15 of the Best Breakfast Sandwiches in Philadelphia
A good breakfast sandwich is arguably the perfect morning meal. Here are our favorite places to get one in Philly.
Rowhome Coffee’s pretzel breakfast sandwich / Photograph by Owen Spaloss
Is there any more perfect morning fare in the American culinary lexicon than the breakfast sandwich? We posit that there is not. There’s just something about eggs, cheese, meat (if that’s how you roll), and carbs stacked into an easily portable package that makes the whole thing taste better than its component parts alone — plus, you can eat it on the go. Here are some of our favorite breakfast sandwiches to wake up to in Philly.
Rowhome Coffee, Fitler Square and Kensington
If there were a Philly-style breakfast of champions, this would be it. Rowhome’s killer breakfast sandwiches come on soft pretzels with your choice of salt, everything, or cinnamon seasoning. Load it up with sage sausage or upgrade to a deli sandwich with your choice of roast beef or turkey. 2536 Pine Street and 2152 North Front Street.
Cleo Bagels, West Philly
Alex Malamy’s bagels have had a storied history over the past few years. Originally, they were made in his apartment; then there was the traveling Dodo Bagels pop-up, and now they finally have a permanent home in West Philly. With wildly popular sandwiches like the Ramen Thing, it’s no wonder the store won a Best of Philly award. 5013 Baltimore Avenue.
Fiore, Kensington
Fiore’s breakfast sandwich — a perfectly fried egg and house-made fennel pork sausage on herby Tuscan flatbread — might be made in a new place, but it’s still the same Best of Philly award-winner. What else is there to say? Perhaps that their other breakfast sandwich, the Saltie, is also excellent. 2413 Frankford Avenue.
Middle Child / Photograph by Michael Perisco
Middle Child, Washington Square West and Fishtown
Of course the contemporary answer to Philly’s bygone diners serves a breakfast sandwich with the perfect combination of reverence to the classics and bespoke touches. Fluffy eggs and a slice of Cooper Sharp get dressed up with zingy arugula and served between buttery, toasted slices of bread, with the option to go heartier with smoked sausage, bacon, or pork roll. 248 South 11th Street and 1232 North Front Street.
Bloomsday Cafe, Society Hill
The regular breakfast sandwich is great, but the veggie breakfast sandwich stuffed with a vegetable fritter and slathered with pesto cream is genius. 414 South 2nd Street.
Hawthorne Cafe, Bella Vista
Breakfast sandwiches are too often limited to the morning, but Hawthorne’s is available all the time. So, yes, you can have one for dinner or a late-night snack. 738 South 11th Street.
Miller’s Twist, Market East
By the time the hordes of tourists, conventioneers, and hungry commuters bustle into Reading Terminal Market for lunch around 11 a.m., one of its most overlooked yet iconic offerings is already sold out. Soft pretzel stand Miller’s Twist envelops fluffy scrambled eggs, cheese and your choice of meat in their tender soft pretzel dough, then bakes it till golden. The shape is even easier to eat than your typical breksam, and it dips into a little plastic cup of ketchup just perfectly. 51 North 12th Street.
Photograph courtesy of Cafe Lift
Cafe Lift, Callowhill and Haddonfield
Any worthwhile brunch spot should have an over-the-top breakfast sandwich on its menu, and masters of the craft Cafe Lift don’t disappoint. Their Egg Cheesesteak tweaks the Philly classic for morning consumption, but just a bit: Shaved ribeye, American cheese, and caramelized onions get the a.m. treatment with over-easy eggs and a schmear of spicy mayo, served on a pretzel roll with crispy potatoes on the side. 1124 Spring Garden Street and 144 Kings Highway East.
High Street Bakery, Center City
This stellar all-day cafe boasts not one but three excellent breakfast sandwiches on its morning menu, including the Lancaster bologna-topped Hickory Town and the classic BEC. But the all-around favorite is the Forager, a simultaneously indulgent and virtuous take on the morning tradition that brings together savory king oyster mushrooms, kale, eggs, provolone cheese, and earthy black trumpet mushroom aioli. 101 South 9th Street, suite 106.
Artisan Boulanger Patissier, East Passyunk
The excellent pastries and bánh mì at this South Philly institution are daydream-worthy — but they also crush savory breakfast, too. Do something nice for yourself and order one of their buttery, flaky croissants split and stuffed with a fried egg and cheese. (Don’t forget a sweet treat for, you know, breakfast dessert.) 1218 Mifflin Street.
Wawa, Everywhere
Philadelphians have strong opinions about anything and everything Wawa, and here’s one of our most deeply held: the Sizzli is good. What the Wawa hoagie is to every other meal, the Sizzli is to breakfast — decent, cheap, and there when you need it fast. Not every Sizzli fits the bill, mind you — just the biscuit (obviously). The sausage is juicy, the cheese is melted, and the biscuit is shockingly decent, considering it’s from a convenience store.
a.bar / Photograph by Joey Campanella
a.kitchen, Rittenhouse
A.kitchen’s breakfast menu features a house-favorite egg sandwich with American cheese and bacon — all served on High Street’s sublime baked goods, of course. 135 South 18th Street.
Brunic’s, Point Breeze
Sometimes you just need a basic bacon, egg, and cheese. One those days, Brunic’s has you covered. 2000 South 17th Street.
Knead Bagels, Washington Square West
Craving a lighter — but still worthwhile — version of the breakfast sandwich? Look no further than Knead, where you can get eggs, avocado, and smoked apricot-cherry pepper jam schmeared on your favorite of their uniquely flavored bagels (we’re particularly fond of togarashi). 725 Walnut Street.
Sulimay’s Diner, Fishtown
While some of the spots on this list offer diners their version of the One True Breakfast Sandwich, the beloved Girard Avenue diner offers several carb options (from rye toast to challah to flour tortilla) and five different forms of pig (ham, bacon, breakfast sausage, scrapple, and pork roll, if you’re counting) to mix and match with your cheese and eggs. 632 East Girard Avenue.
Updated: August 15, 2024
