The Best Fast Food Breakfast Sandwich Isn't From Chick-Fil-A Or McDonald's

Fast food menus have grown since the rise of these restaurants back in the 1950s. These days, most fast food spots serve some breakfast items, though it's not often an all-day option. If you're looking for the best breakfast sandwich, you won't find it where you might think. No, it's not an egg McMuffin or the biscuit sandwich from Chick-fil-A (nothing wrong with these choices, though). At Chowhound, we rank the Carl's Jr. breakfast burger as the best of the best. But you might have to seek out your nearest location, as only 16 states have a Carl's Jr.

The breakfast burger encompasses everything there is to love about fast food breakfast and lunch. It contains and all-beef patty, American cheese, and bacon, so you're getting bacon cheeseburger vibes, but it takes a hard left to become a breakfast sandwich with the addition of an egg and Carl's Jr. hash rounds. Then, it intertwines the burger and breakfast sandwich by adding some ketchup and serving it on a seeded bun. The result is the best of both worlds.

Chowhound's own ranking credits the addition of ketchup as the perfect binder between the burger and breakfast aspects, plus its hearty ingredients — specifically the hash rounds, which are the Carl's Jr. version of hash browns. Not to mention Chowhound ranks these little rounds as one of the best fast food hash brown options.

When Carl's Jr. shared a photo of the breakfast burger to its Facebook, there were several people who admitted to stopping by the fast food chain at least once a week for the item. Others suggested that the breakfast burger be available all day, while a few offered suggestions for how to make it even better, such as swapping the folded egg for a fried egg and the American cheese for Swiss or provolone. Of course, there will always be a handful of people who don't love certain ingredients, with some people disagreeing with the chain's decision to include ketchup. However, if you want to give this sandwich a try and aren't a ketchup fan, you can likely just ask for the burger sans condiments, or even swap ketchup for another sauce.