20 Panera Bread Menu Items That Are Still Affordable In 2026

Life keeps getting pricier. There's inflation and price hikes and physical pain when you glance at your supermarket receipt. After all, it feels like you can't go to the grocery store without having to drop a whole paycheck. And dining out? Ouch. Even fast food restaurants keep jacking up their prices and simply aren't the deal they once were. In many cases, it's hard to find so much as a simple restaurant sandwich these days that's not wildly overpriced. But there's good news: Panera Bread just might be the exception to the wallet-draining norm that we're living in.

Somehow, Panera has managed to keep its prices down in the budget-friendly range. It has a whole selection of sandwiches, salads, soups, bowls, and more which don't cost much more than a couple gallons of gas at today's going rate. It's a happy day when you can go out for a nice meal and not feel like you have to swear off spending for a week afterwards. So, whether you call Panera fast food or fast-casual, you can currently call it affordable. Of course, prices vary by location and one person's affordable is another person's bank-breaker. But any way you slice, toast, spoon, spread, grill, chop, or stack it, we still think that the following 20 Panera menu options are a pretty darn good deal.

Anytime you can keep a meal under $10, you can consider it a win. The Toasted Caprese Focaccia just squeaks beneath that $10 cutoff at $9.69, and Panera throws in a side of chips, a baguette, or an apple with it. The restaurant's sandwich masters toast Black Pepper Focaccia bread and pile it high with melted mozzarella and tomatoes, then spread on some basil pesto and finish it off by drizzling the sandwich with a balsamic glaze.

With the going rate of beef these days, where else but Panera can you still get a steak sandwich for $7.99? This one comes with steak that's marinated until tender and then covered in melted provolone cheese. It's topped with fresh arugula, red onions, and sweet peppers along with a salsa verde spread; and all of that is sandwiched between two halves of an Asiago bagel and served hot. At that price, you can afford to upgrade from a free side to Asiago Croissant Twists for just $1 more.

Like your berries red but not your meat? The chicken version of that last sandwich is just as good as the steak, and also just $7.99. It comes with delicious, melted mozzarella atop grilled chicken, with tomatoes, arugula, chopped basil, Green Goddess dressing, and a drizzle of garlic aioli still served on Panera's popular Asiago bagel. A tip: Try to beat the lunch rush if you plan to order anything on an Asiago bagel — Panera tends to run out. Luckily, this sandwich would taste almost as good on a sesame bagel in a pinch.

Sometimes you just want something simple, classic, and comfortable. And for the bargain price of $7.79, Panera comes through. Its grilled cheese is nothing more than two slices of its classic white loaf bread plus American cheese, but for a $1.39 upcharge you can personalize the sandwich by adding white cheddar, provolone, or parmesan (even if it doesn't melt quite as well). For something heftier, add bacon or grilled chicken for $3.39; you'll only barely be above that $10 threshold. If you'd rather save a few bucks and go with the basics, this grilled cheese is pretty good as is. Panera even seems to have mastered the cheese-to-bread ratio.

Made with smoked, pulled chicken and BBQ sauce, this under-$10 sandwich is giving authentic, smokehouse-style BBQ done the right way. Panera serves the smoky meat on its ciabatta bread with melted white cheddar and red onions, and when the smoke clears you're left with a really good sandwich and money to spare. You might even have enough cash for a Dubai Style Chocolate Pistachio Cookie for later, which will only cost you another $2.

This sandwich is chicken salad-plus. Panera figured out that adding dried cranberries to regular chicken salad would make it a little sweeter and way more interesting, and now it's bringing it to you between slices of bread for a mere $8.99. Along with the cranberries, this sandwich comes with diced chicken and walnuts in a creamy dressing served cold on Country Rustic Sourdough with mixed greens and tomatoes.

For $9.79, you can have the fun mealtime entertainment of dunking your sandwich in what Panera calls a Creamy Tomato dipper, which is sort of a tomato bisque-ish comrade for the sandwich. The Chicken Pesto Ciabatta Dipper is grilled chicken with melted provolone, parmesan, and basil pesto spread on an artisan ciabatta bread, all of which is elevated by being doused in the warm tomato dip.

A turkey sandwich is usually fairly straightforward, but Panera has managed to spruce this one up, avoid the turkey monotony, and still make it a steal at $9.89. Oven-roasted turkey breast is accompanied by aged white cheddar cheese, mixed greens, red onions, tomatoes, and a dollop of mayo, all on Panera's Country Rustic Sourdough bread. Add avocado for $1.79.

Panera offers a hardy serving of mac and cheese for $10.49 — we're talking a full-on entree portion here; it's a meal, not a side order. In fact, it even comes with a side. This mac & cheese is made with shell pasta covered in white cheddar cheese sauce along with a mix of other cheeses. Why make your own mac and cheese from a box when Panera does it so much better and still keeps it affordable?

Over the past decade or so, the merger of tomato and basil has begun threatening to overtake peanut butter and jelly and cookies and milk as the culinary coupling of the century, and this sandwich is proof. At just $9.19, Panera's Tomato Basil BLT has applewood smoked bacon, mixed greens, sliced tomatoes, and a touch of mayo served on soft tomato basil bread.

Eating vegetarian can save you big bucks at the grocery store, and it often works in your favor when dining out as well. At Panera, you can find more than one excellent example of that — like the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich for $7.89. This veggie-lover's sandwich starts with a spread of hummus on Panera's amazing tomato basil bread. It's then stuffed full of sweet peppers, cucumbers, mixed greens, red onions, tomatoes, and feta cheese. Get it with a Blackberry Hibiscus Iced Tea for $3.39 and you can still stay within your budget.

If you're the type of person who can't decide if you want a salad or a sandwich or some sort of combo of both, Panera's Salad Stuffers are for you. Panera takes a half portion of the salad of your choosing and stuffs it inside of one of its tasty Italian rolls so you get part salad, part sandwich and the best of both worlds. A Greek Salad Stuffer With Chicken is a reasonable $10.68, while a Farmhouse Crunch Salad Stuffer is $8.98. So, the next time you can't decide between a salad or sandwich, just don't.

It can be hard to balance affordable with nutritious, but this salad manages to walk that line. It's got grilled chicken, crispy wonton strips, almonds, and fresh cilantro with a sprinkling of sesame seeds and then additional sesame in the vinaigrette that comes on the side. All of that is served on a bed of romaine lettuce and the whole thing goes for $11.79.

Panera seems to understand that wasting a good croissant is a sin. It's possible to perk up stale croissants with a bit of water, but you can also just do like Panera does and turn them into croutons and add them to a salad. The croissant croutons are definitely the selling point of the Ranch Parm BLT Salad (that and its $9.99 price tag). Sure, the salad is helped along by mixed greens and romaine, grape tomatoes, applewood smoked bacon, shaved parmesan, and green goddess and ranch dressings; but it's the croissant croutons on top that arguably do the heavy lifting here.

This salad is made with romaine lettuce and mixed greens which are heaped with grilled chicken, grape tomatoes, red onions, and feta. The addition of toasted pecans, dried apple chips, and a white balsamic vinaigrette on the side adds a touch of sweetness that make this salad probably the best one on Panera's menu. And at $11.99, it's affordable to boot.

This is a healthy, flavorful, ingredient-rich meal for $12.99. It starts with brown rice and arugula, and comes with seasoned grilled chicken, broccoli, edamame, cucumber, cilantro, red cabbage, and candied black pepper almonds all piled together in a bowl with a little ginger sesame dressing on the side that you can drizzle or drench as you prefer. Customize this bowl or go crazy and keep all the toppings.

If you forego the chicken, your meal drops back down into that coveted under-$10 bracket. This vegetarian bowl has a brown rice and arugula base loaded up with feta cheese, roasted corn, sweet potatoes, pickled red onions, cucumber, grape tomatoes, and blue tortilla chips with a side of lemon vinaigrette; and all for just $9.99. You can also get a half portion for $6.99.

Another excellent option for the indecisive and the commitment-phobic, Panera's You Pick Two lets you choose two half portions of the majority of its menu items, meaning you don't have to settle on one full-sized dish. Half-sandwiches range in price from $5 up to $7.69, and half salads are basically the same. You can also choose from the soups, salad stuffers, and market bowls. How affordable your Pick Two deal is will depend on what you're craving, but if you order half a Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich with a cup of Homestyle Chicken Noodle, you'll barely cruise above the $10 mark.

As the weather starts to turn colder, it's time to think about soup. Now that it's November, we are officially entering soup season. Panera has a range of warm, hearty options to choose from, such as Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice, Broccoli Cheddar, Bistro French Onion, and Creamy Tomato (like the one you dip your Chicken Pesto Ciabatta sandwich in). Panera also does limited-time and seasonal options, such as Autumn Squash and Three Cheese Lasagna. A substantially portioned bowl of soup is only $8.39 but you can also get it in a Panera bread bowl for a small upcharge.

Doesn't it feel like the last time you could feed a whole family at a restaurant for just $36 was back in 1993? Well, it's happening again at Panera in 2026. For $36, you'll get enough food to feed four to six hungry relatives with four half-sandwiches, a full salad, a soup big enough for four, and an entire baguette. For $5 more, Panera will throw in four chocolate chip cookies.