McDonald's Vs Burger King — Which Chain Has The Better Breakfast?

Fast food fans often debate about which restaurant chain is better, McDonald's or Burger King. While this comparison often centers on burgers, fries, and other entrees, the breakfast menus deserve a comparative look as well. To get a sense of which spot has the better breakfast, we looked at ratings and compared overall taste, consistency, variety, and prices between the chains.

Both restaurants offer popular, long-lived fast food breakfast staples, but overall, McDonald's has the edge. In our ranking of the best fast food breakfast sandwiches, McDonald's Egg McMuffin and Sausage McMuffin top Burger King's fully loaded Croissan'wich and sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. Burger King's sandwiches also performed well, but McDonald's freshly cooked eggs and perfectly textured English muffins won out in the end. It's no surprise that when we ranked McDonald's breakfast sandwiches, the winner was the Egg McMuffin. 

Biscuits, however, are one area where BK can outshine Mickey D's on a good day (or at a good location). According to one review in Business Insider, Burger King's sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit beats McDonald's version, mainly because the reviewer thought it had a moist, more buttery biscuit. In our ranking, we liked Burger King's buttery biscuit flavor, but thought the interior could have used more time in the oven.

The inconsistency in Burger King's food quality is something other customers have noticed. As one Redditor explains, "You can go to any McDonald's in the country and get pretty much the exact same quality as anywhere else. That's the magic of their ingredients, recipes, and logistics. When Burger King is run well, it's miles better than McDonalds, but when it's not run well it's much worse than McDonald's."

McDonald's offers four main kinds of breakfast sandwiches, categorized by the breads, and also sells scrambled eggs. BK sticks to a number of popular Croissan'wiches and biscuit sandwiches, but no scrambled eggs; in fact, McD's is one of the fast food chains that uses freshly cracked eggs. If breakfast sandwiches aren't your thing, some BKs offer regular burgers for breakfast. So, if you adore croissants, but don't like fast food breakfast in general, Burger King is for you; if you want scrambled eggs, Mickey D's is the place to go.

The prices at Burger King and McD's restaurants near Milwaukee are comparable, though McD's meals are less than BK's. At McDonald's, the sausage egg biscuit costs $4.59, $6.89 with coffee and hash browns. At Burger King, the sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit costs $4.59; the meal starts at at $7.19 with a small coffee. The popular sausage, egg, and cheese Croissan'wich at BK is $4.69. At McD's, another popular item, the Egg McMuffin, costs $4.39. McD's also has app-exclusive deals, like the $2 breakfast sandwich, and also sells limited-time value meals, such as a $5 Sausage McMuffin with egg meal. Meanwhile, BK has a $4 biscuit and hash browns meal ($5 with coffee), though we didn't see any app-only deals. 

While the serving size of Burger King's breakfast items can be larger, and it allows for more customization, when it comes to price, deals, and consistent quality, McDonald's is the winner. Burger King comes in at a close second for having similar prices on sandwiches and abundant variety, yet more expensive meals and fewer deals.