A bacon, egg and cheese sandwich is a breakfast sandwich

Breakfast sandwich

A breakfast sandwich is a sandwich served for breakfast at fast food restaurants and delis or bought as a fast ready to heat and eat sandwich from a store. Breakfast sandwiches can also be made from scratch in the home....

 made with bacon

Bacon

Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...

, eggs

Egg (food)

Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...

 (typically fried

Fried egg

A fried egg is a food made from an egg fried whole with minimal accompaniment. They are traditionally eaten for breakfast in western countries, but may be eaten at other times of the day.-China:...

 or scrambled

Scrambled eggs

Scrambled eggs is a dish made from beaten whites and yolks of eggs . Beaten eggs are put into a hot pot or pan and stirred frequently, forming curds as they coagulate.-Sample preparation:...

), cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

 and bread, which may be buttered and toasted. Many similar sandwiches exist, substituting alternate meat products for the bacon or using different varieties of cheese or bread.

The sandwich is often served as a breakfast item with coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

. BEC is sometimes used as an acronym for the sandwich, as is BE&C.

Variations

Many variations on the theme exist. Common choices for cheese include American

American cheese

American cheese is a processed cheese. It is orange, yellow, or white in color and mild in flavor, with a medium-firm consistency, and melts easily. American cheese was originally only white, but is usually now modified to yellow. In the past it was made from a blend of cheeses, most often Colby...

, cheddar

Cheddar cheese

Cheddar cheese is a relatively hard, yellow to off-white, and sometimes sharp-tasting cheese, produced in several countries around the world. It has its origins in the English village of Cheddar in Somerset....

, and Swiss

Swiss cheese

Swiss cheese is a generic name in North America for several related varieties of cheese which resemble the Swiss Emmental. Some types of Swiss cheese have a distinctive appearance, as the blocks of the cheese are riddled with holes known as "eyes". Swiss cheese has a piquant, but not very sharp,...

. The bacon can be substituted with many other types of preserved or seasoned meat like breakfast sausage

Breakfast sausage

Breakfast sausage is a type of fresh pork sausage usually served at breakfast in the United States. It is a common breakfast item in traditional American "farmer" or "country" breakfasts, as it originated as a way for farmers to make use of as much of their livestock as possible...

, ham, Canadian bacon

Back bacon

Back bacon is bacon prepared from centre-cut boneless pork loin. The name refers to the cut of meat, which is from the back, and distinguishes it from other bacon made from pork belly or other cuts. Unlike other bacon, back bacon is not brined, cured, boiled, or smoked...

, or pork roll. Similarly, a croissant

Croissant

A croissant is a buttery flaky pastry named for its distinctive crescent shape. It is also sometimes called a crescent, from the French word for "crescent". Croissants are made of a leavened variant of puff pastry...

, bagel

Bagel

A bagel is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior...

, toast

Toast

Toast is bread that has been browned by exposure to radiant heat. This browning reaction is known as the Maillard reaction. Toasting warms the bread and makes it firmer, so it holds toppings more securely...

, biscuit

Biscuit

A biscuit is a baked, edible, and commonly flour-based product. The term is used to apply to two distinctly different products in North America and the Commonwealth Nations....

, muffin (English), kaiser roll

Kaiser roll

The Kaiser roll, also called a Vienna roll or a hard roll , is a kind of bread roll, invented in Vienna, and thought to have been named to honor Emperor Franz Joseph...

, or any other type of bread roll

Bread roll

A bread roll is a piece of bread, usually small and round and is commonly considered a side dish. Bread rolls are often used in the same way as sandwiches are—cut transversely, with fillings placed between the two halves.-Various forms:...

 could be used as the bread for the sandwich. The dish is also served as a burrito or taco.

Tomato is sometimes used as an addition. A more robust version includes a hash brown

Hash brown

Hash browns or hashed browns are a simple potato preparation in which potato pieces are pan-fried after being shredded, julienned, diced, or riced. In some cultures, hash browns or hashed browns can refer to any of these preparations, while in others it may refer to one specific preparation. In...

.

A version was adapted as a low carbohydrate meal. The bacon egg and cheese sandwich has also been modified into Hot Pockets

Hot Pockets

Hot Pockets are microwaveable turnovers usually containing a combination of cheese, meat, and vegetables. Hot Pockets are currently produced by Hylan Steez.- Varieties :...

 (170 calories and 7 grams of fat) and Lean Pockets (150 calories and 4.5 grams of fat). A sandwich has about 20 grams of fat and 350 calories.

Sonic Drive-In

Sonic Drive-In

Sonic Drive-In is an American drive-in fast-food restaurant chain based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, complete with carhops who sometimes wear rollerskates. As of August 31, 2010, there were 3,500 restaurants in 43 U.S. states. Sonic serves approximately 3 million customers daily.-1950s:Following...

 offers a bacon egg and cheese "toaster". Arby’s offers a "Sourdough Bacon, Egg & Swiss" with 500 calories and 29 grams of fat. Burger King

Burger King

Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...

 serves up a "Croissan'wich with Bacon, Egg & Cheese" (360 calories and 22 grams of fat) as well as a "Double Croissan'wich with Sausage, Bacon, Egg & Cheese" (610 calories and 46 grams of fat). In New Zealand and some parts of Australia a "Massive McMuffin" is offered with ketchup, bacon, egg, American cheese and two sausage patties.

Burger King’s offering of an "Enormous Omelette Sandwich" with two egg patties, two strips of bacon, two slices of cheese and a deep fried sausage patty was a controversial introduction that lives on in a modified recipe in Fast Food Fix By Devin Alexander

Devin Alexander

Devin Alexander is an American celebrity chef, New York Times Bestselling author, media personality and weight loss expert. She is the Host of Healthy Decadence on Fit TV , and her unique approach to healthy cooking and motivational personal story have landed her regular appearances on numerous...

.

Health concerns

A health publication recommends leaving the sausage, bacon and other meats off breakfast sandwiches to save "200 or more calories and a chunk of saturated fat

Saturated fat

Saturated fat is fat that consists of triglycerides containing only saturated fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids have no double bonds between the individual carbon atoms of the fatty acid chain. That is, the chain of carbon atoms is fully "saturated" with hydrogen atoms...

" and when indulging in the "grab-and-go" approach, choosing the Egg McMuffin as among the lowest in calories and fat.

See also

• Bacon sandwich
• Egg sandwich
  Egg sandwich
  An egg sandwich is a sandwich with some kind of egg filling. Sliced boiled eggs or egg salad are popular options. Fried egg and scrambled egg sandwiches are an alternative for those who want a hot meal.- Types of egg sandwich :...
  
  
• Cheese sandwich
  Cheese sandwich
  A cheese sandwich is a basic sandwich made generally with one or more slices of any kind of cheese on any sort of bread. In addition to the cheese, it may also include pepperoni, lettuce, bacon, tomatoes, pickles and/or condiments such as mustard or mayonnaise...
  
  
• McMuffin
  McMuffin
  The McMuffin is a family of breakfast sandwiches in various sizes and configurations, sold by the fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's. The Egg McMuffin is the signature breakfast sandwich; it was invented by the late McDonald's franchisee Herb Peterson in the late 1960s and was introduced...
  
  
• Ham and eggs
  Ham and eggs
  Ham and eggs are a popular combination of foods often served as a breakfast meal in some English-speaking countries; the similar bacon and eggs are more popular in others. The dish was immortalized in Dr...
  
  
• List of sandwiches