11 Breads From Fast Food Sandwich Chains, Ranked Worst To Best

While sandwich enthusiasts tend to view a quality sandwich in terms of savory slices of deli meat, melted cheese, and fistfuls of fresh veggies, let's not forget the importance of what keeps all that stuff together. The true workhorse of any sandwich is the bread upon which the fixings are stacked. Without a reliable delivery system, a sandwich is nothing more than a salad without a fork. Though plenty of fast food sandwich restaurants bake their own bread, they're not necessarily top of mind when you're thinking of high-quality bread.

The best sandwich spots are those where the bread is functional while bringing its own flavor to the sandwich. There are plenty of sandwich chains that know what they're doing when it comes to their baked offerings, but there are just as many that have yet to figure this out. After visiting eleven popular fast food joints, here is a definitive ranking of the bread game at a few of America's classic sandwich spots.

Despite the popularity of Jersey Mike's in recent years, its sandwich bread left a lot to be desired. A basic tenet of good sandwich bread is that it must hold the line no matter what toppings you order. Flavor and texture are important of course, but even at the absolute minimum, the bread must uphold its primary function. The bread at Jersey Mike's failed at this because it was dried out and crumbly.

Getting your sandwich "Mike's way" with oil and vinegar — otherwise known as the correct way — only serves to exacerbate the problem as the additional moisture renders the whole thing unholdable. I'm always willing to concede that I happened to catch the team at my local Jersey Mike's on an off day, but I had to call things as I saw them. In this particular case, the bread at Jersey Mike's came in dead last in my ranking because it was the one that failed on all fronts.

If this were a ranking of sandwich fillings, Firehouse Subs would be much higher on the list. For example, the meatball sub has a positive track record among sandwich connoisseurs. When you remove all those tasty meatballs, however, the bread has some structural issues. Like Jersey Mike's, the bread at Firehouse Subs was too dry and crumbly, causing my sandwich to descend into chaos.

The only reason Firehouse Subs beat out Jersey Mike's was that the bread was toasted. Though the added dryness didn't do the bread any structural favors, it did bring a light, crispy texture to the sandwich. My experience here called into question the entire practice of toasting a sub's bread before loading it up with fixings. I feel like a lot of sandwich shops started to lean into this, but it simply cannot be done without a game plan. Obligatory toasting only leads to a crumbly sandwich if the bread can't handle the heat.

Of all the sandwiches on the list, Subway's bread has been the most controversial. From the restaurant's past use of azodicarbonamide, an ingredient that is also found in yoga mats, to the Irish Supreme Court's ruling that Subway bread's sugar content disqualifies it from being considered bread, it's taken some public hits. For the most part, Subway's bread is a good example of a workhorse bread — it gets the job done while adding a decent flavor and texture to the mix.

Subway's option to toast any sandwich should be avoided at all costs as this isn't really an improvement. The most positive aspect of Subway's bread is its soft texture, and the second they run that through the toaster oven, you get a dried-out slab of bread that soaks up any additional moisture. The bread at Subway still manages to keep itself together throughout the entire sandwich-eating process, and it's got a subtle hint of baked goodness with each bite.

Based in Reno, Nevada, Port of Subs has modeled itself pretty closely to Subway — the biggest difference is that all the sandwich meat is freshly sliced onto your order. Other than that, customers can customize their sandwiches in real time with all the veggies, oil, and vinegar that they'd like. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two sandwich restaurants is the bread quality, which edges out Subway's bread ever so slightly – even though it doesn't smell quite as good.

Port of Subs edges Subway out because of its flavor and texture. Both components are very similar to Subway, but Port of Subs has a fresh-baked flavor and slightly more chewy texture that puts it above the fare at Subway. The margin between the two is close enough that I could see it potentially changing upon subsequent visits. Most of the sandwich breads on this list have much more clearly defined boundaries when it comes to quality. When it comes to Port of Subs and Subway, however, it's pretty close.

While Arby's tends to struggle when it comes to fast food fandom, its role as a legitimate purveyor of meaty sandwiches continues to make progress. It's true that Arby's isn't typically grouped in the same category as most of the sub shops on the list, but Arby's specialty sandwiches make it a dark horse in the world of sandwich restaurants. Its signature roast beef sandwich is served on a soft sesame seed bun, but how does it differentiate when it comes to the bread used for its subs?

Arby's has always supplemented its regular menu with sandwiches that would be more at home in the deli, and its Cheesesteak sandwich has been a good example of this. The bread used for this sandwich gets a lot right — it retains its structure despite the sandwich's gooey filling and has a nice flavor. Texturally, this sandwich does get a bit on the soggy side, but that's a small gripe when it comes to the things this bread gets right.

Cafe Zupas is all about the ciabatta panini, which made me wonder how far toasting a sandwich's bread goes. There are some sandwiches that absolutely must be toasted, but my experience with Subway and Firehouse Subs made me see that there is a right and wrong way to do this. Cafe Zupas is an example of the right way to toast up a sandwich, and a lot of that success comes from the restaurant's quality of bread.

The ciabatta bread at Cafe Zupas has a nice flavor and texture on its own, and after it gets nice and toasty in the panini press, it's a solid sandwich competitor. Even from a structural perspective, Cafe Zupas has engineered its sandwiches to keep itself together. The thick slices of ciabatta get pressed around the sandwich components, making each layer stay nice and orderly. Whether you get the traditional ciabatta or the ancient grain, Cafe Zupas gets the job done.

The bread at most sandwich places can be a bit inconsistent when it comes to its flavor and function. Some yields seem to be perfectly suited for their sandwich, others not so much. The bread at Jimmy John's is uniform in both size and color, which makes for a very consistent sandwich experience. This was a surprise to me as I was expecting Jimmy John's to be pretty low on the list. In all of my Jimmy John's experiences, I've never been that impressed with the restaurant's bread. My last visit to this popular sandwich joint had me completely rethinking my previous experiences, however.

The bread's functionality is top notch — its precise cut, its equal ratio between its top and bottom halves, and its sturdy hold on the sandwich ingredients displayed some baking ingenuity. There is a uniformity to the bread at Jimmy John's that is both aesthetically pleasing and functionally sound. It's got a subtle, yeasty flavor on the back end, and it pairs particularly well with a sandwich that is heavy on the mayo. Jimmy John's is also one of the few restaurants that will sell its day-old bread at a discount, so that's a win on the side of sustainability as well.

Once you've cracked the top five, the competition really comes down to individual flavor, and Panera Bread has a lot going for it on this front. As it's the kind of restaurant that has used the same sourdough bread starter since it opened in 1987, it's no surprise that its bread would be a slice above the rest. It's one of the few restaurants on the list that considers itself a bakery first, and a sandwich shop second. The sourdough bread at Panera is chewy, flavorful, and it can really get the job done when it comes to holding a sandwich together.

Even Panera's ciabatta and wheat breads are above-average offerings. It's true that the restaurant's sourdough is perhaps the cream of the crop, but you can't really go wrong no matter which bread suits your fancy. Given the fact that Panera Bread recently rolled out a strategy that completely changed the way its restaurants will prepare and bake bread, its spot on this list might be compromised until further testing can be done.

McAlister's Deli is a unique entry on this list as it feels less like a sandwich shop and more like a restaurant. It's a fast-casual situation, but its setup and its prices make it feel a bit more upscale. If all that extra production value didn't yield a high-quality product, I'd be a bit more upset about this. Based on my visit, however, McAlister's Deli is a good example of getting what you pay for.

The ciabatta at McAlister's hits all the right bases — it's chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Structurally, the baguette is best at keeping stacked sandwiches together, and it's got a nice, crispy toast finish. Even the restaurant's country white bread goes above and beyond in terms of flavor and texture. Like Panera Bread, McCalister's prides itself on its baking prowess with both its sandwiches and its desserts — the restaurant's Cinnabon Mini Cookie Sandwiches are particularly good.

Not only is Capriotti's the place to go when you're craving a Thanksgiving feast on a bun, but it's also working with some of the best bread in the business. A Capriotti's bun is one of the few fast food products that has the same look, feel, and flavor as something that just came out of your oven at home. When you visualize a sub sandwich, it's likely that you're thinking of something from Capriotti's.

The best part of the bread here is that it has a wide spectrum of flavors. The browned exterior is slightly bitter from where the heat was most pronounced in the baking process, and the soft interior maintains the freshly baked flavor that completes a successful sandwich experience. Its structural capabilities are also top-notch as the bread is firm enough to keep even The Bobbie's bounteous layers of turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing from spilling out all over the place.

Not only is Great Harvest one of the largest bakery franchises in the country, but it's also the one that seems to put its bread front and center. Its shelves are stocked with loaves of all shapes and sizes, and the restaurant is very generous with its free samples. With an emphasis on bread baking, it's no surprise that Great Harvest takes the first place spot on the list. The restaurant has so many different styles of sweet and savory bread, and its staff gets an early start to make sure everything is freshly baked for the day ahead.

It's the restaurant's honey whole wheat that hits the top tier — it's hearty without sacrificing texture, and its honey-infused sweetness adds a nuanced depth to its flavor profile. It's the one case where the bread actually improved the sandwich as a whole instead of being more of a supporting act. Even if you opt out of the signature honey wheat, the sheer variety of bread on display is staggering.

For my ranking, I focused on the components of texture, flavor, and structural integrity. Each of these aspects comes together to form a successful sandwich experience. In most cases, the bread served a purely functional role, which really is a shame. One of the first casualties in mass production is quality, so it's no surprise that the majority of these spots had mediocre bread.

Most sandwich restaurants have bread that is made to hold lots of sandwich fixings, so the restaurants at the bottom of the list were the ones that failed that test. Nothing wrecks a sandwich like dry, crumbly bread, and that's what knocked spots like Jersey Mike's and Firehouse Subs down to the bottom. The restaurants in the top five were the ones that seemed to take their bread a bit more seriously and treat it as a value add, as opposed to a sandwich delivery system. I also noticed that restaurants with committed bakeries were higher up on the list, so that's a good indicator that your sandwich bread will be above average.