What Time Does Burger King Stop Serving Breakfast?

As its name suggests, Burger King is, first and foremost, a burger chain. But while breakfast and brunch burgers are a beautiful thing to behold for some, not everyone wants to tuck into a Whopper slathered in condiments and oozing with American cheese while they sip their morning coffee. Luckily for folks with more traditional cravings for the most important meal of the day, Burger King boasts a breakfast menu starring eggs, bacon, and other usual suspects.

Burger King introduced breakfast to its lineup in the late 1970s, several years after McDonald's unveiled its Egg McMuffin. Today, the chain offers nearly two dozen breakfast items. If you want to partake, you'll need to set your alarm; Burger King's breakfast menu is for early risers only. Here's when to get to your local outpost for breakfast (hint: some locations may open earlier than others), plus what to order when it's your turn at the drive-thru.

Get there before 10:30 a.m.

Most Burger King locations open at 6 a.m. and begin serving breakfast immediately. The rare Burger King location that stays open 24 hours may start serving breakfast even earlier — cross-country drivers and graveyard-shift workers, take note. Regardless of what time a Burger King location opens, however, each observes a hard cutoff on breakfast hours: 10:30 a.m.

It's not that Burger King wants to shame people who sleep in. Rather, it needs to turn up its griddle to accommodate its burgers, which are in high demand for the better part of the day and into the night. Plus, there's simply not enough space on the griddle and in the warming trays to make room for both breakfast and regular menu items. There might come a day when Burger King will once again follow in McDonald's footsteps by serving breakfast around the clock, but for now, customers have to get there early. 

Find a favorite menu item

If you manage to make it to Burger King during breakfast hours, you'll find that the chain serves more than just egg-and-cheese sandwiches — although there are plenty of those. By all accounts, Burger King's signature breakfast item seems to be its line of "Croissan'Wich" sandwiches, which nestle eggs, American cheese, and other breakfast-appropriate ingredients between two halves of a flaky croissant. Meat-eaters can go for versions with ham, bacon, sausage (or an intrepid combination of all three). There's also a maple-glazed chicken option, plus an "Egg-Normous" burrito with bacon, eggs, cheddar cheese, hash browns, and a "creamy, spicy sauce."

Vegetarians (or those minding their meat intake) can opt for a simple egg-and-cheese biscuit, a pancake platter, or sides of French toast sticks or hash browns. Burger King's breakfast options lack fruit and vegetables, which is something to keep in mind if you prefer a healthy start to your day.