Restaurants Fast Food
ByAmy Bell/
Some Jersey Mike's locations have a new breakfast menu, and people are loving it. Like the regular menu, breakfast brings a little piece of New Jersey to places that have never tasted its flavors. Chances are, if you haven't eaten breakfast in New Jersey or NYC, you've probably never encountered a pork roll. Since Jersey Mike's has added the iconic breakfast sandwich to its breakfast menu, you can finally understand why New Jerseyans have been in love with pork rolls for over a century(via NJ.com).
Not all Jersey Mike's locations currently serve breakfast, but there's a chance you'll find the tasty meal at a nearby restaurant in the future. Once you try the breakfast sandwiches, chances are you'll end up ranking them among the best fast-food breakfast sandwiches available. If you're a sub fan, the kaiser rolls and Taylor ham options are a step above Subway's breakfast options. Our ultimate guide to Jersey Mike's breakfast menu gives you an idea of what to expect on your next visit, and even how to tweak the selection to get a breakfast burrito or a gluten-free meal. And, as always, there are vegetarian options too.
Not many Jersey Mike's locations serve breakfast yet
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When people found out that Jersey Mike's was serving New Jersey's favorite breakfast pork roll (aka Taylor ham) sandwich for breakfast, there were many eager folks looking toget their hands on it. In fact, per a Reddit thread,some of them went on a self-proclaimed "quest" in search of the tasty roll. For people living far from Jersey, the nostalgic breakfast sandwich had them tearing through all the Jersey Mike's locations in the vicinity in search of their pork roll fix. Unfortunately, only about 10 out of 300 or so Jersey Mike's locations actually serve breakfast as of fall 2022 (via Go Upstate).
It turns out that the only way to find out if your location is serving breakfast is to check in person or search theonline ordering menu. Even the locations we know are serving breakfast — like the one on Wade Hampton Boulevard in Greer, South Carolina — still have their business hours listed as starting at 10:00 a.m. (via Google Maps). So, if you're thinking of getting a pork roll or other breakfast sandwich on your early commute to work or school, you're probably out of luck. However, 10:00 a.m. is still a respectable time for breakfast if you have a leisurely morning planned. It certainly will feel less strange than eating The Super Sub at 10:00 a.m.
You can choose from about eight breakfast sandwiches and possibly muffins
Despite there being no information on Jersey Mike's main menu concerning breakfast, a handful of ambitious people have been kind enough to list Jersey Mike's breakfast menu elsewhere on the web, usually referring to a specific location. Not every list has the same items, but it seems to boil down to around eight possible breakfast options, with a location in Greer, South Carolina, also baking various muffins every morning (via Go Upstate).
Adding eggs and sausages to its ingredient list allows Jersey Mikes to provide several additional sandwich options. You can get a plain egg and cheese sandwich or have your egg and cheese with bacon, sausage, ham, steak, or turkey. There are also two pork rolls on the menu: one with cheese and one with egg and cheese.If you're not in the mood for a breakfast sandwich, you could just get a ham omelet, and we bet you could ask for some add-ins like peppers and onions to round it out (via Menu-Price.net). One Trip Advisor reviewer writesthat they got a ham omelet in downtown Chicago on W Monroe St with bell peppers, mushrooms, and cheese on a sub roll. Plus, they got a free coffee to go with the sandwich — not a bad deal.
Every breakfast sandwich is under $6
While the average sub sandwich from Jersey Mike's costs between $8 and $12 before upgrades, you can expect to pay less for breakfast sandwiches. In fact, they all go for under $6 (via Allmenus). So, if you wander into Jersey Mike's at 10:00 a.m. with a small budget, the breakfast menu is your friend.
A big part of why the morning sandwiches are cheaper is that they come on a kaiser roll rather than on a lengthy piece of sub sandwich bread. However, most locations would be happy to upcharge you for a larger piece of bread and a greater quantity of toppings as evidenced by @b.marcolongo who got a sub-sized pork roll from a Jersey Mike's near 30th Street Station in Philadelphia (via Instagram).
According to Allmenus, the cheapest option available is the egg and cheese sandwich, which will cost around $4.45. Adding meat will cost an additional $1 to $1.50 more, with the most expensive sandwich — the steak, egg, and cheese — costing $5.95. If you really think about it, it's not a bad deal to get steak on your egg and cheese sandwich for only $1.50 more. Of course, if you upgrade your sandwich to a different type of bread or start adding on extra eggs, meat, or cheese, you're going to see the price approach the cost of a regular Jersey Mike's sub.
The default bread for most Jersey Mike's breakfast sandwiches is a kaiser roll
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According to YouTube channel @theendorsem*nt, all the breakfast sandwiches come on a freshly-baked kaiser roll except for the omelet. The New York Timesdescribesthe kaiser roll as a common bread for deli sandwiches, including those with breakfast fillings. For Southerners accustomed to getting their breakfast sandwiches on a biscuit, we promise that breakfast also tastes good on a kaiser roll.
Kaiser rollsare yeasty white wheat rolls about the same size as a large hamburger bun (via Cooks Info). Visually, the five-pointed pinwheel pattern at the top is supposed to look like a kaiser's (emperor's) crown. This design has the advantage of providing more surface area for browning than a traditional roll. Some kaiser rolls come with sesame, poppy seeds, or browned onions on top. However, the ones Jersey Mike's uses for its breakfast sandwiches are plain.
According to Cook's Info, if you're not familiar with kaiser rolls, they may go by a different name in your area. Many people began calling them "hard rolls" during World War I, and around parts of Boston you may hear them named "bulkies." While "Vienna rolls" are completely different from kaiser rolls, some people still use the terms interchangeably since kaiser rolls were likely invented in Vienna.
Shop owners wake up early to make the bread fresh
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At Jersey Mike's, the bread is baked fresh every day. Staff will start baking bread for subs and slicing up all the veggies for the day at about 7:00 a.m. Lee Smith, the owner of a Greer, South Carolina, Jersey Mike's, says he comes in extra early now that he offers breakfast. Before all of his normal morning baking and slicing tasks, he has to bake the kaiser rolls and muffins, so he now comes in at 5:30 a.m. Since the restaurant doesn't have a huge crowd of breakfast-goers coming in just yet, Smith comes in alone to get the breakfast rolls ready as a cost-saving measure (via Go Upstate).
Even though employees must come in early to get breakfast started, it doesn't appear as if locations serving the morning meal are opening any earlier than usual. Google Maps still lists a 10:00 a.m. opening time for all the locations we checked. However, we're not sure if waiting until mid-morning to serve breakfast is the best way to encourage customers to try a breakfast menu from a sub shop, especially with so many people wanting to stop by to grab breakfast much earlier on the way to work and school on weekdays. However, there is the potential to serve the breakfast menu all day long once the kaiser buns and muffins are already baked and ready to go.
Trenton pork rolls are a fan favorite with New Jersey origins
If you've never heard of a Trenton pork roll, it's probably because you haven't eaten breakfast in New Jersey or the metro and Delaware Valley regions of New York. "Unofficially, it's New Jersey's state meat," according toNJ.com, which reports that the pork roll has deep New Jersey roots. It was either invented in 1856 by John Taylor or during the Revolutionary War by Trenton-based Taylor Provisions, which is still among the Mercer County companies that make the meat today. While southern New Jerseyans call it a "pork roll," northern folks call it "Taylor ham." The meat is a smoked and salt-cured pork loin that is commonly served in a roll or sometimes on a bagel (via Thrillist).
With the addition of the pork roll to its breakfast menu, Jersey Mike's is able to bring the flavors of Jersey to locations outside of the normal Trenton pork roll range. Anyone from Jersey is likely to get emotional about this breakfast sandwich. TikToker@brilliantlydumb works out at a gym next to Jersey Mike's and completely dismisses his instructor's assessment that he's wasting his workout by getting a pork roll at Jersey Mike's afterward because they're worth it. "This sandwich bangs and I'm here for it. J Mike's to the g****** moon," he says while eating a pork roll. "This thing is smacking."
Applewood-smoked bacon and Certified Angus Beef complete the flavor of some breakfast sandwiches
Jersey Mike's pays special attention to the types of meat it uses for its subs, and the breakfast sandwiches are no exception. The restaurant is known for freshly slicing and grilling the meat in front of your eyes, making your mouth water in anticipation.
Jersey Mike's uses applewood-smoked bacon for the bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich. This variety uses wood chips from apple trees during the smoking process, leaving the bacon with a smoky and slightly sweet taste (via Bacon Today). Ultimately, the bacon complements the other ingredients in the breakfast sandwich rather than overwhelming them with smoke and wood flavors as hickory-smoked bacon might.
In a 2013 press release,Jersey Mike's COO, Mike Manzo, commented: "Quality is very important to us and our customers. That's why we serve only the Certified Angus Beef brand." Angus beef comes from the Angus cow breed and is known for being highly marbled with fat, which makes it exceptionally juicy and tender once it's cooked. Plus, to get the Certified Angus Beef label, the meat has to be Choice or Prime graded and meet 10 taste and tenderness standards. So, when you order a steak, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich from the breakfast menu, you can rest assured that the higher price tag guarantees you're getting high-quality beef.
There's a turkey breakfast choice available
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If you've ever made an omelet, frittata, or egg and turkey sandwich with leftover Thanksgiving turkey, you know that it can be a tasty breakfast meat. Most of us just haven't adopted it into our breakfast meat rotation unless we eat turkey bacon or turkey sausage. However, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't. After all, turkey is a leaner and healthier option than typical breakfast meats.
When looking at the portions of meat on Jersey Mike's regular-sized subs, the stats for turkey in a Turkey Club Sub compared to bacon in a BLT and steak in Mike's Famous Philly shows that the former is far healthier. The turkey only clocks in 111 calories and 1.25 grams of fat, whereas the bacon and steak pack in around double the calories and more than 10 times the fat.
Likely, the turkey portion in the breakfast sandwich will come in at about half of those nutritional values since it's closer to the size of a mini-sub than a regular sub. So, if you're craving meat, you can cut down on your calories, fat, and cholesterol by going for turkey instead.
One of the breakfast sandwiches is vegetarian
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One draw of sub sandwich shops is that they tend to offer more vegetarian menu options than other restaurants, especially those of the fast food variety. At the very least, a vegetarian can order a sub stuffed with veggies. While not all sub sandwich shops are created equally when it comes to the vegetarian selection, Jersey Mike's appears to have at least 21 vegetarian choices on its main subs menu (via Diet Menus). In keeping with its standard of having vegetarian options available throughout the day, Jersey Mike's has included a meat-free breakfast sandwich: the egg and cheese breakfast sandwich. It comes with two eggs and American cheese on a kaiser roll (via All Menus).
An egg and cheese breakfast sandwich, bagel, or biscuit is fairly standard fare for vegetarian diners looking for a hand-held breakfast menu item. However, you could always ask to zhush it up a bit since Jersey Mike's will already have its fresh veggies sliced for the day and ready to go. Perhaps try your egg and cheese sandwich with sliced tomato or onion for added flavor or bell pepper for crunch.
Try your breakfast sandwich as a wrap to turn it into a breakfast burrito
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If you're more of a breakfast burrito person than a sandwich person, you can ask for a tortilla instead of a kaiser roll. Yes, it's that easy. Most locations have white flour tortillas and wheat flour tortillas available. Additionally,Menu-price.net indicates that some restaurants may also have a spinach or tomato tortilla as an option too.
Even before Jersey Mike's started making breakfast, some employees would bring eggs from home and make breakfast on the grill for themselves. One said, "we have the tools and the ingredients and everything [...] to make one hell of a breakfast burrito" (via TikTok). You could start with eggs, cheese, and your choice of meat. Then, pick some veggie add-ons from the regular menu, like grilled portabello mushrooms, red and green bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and avocado. While Jersey Mike's doesn't have salsa, you can always raid your leftover Taco Bell hot sauce stash before you head out to Mike's to complete the burrito transformation.
You can order any breakfast sandwich gluten-free
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Another stand-out practice at Jersey Mike's is to offer several gluten-free options. Not only is gluten-free bread available, but you can order an omelet without bread or get all your breakfast sandwich innards in a bowl. If you ask, Jersey Mike's employees can clean off counters and machines and change their gloves before making a gluten-free option (via No Gluten).
Since 2017, Jersey Mike's has offered individually-wrapped, gluten-free sub rolls from Udi's as a bread option. However, you should expect an upcharge. For one thing, No Gluten says that the pre-packaged gluten-free rolls only come in regular and giant sizes. So, there will be more ingredients on a larger breakfast sandwich. Plus, subs with gluten-free bread are more expensive. Depending on the size of the sub, expect an upcharge of around $1.65 to $3.25.
While it's possible to order the omelet as a sandwich, you can also just order it as a standard omelet, sans bread. For a little more oomph with your eggs, consider asking for vegetable add-ins, like onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, or mushrooms. A final option is to order your breakfast sandwich as a bowl, which provides you with all the typical breakfast ingredients you love, like eggs, cheese, and meat. On the regular menu, ordering a bowl tends to be the same price as ordering a sandwich with bread, so you shouldn't expect an upcharge.
Even if your location doesn't serve breakfast, there are options
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Any sandwich is a breakfast sandwich if you eat it in the morning. We know that's not the answer you were looking for, but it's true. After all, Jersey Mike's opens at 10:00 a.m. with the expectation that enough people will walk through the door to make it worthwhile.
Per a post on the sub shop's Facebook page,Jersey Mike's argues, "If it has bacon on it, it counts as breakfast, right?" Fans agree, commenting "Always" and "Bacon makes everything better." So, the most obvious breakfast-adjacent subs are those that contain applewood-smoked bacon, like the Club Sub, Club Supreme, BLT, and bacon ranch chicken cheese steak.
Another option Jersey Mike's suggests onFacebook is eating leftover subs for breakfast. One fan calls it the "breakfast of champions," however, most are dubious about the possibility of having leftover subs from Jersey Mike's. Another fan astutely states that if Jersey Mike's had breakfast, there would be no need to depend on leftover subs as a breakfast sandwich substitute.
