BEST BREAKFAST SANDWICHES IN OMAHA
My Personal Mount Rushmore
Breakfast is great in all forms, whether it’s served on a plate, rolled up in a burrito, or served out of the window of a food truck.
But there’s something particularly special about a breakfast sandwich; it takes all the best elements of the day’s first meal and crams them into one handheld object, allowing you to taste all your favorite breakfast flavors in one bite. And when you get a hankering for a great sandwich, Omaha has no shortage of amazing breakfast options.
These are, in one man’s opinion, the best breakfast sandwiches in Omaha. There are four individuals that get their (open) faces carved on our city’s Mount Rushmore, but I’d be remiss not to include some stellar honorable mentions that just missed the cut.
***Note: Just one dish per restaurant is included on this list. I wanted to showcase many restaurants rather than shower all praise on a few elite joints.***
Chili Crisp Egg Biscuit Sandwich (Kitchen Table)
Stay with me here: this beauty is Chinese takeout combined with a breakfast sandwich.
Weird as it sounds, the flavors unexpectedly come together in a way that few chefs could pull off. One of them is Colin Duggan, the co-owner of Kitchen Table, whose love of fried rice inspired him to create scrambled eggs with a funky, umami flair.
Kitchen Table’s whipped eggs are light as a cloud, and this version gets a salty, unami hit from the addition of soy sauce and scallions. A spread of jam-y chili crunch adds crunch and heat, while a creamy, yogurt-based green goddess dressing provides fresh, herbaceous relief. Throw it all between one of Kitchen Tables tender, flaky homemade buttermilk biscuits and you have an unconventional but intentional and delicious balance of flavor and texture.
Cali Club (Saddle Creek Breakfast Club)
This sandwich should be among the top image results for a Google search of the word “rich.” A diet sandwich it’s not, but it’s worth a few extra miles on your run.
Saddle Creek Breakfast Club creates astounding flavor by stacking fat on top of fat in this masterpiece. The base is a flaky, warm croissant that practically oozes butter when you bite in. The bread is slathered with a mildly sweet, tangy chipotle cream cheese sauce before being stuffed with thick cuts of bacon and fried egg that pleasantly spreads yolk everywhere. Even the fruit in this sandwich—avocado—adds a creamy richness.
This is the definition of breakfast decadence.
Bacon, Egg & Cheese (Fig.)
The fluffy, buttery scrambled eggs are the star of this Fig. masterpiece, as they’re baked to achieve a brilliant creaminess. The sharp cheddar melts right into them, and the bacon has a good balance between crispy and chewy while adding salt and fat.
But what makes this offering special is the pain de mie bun, which is somewhat similar to a brioche. This soft, pillowy bread has a mild sweetness, tender crumb, and a buttery sheen that leaves a delightful grease on one’s fingers.
Sausage and Egg Biscuit (Sugared Ledge)
The biscuit sets this sandwich apart from any of its contemporaries. All Sugared Ledge biscuits are wonderfully buttery and flaky, with layers for days and that delightful melt-in-your-mouth quality every biscuit wishes it had. This sandwich utilizes an orange rosemary biscuit, giving it a wholly unique combo of citrus and earthy flavors.
The maple fennel sausage patty balances sweet, savory and spicy notes, and its blanketed by a gooey, creamy havarti cheese and topped with buttery, supple eggs. But the unique biscuit makes this one of the most interesting—and delicious—breakfast sandwiches in the city.
Honorable Mention Omaha Breakfast Sandwiches
Dawn Phenomenon
Like everything Lemon Tree Cafe does, this item starts out looking like a traditional breakfast sandwich… until this diner introduces its creative twists. It starts with a perfectly fried egg, crispy bacon, and gooey American and gouda cheeses that give it that “melt” feel. Nestled between a pair of toasted sourdough slices, the sandwich would be great if it stopped there.
But Lemon Tree introduces two items not typically found on breakfast sandwiches: ham and marinated tomatoes. The former adds a nice saltiness, while the latter brings juiciness and just a touch of sweetness.
Fluffhead
These scrambled eggs are what all scrambled eggs aspire to be when they grow up. Rich, luscious, and luxuriously creamy, these eggs practically melt in your mouth, and Get Real Sandwiches loads a lot of them onto the Fluffhead. The rest of the components exist to complement and enhance the dreamy eggs: salty sliced ham; sharp, gooey cheddar; sweet mayo and spicy aioli.
The bread is ridiculously simple—buttered bread is toasted until golden brown and crispy—but works perfectly on this sandwich. One might not think a sandwich shop is the perfect place to get brunch, but this offering reminds that Get Real is no ordinary sandwich shop.
Biscuit Breakfast Sandwich
Considering Know Good Eats is operated by the owner of Sweet Magnolias Bake Shop, it’s no surprise is absolutely nails the baking portion of this plate. But this sandwich proves owner Katina Talley and her crew can nail savory cooking, too.
The cheddar biscuits are so buttery you need to wipe your hands after just about every bite, and you can feel your teeth move through the flaky layers. The sausage patty is fatty, juicy, and spicy, a perfect contrast to the supple, buttery eggs. A blanket of melted cheddar adds good creaminess, as does a light application of sriracha aioli.
Toastie
Bread is beautiful, and few in Omaha bake a better loaf than Lola’s. And when you start with a base this perfect, you don’t need a ton of ingredients to make it spectacular.
The Toastie has only 3 ingredients, but it’s damn near breakfast sandwich perfection. That’s mostly thanks to the focaccia bread, which pairs a bouncy chew with a light crust and oily finish. In between that carb-y brilliance are soft, buttery scrambled eggs, salty prosciutto, and a healthy shaving or parmesan cheese.
It’s not complicated. It’s basic. It’s perfect.
Proper Breakfast Sandwich
The availability of this sandwich is limited to the Aksarben Farmers Market in the spring, summer, & fall, but it’s worth pursuing.
It’s a legend for a reason. The sandwich starts with the pepper-y garlic-sage sausage patty: a savory, juicy meat puck that adds a bit of spicy punch. A sheet of white cheddar melts over it like a blanket, and a generous pile of caramelized onions add sweetness. The soft, rich brioche bun happily soaks up the yolk from a perfectly cooked fried egg. This sandwich is breakfast perfection.
Custom Breakfast Sandwich
In order to construct this sandwich, you must order four side items off of Fizzy’s menu. Start with the buttery, crispy-on-the-outside, crumbly-on-the-inside biscuit, which you cut in half. Sprinkle both sides with a vinegary hot sauce (which has good kick), then layer on peppery sausage patties and a mess of rich, creamy soft scrambled eggs. The salt, fat, butter, and heat from various layers come together to make a balanced, texturally interesting sandwich that may not have an official name, but you won’t forget it.
Bagel Sandwich
You can’t have a great breakfast sandwich without great eggs, and A Catered Affair’s light, buttery scrambled eggs ensure this simple sandwich needs few ingredients to be a home run.
Drape those eggs with a blanket of gooey, sharp cheddar cheese, top them with crispy, peppery bacon, and stuff them inside a chewy everything bagel and you have a masterful breakfast sandwich.
Hashbrown Throwdown
I still haven’t decided whether using hash brown patties as buns for a breakfast sandwich is a feasible idea… but it is a delicious one.
You might need a fork and knife to take this sandwich down, but the flavor is incredible. The eggs are buttery, the cheese melty, the sausage patty bursting with fatty, rich goodness… and the salty, crispy hash browns just send this “sandwich” right over the top.
Egg Mitt
No one makes better bagels in Omaha than Bagel Bin, which has been perfecting its recipes since 1977. You’ll find 17 bagels (both savory and sweet) from which you can build your sandwich, which is then filled with well-cooked eggs and melted American cheese.
One downside: because Bagel Bin is a kosher institution, you can’t add meats like sausage or bacon. But the chewy, firm bagels are so delicious on their own, you won’t find your taste buds clamoring for additional protein.
Much as I adore breakfast sandwiches and order them often, I know I haven’t eaten all of the best breakfast in Omaha. Am I missing one of your favorites? Tweet at me @danhoppen or message me on Instagram @dan_hoppen.