Here's What Time Chick-Fil-A Stops Serving Breakfast

A chicken biscuit is my perfect breakfast. It feels a little indulgent, but it's also protein-packed and portable enough to be eaten in the car. Speaking of the car, one of the best places to obtain a chicken biscuit is a fast food establishment, and Chick-fil-A sells one of the best fast food breakfast biscuits. But there's nothing more tragic than waiting 20 minutes in a Chick-fil-A drive-thru hyping yourself up for that biscuit only to discover breakfast is no longer being served (not that I speak from personal experience). This is, however, a preventable tragedy, as Chick-fil-A's breakfast hours are fairly standard.

As of 2024, Chick-fil-A typically serves breakfast from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. every day except Sunday, when its locations are famously closed. These hours may vary slightly by location, but generally speaking, if you make it to Chick-fil-A before 10:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday, breakfast is on.

You may wonder, what makes this elusive breakfast menu worth rousing yourself before 10:30 a.m.? In addition to the aforementioned chicken biscuit, Chick-fil-A offers a classic selection of breakfast sandwiches, hash browns, a hash brown scramble burrito, and of course, the famous Chick-n-Minis, which are basically just miniature chicken sliders (I think Chick-n-Minis are overrated, but to each their own).

A sleeper hit of the Chick-fil-A breakfast menu is the Egg White Grill. It's an English muffin with a grilled chicken patty, egg whites, and American cheese. This might sound boring, but it's surprisingly tasty and the perfect fuel for a long day of driving.

Chick-fil-A's breakfast menu also includes coffee, a fruit cup, and a yogurt parfait, but these options are available all day, so you don't need to arrive before 10:30 a.m. to order them. This is good because you'll definitely need coffee if you arrive at 10:31 a.m. and can no longer order breakfast.

Chick-fil-A is not alone in its limited breakfast hours. Burger King, Wendy's, Hardee's, and Carl's Jr. all cut off breakfast at 10:30 a.m., and most McDonald's locations won't sell you a McMuffin after 11 a.m. You may remember the short-lived glory of the McDonald's all-day breakfast, that wonderful period from 2015 to 2020 when one could order hot cakes and hash browns at 4:30 in the afternoon. Sadly, McDonald's paused all-day breakfast to simplify kitchen operations and provide "better speed of service and order accuracy for our customers," according to a tweet posted by the company in July 2020. It has yet to return, and I'm not getting my hopes up.

I've never worked in fast food, but I can certainly see how limiting breakfast hours makes things simpler for employees and is more efficient all around. As exemplified by Raising Cane's, a simpler menu usually translates to higher-quality food. And if you're in desperate need of breakfast food at any hour, there's always Waffle House.