14 Taco Bell Breakfast Items, Ranked Worst To Best

Fast food is a refuge for busy schedules. Hot, greasy food made in mere minutes is sometimes exactly what our appetites call for, especially after a long day at work (or an evening spent at the bar). While the glowing logos of large bells and golden arches might entice us in the late hours of the night, it's often the morning that could really use the speed of the fast food chain with the quickest drive-through line. Guilty of rushing out of the house without so much as a cup of coffee, we've all felt the growls of mid-morning hunger that a busy morning without breakfast can bring.

Taco Bell started serving breakfast nationally just 11 years ago in 2014, a move that broadened the options of fast-food breakfast items beyond typical egg sandwiches to tacos, burritos, and even quesadillas. Taco Bell's morning menu also features an egg-and-hash brown version of the Crunchwrap Supreme, one of the brand's best-selling menu items, furthering the restaurant's reputation for unique and crave-worthy foods. The question is: On a menu filled with sausages, potatoes, tortillas, and hot sauce, which item is the best way to start the day? I went ahead and ordered them all, reviewing and ranking from worst to best every item on the Mexican-fusion menu.

If we've learned anything from McDonald's, it's that a hash brown is a breakfast necessity. The perfectly crispy, fluffy, greasy hash brown from McDonald's is the golden standard of breakfast potato products, making it hard not to compare Taco Bell's version against it. Taco Bell's hash brown looks eerily similar, with the shape and crispy crust nearly identical to Mickey D's, but that's about where the comparisons end.

As one of thefacts any true McDonald's breakfast fan would know, the chain's hash browns can be ordered well-done, making them extra crispy. I like a good, crispy hash brown, and feeling the definite crisp on Taco Bell's version made me excited. I became a little less excited upon picking it up, though, realizing the weight was too light to contain much potato. It was also curving slightly at either end, a sure sign that the hash brown was either overcooked or underfilled. Turns out, it was likely both, resulting in a crunchy, flavorless bite more attuned to a potato chip. Though it could have just been my luck, I had to rank the hash brown at the end of the list regardless, as the plain fried potato is a lackluster choice on the vast Mexican-fusion menu.

Like the rest of its menu, Taco Bell draws inspiration from Mexico, where quesadillas aren't unusual to have for breakfast. Equally as versatile as tacos or burritos and a cheap breakfast idea that still tastes good, the pressed tortillas can be filled with eggs, chorizo, beans, and nopales for a filling handheld breakfast. Taco Bell's steak version is filled with cheese, scrambled egg, and pieces of steak, and like its regular menu, the quesadilla is pressed completely flat. For some fillings, this works well; for others, like the steak, it leaves a little to be desired.

The steak itself, as you'll see later, is flavorful, straightforward, and a good value for a fast food restaurant. The thin steak, however, which is cooked well past medium, is nearly unrecognizable in the quesadilla. In fact, I thought I had been eating the bacon quesadilla until I checked the label on its bag, confirming it to be steak. The thin pieces are pressed to a crisp, the dryness accentuated by the flat quesadilla. Though I love steak for breakfast, this hardly tasted like steak at all, leading it to the bottom of the list.

Though technically you can order any menu item without the meat, there's hardly any reason to do so; most would just be a tortilla with eggs and potato, like the Cheesy Toasted Breakfast Burrito Potato, anyway. The burrito is stuffed with eggs, potato, nacho cheese, and tomato — a humble offering for the lone vegetarian entrée on the breakfast menu. While the eggs are soft, the nacho cheese is gooey, and the potatoes are fluffy and flavorful, the burrito is underwhelming as a whole and likely not filling enough for a good breakfast.

It's a little puzzling that Taco Bell doesn't offer more vegetarian breakfast options, especially because Mexican breakfasts so often include beans, an ingredient Taco Bell already has on its regular menu. The inclusion of black or pinto beans would take this burrito from decent to good, and without them, the burrito falls a little flat. As is, the burrito is sufficient for a meatless option but pales in comparison to other items, leading to it ranking lower down the list.

Taco Bell's thin and cheesy quesadillas might work well for the late-night crowd, but the breakfast version isn't nearly as satisfying. The bacon quesadilla, like the steak, is pressed completely flat, with the egg and bacon mere suggestions between layers of cheese and tortilla. It makes for an interesting snack, as the melty cheese is still deliciously gooey, but it's difficult to qualify as a filling breakfast.

The bacon quesadilla ranks a little higher on the list because the bacon, though extra crispy, is flavorful and abundant within the layers of cheese. The bacon is smokey and savory in flavor, which is made prominent in the flat quesadilla. Even so, the quesadilla simply isn't as filling or flavorful overall as the burritos and Crunchwraps on the list. The flat, super-pressed tortilla is more like a cheesy snack than a meal, which, for nearly $5 each, simply isn't worthwhile.

The regular burritos on Taco Bell's breakfast menus are cheap, easy options for a last-minute breakfast. The regular burritos, which have fewer ingredients than the grande burritos, are the cheapest entrées on the menu at just under $3 each. Inside the sausage version, crumbles of cooked pork are rolled into scrambled eggs and nacho cheese for a simple, satisfying snack. You'd need two to make a full meal, but the flavor is good. The sausage burrito tastes homemade, with the tortilla soft, the sausage flavorful, and the eggs (which have more ingredients than you'd think) fluffy and cheesy. 

Though you could make the exact same burrito at home for a little bit cheaper by making several at once, we don't all have the time to prep warm breakfasts for the whole week. This would be a good way to replace a skipped meal at home while staying on a budget, but it wouldn't qualify for a filling or particularly nutritious breakfast. Because of its simplicity, it ranks lower than some more filling options on the menu, which offer more bang for your buck.

Among the three regular-sized burritos on the list, bacon has the best flavor, as the chopped, crunchy pieces are both smoky and savory. Though satisfying enough, none of the regular-sized burritos are better than the grande ones, which leads to their bottom-of-the-list ranking. The grande, which nearly doubles the size and cost of the regular, is a more filling meal.

When ranking, I did consider value: If the grande burrito is double the price, is it a worse value than the regular-sized option? Because you'd likely have to buy two regular-sized burritos to have the same-sized meal, the grande is only a better deal if you aren't very hungry. If that is the case, and you opt for the smaller, less flavorful of the two, go for the crunchy, smoky bacon. The bacon is crispy and works well with plain eggs and cheese, making it the best of the regular-sized burritos.

The grande burritos prove that ingredients matter and that any new combination can become a totally different experience. The grande burritos are slightly larger and filled with diced potatoes, tomatoes, eggs, cheese, and either bacon, sausage, or steak. The addition of the potatoes makes this burrito feel like a full meal, but the dry and crumbly texture means that the burrito can easily be overwhelmed by the spud.

The crunchy bacon is a good pairing in the regular-sized burrito because the texture offers a pleasant contrast to the scrambled eggs and nacho cheese. In the grande, when paired with the diced potatoes, the bacon gets a little lost. The crunchy pieces are dry next to the crumbly potatoes, and without the nacho cheese, they aren't as effective as in the regular burrito. Though it might be a little better than its regular-sized counterpart overall, the bacon grande burrito is the worst of the three potato-filled options, landing it near the middle of the rankings.

My impression of the breakfast quesadillas so far has been that they aren't a strength of the menu. The flat, cheesy tortillas are pressed far too thinly, and the eggs and meat are often too scarce or dry to make the quesadilla worthwhile. I prepared for the worst with the sausage quesadilla, expecting the results to be nearly the same as the others. Interestingly, the opposite was true — this version made me understand why the quesadillas are on the menu.

You order a quesadilla at Taco Bell, presumably, because you like the sandwiched layers of melted cheese and toasted tortilla. It satisfies a very specific craving, the simple combination altogether gooey and crispy. The sausage and egg quesadilla does just that: It remains gooey, melty, and soft on the inside, essentially becoming an enhanced version of the regular option. There isn't anything dry or crunchy inside, which makes this quesadilla delicious and crave-worthy. I'd purchase it again, but value-wise, it isn't quite as good as other items that rank at the top of the list.

The Grande Toasted Breakfast Burrito filled with sausage is about as close to perfect as a fast-food breakfast burrito can get. Like the bacon variety, the sausage version is filled with potatoes, tomatoes, eggs, and shredded cheese, but this time, small crumbles of sausage are mixed in. The sausage works well with the potatoes, adding much-needed moisture to the crumbly spuds.

The combination of potatoes, tomatoes, eggs, and sausage works well in this burrito, hardly needing any hot sauce (though everything is better with hot sauce). It's also a better value than the regular-sized versions, which lack the potatoes and tomatoes. Still, it falls behind the Crunchwraps, which are perfectly layered with texture and flavor in a way that the burritos are not. It also falls behind the best burrito, made with steak, which is more flavorful and filling than the sausage crumble.

For those that wake up with a sweet tooth, Taco Bell has a unique sugary option. Coated in cinnamon sugar, the Cinnabon Delights are similar in flavor to a churro but with a twist: The small, circular balls of dough are filled with sugary cream filling. Meant to be an inside-out cinnamon roll, the small, sweet side is worth getting, especially for less than $2.

Of course, the Cinnabon Delights don't make a satisfying meal, but they aren't really meant to. The 1-inch-tall balls are listed as a side dish where they can complement the savory pairings. With this in mind, the Cinnabon Delights are a home run. The burst of sweetness and creamy filling are so craveable you'll find yourself wanting more. The only reason the Delights rank outside of the top three is because they aren't as layered, filling, or interesting as the best entrées, but for a small bite of sugary sweetness, they're a good buy.

Now to introduce the Crunchwraps, which all fall within the top four spots in the ranking. If you haven't had Crunchwraps yet, you're missing out. An invention of Taco Bell, the large tortilla is filled with meat, vegetables, and potatoes before being topped with a crunchy tostada, folded into a round pocket, and toasted closed. Besides the shape and crunchy tostada interior, Crunchwraps aren't too dissimilar to burritos, but it's their unusual assembly that makes them so good.

The breakfast Crunchwraps swap the tostada for a hash brown, then fold around eggs, cheese, creamy jalapeño sauce, and either sausage or bacon. Each one epitomizes what Taco Bell is good at (inventive Mexican-fusion) and is stuffed full, making up for its small width. Of the three options, the bacon is the one I'd order last, largely because it lacks the avocado of the California Crunchwrap and the flavor of the sausage. In the sausage version, the creamy jalapeño sauce stands out, whereas in the bacon, you can hardly tell that it's there.

It's about time a fast food menu included steak during breakfast. While you can order from Taco Bell's regular menu during breakfast hours, meaning you can simply order beef options, steak makes a great alternative to the typical pork options within the walls of an egg-filled burrito. The steak, which is sliced thin but kept in relatively large, tender pieces, is plentiful and flavorful, making this burrito more filling than bacon or even sausage. It's the perfect pairing for the eggs, tomatoes, and potatoes inside the stuffed burrito, tasting neither bland nor dry.

Though not necessarily a classic breakfast offering, the burrito definitely tastes like breakfast, with the eggs and potatoes nicely complementing the seared steak. Unlike the quesadilla, which presses the steak to a flat crisp, the burrito maintains the tender texture that the steak is supposed to have. The Grande Toasted Breakfast Burrito with steak is an easy favorite, though not before the Crunchwraps, which take the top two spots in the ranking.

While all three Crunchwraps on the breakfast menu are the strongest items overall, each version has its place within the Crunchwrap category. The sausage is second-best, ahead of the bacon, though only by a small margin. The bacon is smoky, crunchy, and satisfying, but the sausage is meaty, filling, and mild enough to bring out the flavor of the creamy jalapeño sauce. The sausage in this Crunchwrap is also notably better than in any other breakfast item, being that the sausage is a full patty instead of crumbles.

The sausage Crunchwrap otherwise ranks as second on the list because of its unique build of hash brown, sausage, egg, jalapeño sauce, and cheese, which surpasses each of the burritos and the quesadilla in both flavor and value. The Crunchwraps are the same price as the grande burritos and the quesadillas but offer a full hash brown, plenty of egg, and even a sauce with the selected protein, making them the best deal on the list and the sausage version a strong second.

It really shouldn't come as a surprise that a Crunchwrap lands at the first spot in the ranking, being that the Crunchwrap is one of the best items on the entire Taco Bell menu. While nothing beats the classic Crunchwrap, the breakfast versions come close, with the California being the best of the three. The lone breakfast item to include guacamole, the California Crunchwrap is a step above in quality and value, offering a fresh, creamy taste to the already-good bacon build. The Crunchwrap is otherwise mostly the same: bacon, egg, cheese, and the super-crispy hash brown.

You might be wondering how the hash brown, which I ranked last, snuck its way into the top spot of the list. The truth is, a softer hash brown wouldn't make the Crunchwrap any better, being that it is taking the place of a flat and crispy tostada. On its own the hash brown is too thin, but within the tortilla of the Crunchwrap, it just makes sense. The Breakfast California Crunchwrap has the best flavor and value of the list, making it the best item on the breakfast menu — or in other words, it reigns ... supreme.

To rank the 14 breakfast items on the menu, I first tried each and ranked lowest any that immediately stood out as overly crispy, small, or bland. I then considered the value, ranking higher the items that had more fillings, better ingredients, and a larger size. Lastly, I considered how each protein (bacon, sausage, and steak) was used and whether the meat was enhanced by the other ingredients or hiding behind them. Like always, the highest-ranking items are the ones I'd happily buy again and would confidently recommend to a friend.