10 Healthiest Orders on Panera's Breakfast Menu—and 10 To Avoid

Panera Bread is one of the most popular chains across the nation, often hailed as a healthier alternative to traditional fast-food joints. With its variety of fresh fruits, veggies, and budget-friendly options, Panera offers a vast selection of breakfast dishes until 10:30 a.m., including sandwiches, scrambles, bagels, and more. This can be a great choice if you're managing your weight or looking to follow a healthier lifestyle in the new year. However, not everything at Panera is "healthy," and some indulgent options shouldn't be consumed regularly.

We understand that assessing the nutritional value of each menu item can be difficult, especially if you're in a busy line before starting your morning commute. Plus, Panera rolled out its biggest menu transformation in company history, including six new breakfast menu items in June 2024, which means there are even more options you haven't tried yet and don't know how nutritionally sound they are.

To help you navigate Panera's breakfast menu, we've sorted through five categories, providing an at-a-glance view of the "best" and "worst" options to help you make healthier choices.

How We Evaluated Panera's Breakfast Menu To Choose the Healthiest Options

We looked at several nutritional factors to select the best and worst items on Panera's breakfast menu.

• Low in Sugar: Our selections for the healthiest Panera breakfast menu items contained no more than 18 grams of sugar (one of the unhealthiest contains 71 grams of sugar!). Many fast-food dishes contain added sugar to enhance flavor, but too much added sugar can lead to health concerns such as chronic inflammation, high blood sugar (hypertension), and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
• Low in Saturated Fat: We prioritized menu items with a maximum of 5 grams of saturated fat. Foods high in saturated fat can raise your LDL "bad" cholesterol levels, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.
• Balanced Calorie Content: We focused on breakfast options that offer satisfying portions without going overboard on calories, with the healthiest option being under 200 calories.

Sandwiches & Soufflés

Best: Garden Avo & Egg White Sandwich

Our top choice for the healthiest Panera sandwich is the Garden Avo & Egg White Sandwich. "I like that this sandwich includes 19 grams of protein, a great amount for breakfast," says Kacie Barnes, MCN, RD, a Dallas-based registered dietitian. "With tomatoes, avocado, some spinach, and the multigrain bagel, you'll get some digestion-friendly fiber. It's much lower in saturated fat than some of the other sandwich options as well."

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Best: Brioche Egg & Cheese Sandwich

Panera's Brioche Egg & Cheese Sandwich "packs 21 grams of satisfying protein into 390 calories," says Melissa Mitri, MS, RD Nutrition Writer and Owner of Melissa Mitri Nutrition. The best part about this sandwich is that you can really up your nutritional ante by customizing your order with "extras like spinach to up the fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants," which will help keep you regular and satiated until it's time to indulge in your next meal.

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Best: Ciabatta Ham, Egg & Cheese Sandwich

If you're looking for a high-protein Panera breakfast option, the Ciabatta Ham, Egg & Cheese Sandwich is a solid choice. While slightly higher in calories than the Ciabatta Egg & Cheese Sandwich, it's a much better option than the same sandwich with sausage—saving you 180 calories, 18 grams of fat, and 7 grams of saturated fat.

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Worst: Asiago Sausage & Egg Sandwich

At 820 calories, this sandwich has the highest calories of all breakfast sandwiches on the list. Of course, we know that calorie count doesn't necessarily indicate nutritional deficiency, but this sandwich doesn't tick many nutritional boxes. With 51 grams of fat—and a whopping 20 grams of saturated fat—which far exceeds the American Heart Association's recommendation of only about 13 grams of saturated fat per day. Believe us, you can find high-protein options elsewhere on the menu.

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Worst: Bacon Double Take

Double the bacon means double the sodium, fat, and saturated fat. The Bacon Double Take is loaded with a double portion of Applewood-smoked bacon and two different types of cheese, resulting in a sandwich with 75% of your daily value of both saturated fat and sodium.

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Worst: Spinach and Bacon Souffle

Perhaps unsurprisingly, our unhealthiest choice for egg souffle is the Spinach and Bacon Souffle, which contains a whopping 970 milligrams of sodium. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day for most adults, so this one sandwich almost totally eats up your daily allotment. Too much sodium can lead to cardiovascular disease and even heart attacks, so you really want to keep a close eye on your consumption.

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Parfaits, Fruit Cups, and Oatmeal

Best: Greek Yogurt with Mixed Berries Parfait

"This is a home run breakfast with 19 grams of protein and health-promoting ingredients like nuts and berries," says Barnes. With 16 grams of protein from the yogurt and naturally occurring sugars from the fruit (don't let that sugar count scare you), this is a very filling and heart-healthy breakfast option. "I would leave off the honey because it's sweet enough without it!" continues Barnes, and removing the honey will cut down on your overall calorie counts, which can be important if you're working toward weight loss.

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Best: Steel Cut Oatmeal with Strawberries & Pecans

The Steel Cut Oatmeal with Strawberries & Pecans is the highest-fiber option on Panera's breakfast menu, delivering 25% DV, thanks to the combination of steel-cut oats, strawberries, and pecans. High in a type of fiber known as beta-glucans, oats benefit your digestive health and gut health, nourishing your gut microbiome. This order also has a moderate calorie count and is low in sodium.

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Best: Seasonal Fruit Cup

Fruit is one of the healthiest foods you can eat, but we want to emphasize that fruit is not exactly a well-balanced meal that will keep you satiated for long periods. We recommend that you add fruit to your meal, not make fruit your entire meal. Otherwise, fruit will pass through your system pretty quickly and may even lead to a bit of a sugar crash.

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Bagels & Pastries

Best: Multigrain Bagel Flat

No matter what you're consuming, the key to health is portion control. Portion control is critical for weight management as it reduces the risk of obesity. Little steps like choosing Panera's Multigrain Bagel Flat over more doughy varieties can be great portion control options. This bagel boasts 7 grams of protein and a lower fat and sugar count than many other options.

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Chocolate Croissant

While we'd prefer to recommend a plain croissant, Panera's Chocolate Croissant is a solid option when you're looking for something sweet. It's higher in calories than most of our recommendations, but it's the lowest-sugar pastry Panera offers, making it a healthy breakfast option.

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Worst: Cinnamon Roll

Panera's Cinnamon Roll takes the cake in terms of unhealthiest pastry. "This one has extremely high added sugar content with 48 grams of sugar," says Kacie Barnes, RD, "that's 192 calories from sugar alone." Although this cinnamon roll has 7 grams of protein, the ensuing sugar crash will probably make you feel like you need a nap. If you do choose to indulge, we recommend that you do so infrequently, as intake of too much added sugar can lead to a slew of health issues, including inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and even type 2 diabetes.

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Worst: Cinnamon Crunch Bagel

"This [bagel] surprisingly has 2 times the sugar you'd find in a Dunkin Donuts donut, with 34 grams of sugar per bagel," says Barnes. As per American Heart Association's guidelines, this one bagel (before you even slather on the toppings), "contains about the maximum amount of added sugar an adult should have in an entire day." If you do indulge, you'll probably want to carefully watch your sugar intake for the rest of the day. As that's no fun for anyone, we recommend it avoiding altogether.

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Scones & Muffins

Best: Chocolate Chip Muffie

The best muffin option at Panera is, by far, their "Muffie" option, which is another term for a muffin-top (which is the best part anyway, right?). The chocolate chip muffin has far fewer calories and nearly half the sugar of their full muffins. Notably, this muffie also contains less than half of the sodium contained in Panera's muffins—this is important, as too much sodium (which is often inconspicuously found in sweet treats) can lead to multiple health concerns, including high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

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Worst: Orange Scone

With 38 grams of sugar, this orange scone is one of the unhealthiest options on the Panera breakfast menu. Although you only have two options—orange and blueberry—this one does have an extra gram of fat and a whopping 12 grams more sugar than the blueberry variety. Yes, this scone does have 9 grams of protein, which can help keep you full, but the benefits of this are most certainly canceled out by the sluggishness you're certain to feel after indulging.

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Worst: Blueberry Muffin

This muffin is made with real blueberries, which are a great source of antioxidants, yet its health benefits are eclipsed by its excessive sugar counts. This far exceeds the AHA's recommended 25 grams of sugar per day. Americans are far exceeding this daily limit—according to a 2012 study, Americans are consuming an average of 77 grams per day—which can directly contribute to a slew of health issues if consumed frequently. As always, enjoy with an eye to portion control.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

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Espresso Bar

Best: Hot Americano

Ah, coffee! What a beautiful smell on a hectic morning. Despite earning a bad rap over time due to coffee's high caffeine content, coffee has been proven to host a slew of health benefits. A meta-analysis showed a correlation between coffee consumption and a decrease in Alzheimer's risk, while one study review showed a potential correlation between coffee intake and weight management. Of course, these benefits are lessened when you add highly-sweetened coffee creamers to your morning cup. So, we recommend adding a splash of milk or a non-dairy substitute to this Americano to get some nutritional bulk without the unnecessary crud.

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Best: Iced Caffe Latte

Panera's Iced Caffe Latte is the best option out of all their cold espresso bar options as it boasts the fewest calories, fat, and sugar, all while still providing 11 grams of protein from the milk. The only ingredients in this drink are reduced-fat milk and espresso, so you can rest assured that you're not getting many empty nutritionals you didn't sign up for. If you have an intolerance or allergy, you can easily substitute dairy milk for a plant-based alternative.

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Worst: Caramel Latte

You read that right—44 grams of sugar for one caramel latte. Instead of consuming something that could keep you full and satiated until your next meal, indulging in one of these drinks doubly exceeds your daily recommended sugar limits as well as 20% of your daily caloric needs if following a 2,000-calorie-per-day lifestyle. This drink offers no fiber, either, but does consist of over half your daily saturated fat limit. Need a little sweetness? Add some naturally-occurring sweeteners like Stevia to your morning cup of Joe.

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Worst: Iced Caramel Latte

With a whopping 47 grams of sugar, Panera's Iced Caramel Latte is our top contender for the unhealthiest iced drink on Panera's breakfast menu. This frozen drink features caramel syrup and whipped cream so that it resembles a milkshake more than a morning cup of coffee. With so much sugar, these drinks can easily become addictive, so make sure to only indulge occasionally—and maybe even hold the whipped cream and caramel drizzle to save on a sweetness overload.