4 Ordering Hacks For The Hands-Down Best Cracker Barrel Breakfast

Cracker Barrel is an overlooked breakfast spot. I know it's a spicy opinion about a restaurant chain so deeply trad and unspicy that it's literally named for a big barrel of soda crackers, but someone had to say it.

The casual stalwart serves breakfast menu items all day, has tons of sides to choose from, offers seasonal menus that extend to breakfast, and perhaps most surprisingly of all it offers vegetarian dishes complete with Impossible Sausage. Despite all these points in its favor, Cracker Barrel's breakfast potential has to be understood before it can be made the most of. That's why we've put together some tips and tricks for hacking your way to the perfect Cracker Barrel breakfast.

Is locking down a strategy that ensures a finely balanced and personalized casual breakfast a little extra? Perhaps. But so is a menu with over a dozen sections. If it's not supposed to be treated like a challenge, why did the team at Cracker Barrel make it so challenging?

For the best Cracker Barrel breakfast, start with a mid-priced, customizable menu item. This might sound boring, but it gives you room to maneuver. For example, there are several meal options that include almost every standard breakfast ingredient — eggs, potatoes, biscuits, sausage, bacon, and pancakes. 

Generally, these simple options are reasonably priced and come with several possible additions or changeable items. When you order something like the Old Timer's Breakfast ($11.49) or Uncle Herschel's Favorite Breakfast ($12.49), you get to choose what kind of meat you want, have your eggs get made just how you like them, and you can tack on sides that range from fried cinnamon apples to buttermilk pancakes to hash brown casserole tots.

There are many menu items that initially sound appealing, like the Breakfast Burger ($14.99), entree-sized versions of the hashbrown casserole (starting at $12.49), and the Fried Cinnamon Apple French Toast Bake ($11.79); but they offer less variety at a similar price point. Of course, there's nothing wrong with ordering them if you have a particular craving, but it's way easier to hack the Cracker Barrel menu when you start wide and do some clever DIY breakfast building.

I don't want to make any grand declarations about Cracker Barrel's conception of gender, but the breakfast plates named for women seem to be the best value and have the biggest range of flavors. On top of the breakfast must-haves you get to piece together when you order other classic Cracker Barrel combos, these come with pancakes or French toast. That's a must-have if, like me, you're the kind of person who can never decide between a sweet or savory plate in the a.m. If you really have to have a bit of everything, you can also tack on a whopping four biscuits for just $2.99 (and allegedly, you might be able to get even more biscuits if you ask nicely). It shakes out to be a much better deal than adding $5.99 buttermilk pancakes to a savory plate, and all adds up to a breakfast that's balanced in flavor if not exactly perfectly macro-maxed. 

These morning meals named for matriarchs also regularly make lists of the chain's best breakfast items and lists of must-try Cracker Barrel dishes. Clearly, everyone should consider Grandma's Sampler French Toast Breakfast ($13.99), Grandma's Sampler Pancake Breakfast ($12.99), Momma's French Toast Breakfast ($11.99), and Momma's Pancake Breakfast ($10.99) when aiming for a perfect breakfast at the hearty, all-American chain. 

Committed menu hackers know to look beyond the obvious. That's as true at Cracker Barrel as it is anywhere else; maybe even more so, given the variety and breadth of the menu. In addition to the Side Plates in the All Day Breakfast section, you should peruse the Individual Sides meant for lunch and dinner. There, you'll find beans, corn muffins, and mac and cheese. They might not all be traditional breakfast dishes, but trust me they work!

As you'll already know if you've tried to save money at Cracker Barrel, you can also order from the kids' menu no matter the age on your driver's license or the intensity of your skincare routine. And you don't even have to do that thing where you kneel on your shoes to pretend to be toddler-sized. 

Getting back to bigger plates, the lunch and dinner menus aimed at adults contain options that are breakfast-adjacent if you make a few changes. It might feel like you're doing things backwards, but why not order a chicken sandwich ($9.99), a ham dinner ($12.99), or the Weekend Southern Fried
Chicken ($13.99) and add breakfast sides? I mean, Southern fried chicken with pancakes, fried cinnamon apples, and a big slice of golden hash brown casserole is definitely a breakfast meal; and an impressive one at that.

As may be obvious from the rest of these breakfast menu hacks, Cracker Barrel breakfasts are best when they're plentiful. It's all about economies of scale, probably. So if you can swing it, go with a group of friends or drag the family along with you. And if you have to go alone, at least go hungry and take a book you can read between rounds of pancakes and piles of biscuits. 

Breakfast is an all-day affair at the restaurant, and frankly pancakes and eggs taste better at slightly inappropriate times. I mean, why else would brunch be so popular? If you order a lot, you can combine salty and sweet, try exciting breakfast-appropriate shareables like pull-apart cinnamon rolls in a skillet ($7.99) or Biscuit Beignets ($6.99), linger over the surprisingly loaded coffee menu, and max out on sides in all the wacky ways you need to make the most of Cracker Barrel's offerings. 

You can also get a $5 take-home meal to heat and eat later with every entree you order, so the feast continues long beyond the parking lot. It may not strictly be a breakfast hack, but you might persuade a few pals into joining you for a long, drawn-out breakfast if the restaurant is taking meal prep off their hands.