fitts
We’d stop by this Capitol Hill bakery just for their fresh pastries, like chocolate-swirled babka muffins, salted tahini bars, and crumb cake with a perfect ratio of crumb to cake. But that would be ignoring their BEC, a majestic stack of paper-thin egg folds, bacon cooked just before it gets crispy, and yellow american that oozes between the layers and stretches like taffy, all on a homemade toasted poppy roll. NYC transplants will be thrilled (read: moderately content) with this bodega-style copycat, but it’s also just a hands-down great breakfast sandwich.
photo credit: Chona Kasinger
We love when a breakfast sandwich features a six-inch oval sausage patty that’s ever so much thicker than the fried egg. And it’s what's happening here at North Star in Greenwood, along with melted american on your choice of english muffin or biscuit. (You want the biscuit.) In a city absolutely overrun with complicated topping combinations and snooty sauces, we appreciate the four-ingredient simplicity of this one.
photo credit: Nate Watters
Mornings can be tough. And at the risk of sounding like a corny toothpaste commercial, we'll come out and say it: brighten up your morning with Bright Spot. More specifically, with their brioche breakfast sandwich, smeared with chunky muhammara and herb-loaded labneh. Then, a pillowy baked egg square, arugula pile, and sturdy slice of american cheese get thrown into the mix for a tasty morning meal that's made even better when you order it with bacon.
photo credit: Nate Watters
It may seem like a small blip on a menu full of burgers, but the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich from 206 is this First Hill fast food joint's greatest contribution to the city. With perfectly crisp bacon, a fried egg with lacy edges, melted american, and aioli smashed between a buttery brioche bun, the result is a lot of steamy bread enveloping a small amount of filling—like a Smuckers Uncrustable, only in breakfast form.
photo credit: Nate Watters
Even though the bagels and burritos at this Ballard spot are excellent, you can’t ignore Rachel's biscuit breakfast sandwiches. In particular, we’re fans of the Hello McNasty, complete with a jiggly slab of baked scrambled egg, ham, cheddar, crunchy sumac-pickled onion, and spicy garlic honey that adds a decent amount of heat while sweetening up the whole thing.
This coffee shop is kind of a secret, mainly because it’s located on the second floor of a QFC. But make no mistake, it’s one of our favorite places to grab a breakfast sandwich with juicy sausage, a fried egg, aioli, and a slice of Beecher’s slapped on a squishy toasted brioche bun. If that wasn’t what you had in mind, our feelings are hurt.