White Castle Expands Its All-Day Breakfast

Creativity in the fast food breakfast space has been particularly stagnant this year. It seems like chain restaurants are perfectly happy to copy each other and leave it at that. Wendy's new English Muffin sandwiches are virtually identical in build to McDonald's McMuffins, and Burger King's test of chicken breakfast sandwiches earlier this year seemed suspiciously similar to some of Wendy's offerings.

However, White Castle might be able to break us all out of this rut. The chain just dropped a pair of new cinnamon French toast breakfast sandwiches, an addition to its all-day breakfast menu that proves White Castle is comfortable doing what other chains refuse to do (if only for a limited time).

I've long appreciated that White Castle is so committed to the simplicity of its flagship menu item; those sliders are about as basic as it gets. But beyond that core offering, it's also one of the few fast food chains to serve all-day breakfast. Not even McDonald's does that anymore. It's a detail that's often overlooked about White Castle, and one that it deserves more credit for.

I mean, you can order full-sized toast and egg breakfast sandwiches— actual big ones, not in slider format—as well as waffle sliders and even a hamburger slider with an egg on it, whenever you feel like it. The menu even includes hash browns. When McDonald's withdrew its national all-day breakfast menu in 2020, the world was crushed, but apparently nobody pivoted their attention to White Castle. It's not too late to do so.

White Castle's new breakfast sandwich, the French Toast Slider, is available for a limited time. It's served up on cinnamon French toast and comes with both with egg and American cheese, plus your choice of sausage or bacon. Off the top of your head, can you identify another fast food chain serving anything quite like that? The McGriddles, maybe, but those can be a little heavy; the smaller slider format is a nice option to have. Beyond that, the only real French toast representation is an order of French toast sticks.

For those not nearly as enthusiastic about all-day breakfast as I am, there's also a new side offering on the White Castle menu: Cheddar Cheese Rings. These are breaded fried rings filled with melty cheddar, sort of like a tubular fried cheese curd. These rings, like the new breakfast sandwiches, will only be available for a limited time.

The fast food industry as a whole has been quietly eying breakfast as its new cash cow, developing new excuses to lure people in each morning and keep them coming back throughout the day. With many companies attempting to instate more aggressive return-to-office policies in 2023 and more hungry commuters to feed, maybe betting big on this daypart will pay off. But none of that matters when we're talking about White Castle, which has been in the all-day breakfast game this whole time. Go grab it whenever you feel like some French toast.