The Untold Truth Of Whataburger's Breakfast
Whataburger is a fast food chain that was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1950. Since then, the eatery has expanded to more than 800 locations in 10 states.
Whataburger restaurants are mostly known for their juicy burgers with more than 36,000 available combinations, amazing french fries, and A-frame buildings with orange and white stripes. However, breakfast at Whataburger is also extremely popular. In fact, breakfast is a leading reason why Whataburger makes more money per restaurant than all but two of their fast food competitors.
Whataburger's breakfast options are diverse. You can get anything from breakfast burritos (they call them Taquitos) to pancakes, and from sandwiches to a breakfast platter that comes with a buttermilk biscuit, bacon, and scrambled eggs.
Even if you've eaten breakfast at this Texan icon hundreds of times, you may be unaware of some of these facts about breakfast at Whataburger. You shouldn't visit again — or for the first time, for that matter — until you learn the whole story. This is the untold truth of Whataburger's breakfast.
Whataburger coffee isn't the great breakfast deal it used to be
Unfortunately, the golden age of Whataburger coffee was many years ago. Starting in 1983, you could purchase a Nickel Mug from Whataburger for 99 cents. After you bought the mug, the fast food joint gave you unlimited refills of regular or decaffeinated coffee for only a nickel. Originally, the promotion was only supposed to last one year. However, due to its popularity, Whataburger kept the promotion exactly the same for a decade.
In 1993, Whataburger made one change to their Nickel Mug offer: while the mug was still priced at 99 cents, refills became 25 cents. That offer lasted for four more years until it finally ended in 1997. That said, there are claims that Whataburger still honors their Nickel Mug promotion to this day.
If you go into a Whataburger restaurant today and you don't have a mug with you, your coffee options amount to picking regular or decaf and deciding whether you want a small (12 ounces), medium (16 ounces) or large (20 ounces). While the taste of the coffee at Whataburger is average, you do get a sturdy Styrofoam cup that is cool to the touch yet keeps your coffee hot. However, their Styrofoam cup is no match for their glorious Nickel Mug of yesteryear.
Whataburger has been serving breakfast for a long time
A lot of fast food chains have jumped on the breakfast bandwagon in recent years. Comparatively, eating breakfast at Whataburger isn't intriguing or innovative due to the fact that they've been serving breakfast for over 40 years. Breakfast at Whataburger began in 1979, with their first featured items being the Breakfast on a Bun and taquitos filled with sausage and egg.
Around that same time, three locations in Corpus Christi decided to keep their doors open 24 hours a day and all seven days of the week. With that decision, getting breakfast at Whataburger was made easier and more convenient than ever. Today, virtually all Whataburger locations are open 24 hours a day.
While McDonald's had a full breakfast menu by 1977, not many other fast food restaurants beat Whataburger to serving breakfast. Burger King has had limited success beginning in 1983, Wendy's didn't start until 1985, while others like Taco Bell, KFC, and Subway didn't enter the breakfast ring until 2010 or later.
Whataburger breakfast can double as a late night snack
At Whataburger, you can order breakfast menu items 12 hours a day — from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. That means you don't need to wake up extra early to snag your taquitos, Breakfast on a Bun, or any of Whataburger's other foods. If you're out partying or just up late at night, you can hop on over to one of their locations and order off of their breakfast menu.
Competitors such as Chick-fil-A, Burger King, Taco Bell, and many more don't start their breakfast hours until after 6 a.m., so Whataburger's flexibility allows you to enjoy breakfast whether you're out late or up early.
To make matters even better and add to your options, Whataburger's regular menu items are available 24 hours a day. Thus, if you wake up and have a craving for a burger and fries, you can get one at Whataburger even if it's 8 a.m. and every other restaurant you pass along the way is only serving breakfast.
There's a trick to get Whataburger breakfast any time of day
If you arrive at your local Whataburger when they're not serving breakfast, and you really, really want breakfast, you might not be completely out of luck. According to a Reddit user, there's a way to hack Whataburger's regular menu to get your hands on one breakfast item 24 hours a day. All you have to do is order the chicken strip sandwich and then ask for the barbecue sauce to be replaced by honey butter. The result is basically the coveted Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit that is only officially available during Whataburger's breakfast hours.
Unfortunately, this trick won't get you an exact replica. Instead of getting your chicken and honey butter on a biscuit, you get your chicken and honey butter between two slices of Texas toast. Then again, considering how good the Texas toast is at Whataburger, this isn't too much of a disappointment. In fact, you may opt for this forgery over the real thing once you give it a try.
Whataburger is testing out a breakfast burger for a limited time
If a regular burger is too strange for your taste buds in the early morning hours, Whataburger is now offering a breakfast burger for a limited amount of time. This is basically a regular burger with some added breakfast elements to satisfy all your breakfast needs.
The base of the breakfast burger is a beef patty and a slice of American cheese. However, before the bun is added, Whataburger piles on three sticks of hash browns, two slices of bacon, one fried egg, and a slathering of Creamy Pepper Sauce. You can also get ketchup or mayonnaise added at no additional cost.
While this may sound like an intimidating burger with too much going on, Whataburger's Breakfast Burger is actually quite tasty. The crunchiness of the hash browns adds the perfect texture, while the bacon and egg combine to create a memorable breakfast flavor to add to the meat and cheese. If you're at a Whataburger during their breakfast hours, you'd be wise to give this burger a try.
While Whataburger says the breakfast burger is only available for a limited time, as of the publication of this article, it's been available for five months. Hopefully that's a sign that the breakfast burger will stay on the menu forever.
How an egg shortage put a kink in Whataburger's breakfast plans
It hasn't always been smooth sailing for Whataburger's breakfast offerings. In June of 2015, an egg shortage forced Whataburger to limit their breakfast hours. Instead of 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. seven days a week, their breakfast hours were cut to 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday and 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Additionally, Whataburger said that their breakfast was only available while supplies were available at each location, and gave suggestions for breakfast options that weren't made with eggs.
The national egg shortage was blamed on an avian flu that impacted more than 40 million chickens. A number of items on Whataburger's breakfast menu contain eggs including the taquitos, egg sandwich, biscuit sandwich, egg and cheese biscuit, and their iconic Breakfast on a Bun.
Thankfully, those tough times with limited Whataburger breakfast hours didn't last long. Less than three weeks later, Whataburger announced that the egg shortage had been resolved, apologized for the inconvenience, and resumed their normal breakfast hours.
Don't forget to load up your taquito when placing your Whataburger breakfast order
Many Whataburger customers aren't aware of all the available options when ordering their taquito. First of all, you get one "protein" with each taquito: sausage, bacon, chorizo, or potato. Next, you pick the cheese you want. While American cheese is the default option, you can switch to Monterey Jack cheese, Swiss American cheese, or shredded cheddar cheese for free.
Selecting your add-ons is when things get exciting. You can add extra cheese or even bacon, but Whataburger's available vegetables are where you can really spice up your taquito. Your veggie choices include grilled jalapenos, fresh jalapenos, roasted mushrooms, avocado chunks, or a combination of grilled onions and peppers. If you want sauce, you can add Jalapeno Ranch or Creamy Pepper Sauce.
Another option when it comes to taquitos is to order them ranchero style. If you want it with red salsa, order it Ranchero Picante Style. If you want it with green salsa, order it Ranchero Verde Style.
The bun of your Whataburger Breakfast on a Bun can be toasted on both sides
While the Breakfast on a Bun isn't as versatile as Whataburger's taquitos, there is a secret to kick these sandwiches to the next level. When ordering your Breakfast on a Bun, ask your friendly Whataburger worker to toast both sides of the buns. Normally, only one side is toasted. By getting both sides toasted, something magically scrumptious happens.
The Breakfast on a Bun comes with egg, cheese, and either sausage or bacon. If you're extra hungry at breakfast time, you can double the sausage, double the bacon, or double the egg for less than a dollar more. If you do double up one of the ingredients, be sure to ask for your Breakfast on a Bun to be cut in half — Whataburger will do that for you at no additional cost, and it makes it a lot easier to handle.
If you want some extra flavor, order some gravy on the side and use it to dip your Breakfast on a Bun. The gravy at Whataburger, is pleasantly creamy and contains small pieces of sausage.
Ordering a healthy breakfast at Whataburger is totally possible
Whataburger doesn't exactly have a reputation for serving healthy food. However, when it comes to their breakfast, there are definitely tasty options that won't start your day with too many calories. For example, their egg sandwich only has 310 calories. You can make it even healthier by skipping the cheese and exchanging the standard bun for a wheat bun. Feel free to add a side of hash brown sticks without any remorse, as they have only 190 calories.
At breakfast time, you may not be in the mood for greens, but there are also a few healthy salads available at Whataburger. The Garden Salad comes with a filet of grilled chicken, grape tomatoes, matchstick carrots, and a generous amount of shredded cheese. If you opt for the herb vinaigrette, the whole shebang has only 325 calories.
The Apple & Cranberry Chicken Salad is similar to the Garden Salad but with cranberries and slices of apple added to the mix. Before adding any salad dressing, it has 385 calories.
Save money by ordering Whataburger's cinnamon rolls in bulk for breakfast
Whataburger has some of the best cinnamon rolls you can get through a drive-thru window. They changed up their recipe in 2018 with exceptionally yummy results, as their old recipe often resulted in a dry, flaky mess. Their warm rolls are doughy but not too soft, and have the perfect combination of sweetness and cinnamon. It's difficult to eat just one — and, thankfully, you can save money by purchasing these goodies in bulk.
While prices differ by location, on one example menu, one cinnamon roll costs $1.79 at Whataburger. If you buy a tray of six cinnamon rolls, you pay only $9.29 — a savings of $1.45 compared to if you purchase the rolls individually.
If you're at Whataburger with a group of friends, don't forget about the option of ordering an entire tray of cinnamon rolls. If you want to be the hero of your workplace, bring a tray to work with you in the morning. Or, just buy them all for yourself — we won't tell.
You can spice up your Whataburger biscuit and gravy breakfast order for no extra charge
You won't be disappointed if you order the biscuit and gravy at Whataburger for breakfast. Each order comes with two buttermilk biscuits that are smothered with a layer of gravy. However, you can do something that will kick this meal up a notch: trade in the pair of buttermilk biscuits for two jalapeno cheddar biscuits. Whataburger lets you make this swap for free.
While the cheddar-infused biscuits have a distinct cheesy goodness, it's the spiciness from the jalapeno that makes this a true upgrade. The aforementioned sausage-flavored gravy is a perfect pairing. You can make it a Whatameal for only about a dollar more and you'll get hash brown sticks and a cup of coffee.
In something Whataburger called a "country style hack" on their Facebook page, you can give the biscuit and gravy even more of a taste of the South by adding a Whatachick'n patty and having it also smothered by the gravy.
Whataburger makes it easy to create their breakfast food at home
Many of the items Whataburger serves at breakfast are also sold in stores. Locate an H-E-B, a grocery store also born in Texas, and you can find Whataburger brand foods on the shelves. The Whataburger Original Pancake Mix makes it easy to make your own pancake platter at home. The Whataburger Original Pork Sausage is the same sausage found in their Breakfast on a Bun, taquitos, and biscuit sandwich.
A number of Whataburger's condiments are also sold at H-E-B, including their Creamy Pepper Sauce and Honey Butter that play a starring role in many breakfast meals. And as long as you're buying condiments made by Whataburger, be sure to pick up their must-try ketchup. If you like spicy foods, their Spicy Ketchup is also amazing.
Once upon a time, you could buy Whataburger Hickory Smoked Bacon, too. Unfortunately, their bacon is no longer available in stores. You'll have to venture to an actual Whataburger now in order to get your mouth on a strip of their bacon.
There's a petition calling for Whataburger to serve breakfast all day
McDonald's spoiled fast food fanatics across the country when they made their all-day breakfast a permanent feature back in 2015. They did it in an effort to boost sales and now many take advantage of the ability to order anything from a sausage biscuit with egg to hotcakes with hash browns at any time of the day.
While Whataburger already offers breakfast 12 hours a day, that's not good enough for some people. Could Whataburger follow in McDonald's footsteps? While they haven't announced that they are even considering switching to offering an all-day breakfast menu, there are multiple online petitions calling for exactly that.
One petition specifically wants the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit available 24 hours a day. Another petition claims Texans will stop going to McDonald's completely if Whataburger introduces all-day breakfast. A third petitioner calls Whataburger breakfast the highlight of her life.
If Whataburger does one day offer their entire menu, including breakfast, all day long, it's safe to say there will be many happy customers.
Whataburger is almost literally a religion in Texas
It'd be difficult to overstate how much Texans love Whataburger. For example, thousands of couples in Texas signed up for a chance to have their wedding at a Whataburger. The promotion, called WhataWedding, resulted in weddings at six Whataburger restaurants in the Texas cities of Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth, College Station, and Grand Prairie. The 2020 winners had their weddings on Valentine's Day.
Back in 2017, a pastor in Dallas made headlines when he created a remix of the song "There's Something About the Name Jesus" called "Something About This Biscuit." In the gospel song, the pastor soulfully sings about how he hears a Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit call his name every time he drives past a Whataburger. The song has been listened to more than ten million times across Facebook and YouTube.
That's not the only Whataburger themed song made in Texas. In 2019, there was also a Whataburger rap song by a man from Waco, Texas, called "Honey Butter Please."
If Whataburger opens an official church in Texas, the pews would not be empty — that much is clear.