A breakfast sandwich is a sandwich

Sandwich

A sandwich is a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of :bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or...

 served for breakfast

Breakfast

Breakfast is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work...

 at fast food

Fast food

Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...

 restaurants and delis or bought as a fast ready to heat and eat sandwich from a store. Breakfast sandwiches can also be made from scratch in the home.
Breakfast sandwiches typically are made using breakfast meats (which are e.g. Spam

Spam

Spam may refer to:* Spam , a canned pork meat product* Spam , unsolicited or undesired electronic messages* E-mail spam, unsolicited or undesired email messages* "Spam" , a comedy sketch...

, sausages, patty sausages, bacon, country ham and pork roll), breads, egg

Egg (food)

Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...

s and cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

. These sandwiches were typically regional specialties until fast food

Fast food

Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...

 restaurants began serving breakfast. Because the types of bread common, such as biscuits, bagels, and English muffins were similar in size to a fast food hamburger

Hamburger

A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll...

 buns, they made an obvious choice for fast food restaurants. Unlike other breakfast items, they were perfect for the innovation of the drive-through

Drive-through

A drive-through, or drive-thru, is a type of service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was first pioneered in the United States in the 1930s but has since spread to other countries. The first recorded use of a bank using a drive...

. These sandwiches have also become a staple of many convenience store

Convenience store

A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...

s, that serve them as take-away items.

Variations

There are several types of breakfast sandwiches:

• Hard roll: The traditional breakfast sandwich of the northeast's tri-state region (NY, NJ, CT). Believed by some to be one of the earliest forms of the breakfast sandwich in the nation. Consists of a hard roll, eggs, cheese and sausage, bacon or ham. In New Jersey, a common breakfast sandwich is the Jersey Breakfast which consists of pork roll, egg, and cheese on a hard (Kaiser) roll.

• Biscuit: This consists of a large, or cat-head, biscuit sliced on which meat, cheese, or eggs are served. Popular biscuits include: Sausage biscuit, bacon
  Bacon
  Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...
  
  , tomato
  Tomato
  The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
  
  , and country ham
  Country ham
  Country ham is a variety of cured ham, typically very salty, associated with the Southern United States. Country ham is first mentioned in print in 1944, referring to a method of curing and smoking done in the rural parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky and other nearby...
  
  . Fast food restaurants have put smaller versions of fried chicken fillets on biscuits to create chicken biscuits. Scrambled eggs
  Scrambled eggs
  Scrambled eggs is a dish made from beaten whites and yolks of eggs . Beaten eggs are put into a hot pot or pan and stirred frequently, forming curds as they coagulate.-Sample preparation:...
  
   and/or American cheese
  American cheese
  American cheese is a processed cheese. It is orange, yellow, or white in color and mild in flavor, with a medium-firm consistency, and melts easily. American cheese was originally only white, but is usually now modified to yellow. In the past it was made from a blend of cheeses, most often Colby...
  
   are often added.

• Bagel
  Bagel
  A bagel is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior...
  
  : Due to its connection with German
  Germans
  The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
  
   and Jewish ethnic groups, bagels often have foods popular in these communities. Deli meats, Canadian bacon
  Back bacon
  Back bacon is bacon prepared from centre-cut boneless pork loin. The name refers to the cut of meat, which is from the back, and distinguishes it from other bacon made from pork belly or other cuts. Unlike other bacon, back bacon is not brined, cured, boiled, or smoked...
  
  , lox or other smoked fish
  Fish
  Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
  
  , and cream cheese
  Cream cheese
  Cream cheese is a soft, mild-tasting, white cheese with a high fat content. Traditionally, it is made from unskimmed milk enriched with additional cream....
  
   are popular on bagel sandwiches.

• English muffin: the American Egg McMuffin introduced this type of sandwich to the rest of the world. English muffins might have the same fillings as either the biscuit or Bagel sandwiches.

• Toast
  Toast
  Toast is bread that has been browned by exposure to radiant heat. This browning reaction is known as the Maillard reaction. Toasting warms the bread and makes it firmer, so it holds toppings more securely...
  
  : toasted bread is one of the oldest forms of breakfast sandwich. While any number of items might be served on toast, eggs and bacon are the ones most associated with breakfast.

• Egg sandwich
  Egg sandwich
  An egg sandwich is a sandwich with some kind of egg filling. Sliced boiled eggs or egg salad are popular options. Fried egg and scrambled egg sandwiches are an alternative for those who want a hot meal.- Types of egg sandwich :...
  
  : egg sandwiches are often served on untoasted bread as well.

• Fat Rascal
  Fat Rascal
  A fat rascal, also called the Yorkshire tea biscuit or turf cake, is a type of cake, similar to the scone in both taste and ingredients. The fat rascal often has no definitive shape and is relatively easy to make...
  
  : A type of cake, also referred to as cookies, similar to the scone
  Scone (bread)
  The scone is a small Scottish quick bread especially popular in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,Belgium and Ireland, but are also eaten in many other countries. They are usually made of wheat, barley or oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent...
  
   in both taste and ingredients. This type of breakfast sandwich is popular at Betty's tea room in Harrogate, England. As a breakfast sandwich the Fat Rascal may contain bacon, egg, sausage, tomato or beans, and optionally with a sauce.

In the United States the fat Rascal is considered a cookie as it uses plain flour and not self rising flour

• Specialty breads: mostly served by restaurant chains, there are other breakfast sandwiches that do not use one of the common breakfast breads. Burger King
  Burger King
  Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
  
   uses a croissant
  Croissant
  A croissant is a buttery flaky pastry named for its distinctive crescent shape. It is also sometimes called a crescent, from the French word for "crescent". Croissants are made of a leavened variant of puff pastry...
  
   to make a breakfast sandwich called the Croissan'Wich, or croissant sandwich, depending on the market. McDonald's offers its traditional biscuit fillings on a sandwich made from maple flavored pancakes called a McGriddle
  McGriddle
  The McGriddles is a breakfast sandwich sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's. Introduced in 2003, it is available in the American, German, Turkish, Brazilian, Canadian, Polish, Japanese, Guatemalan and Singapore markets...
  
  . Dunkin' Donuts
  Dunkin' Donuts
  Dunkin' Donuts is an international doughnut and coffee retailer founded in 1950 by William Rosenberg in Quincy, Massachusetts; it is now headquartered in Canton...
  
   has a waffle
  Waffle
  A waffle is a batter- or dough-based cake cooked in a waffle iron patterned to give a distinctive and characteristic shape. There are many variations based on the type and shape of the iron and the recipe used....
  
   sandwich that is similar to the McGriddle. These can be found at locations worldwide.

See also

• Sausage sandwich
  Sausage sandwich
  A sausage sandwich is a sandwich containing cooked sausage. It generally consists of an oblong bread roll such as a baguette or ciabatta roll, and sliced or whole links of sausage, such as hot or sweet Italian sausage, Polish sausage, German sausage , Mediterranean merguez, American andouille or...
  
  
• Bacon sandwich
• Enormous Omelet Sandwich
  Enormous Omelet Sandwich
  The Enormous Omelet Sandwich is a breakfast sandwich sold by the fast-food restaurant chain Burger King. It is one of their late teen to young adult male oriented products...
  
  
• List of sandwiches