Is an egg and cheese bagel healthy?

When it comes to breakfast food, breakfast sandwiches are right at the top of my list.

Maybe I’m biased because I’m from New York (where they perfected the bagel) but it doesn’t get any better than a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich.

While delicious, they’re definitely not the lowest calorie option out there.

But are all bacon egg and cheese bagels the same? Absolutely not!

Depending on the exact ingredients used, the calories in a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel can vary quite a bit. Let’s explore some of the options out there, and look into the individual ingredients to get a better feel for it.

Exact calories are going to vary, but if we look at some popular bacon, egg, and cheese bagels, we’ll see that most contain between 500-600 calories per sandwich.

First, let’s look at some popular fast food options out there to get a feel for the calories in each sandwich you may be ordering…
 

Calories in McDonald’s Bacon Egg and Cheese Bagel

McDonald’s discontinued their bagel sandwiches, but the nutritional information is still available to help give us an idea of what to expect. This breakfast sandwich is actually on the higher end of the calorie scale, but we can chalk that up to the addition of butter on the bagel and “breakfast sauce” on the sandwich.

590 Calories

30g Fat

56g Carbs

25g Protein

Calories in Bruegger’s Bacon Egg and Cheese Bagel

Bruegger’s is a national bagel chain that actually makes decent breakfast sandwiches (according to my high standards, anyway). This sandwich is by far the highest fat content of the sandwiches we are looking at, which must be due to the type of bacon and cheese used- more on that in a minute!

500 Calories

37g Fat

64g Carbs

26g Protein

Calories in Panera Bacon Egg and Cheese Sandwich

Panera actually does not have a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel on their menu, but they do have a brioche breakfast sandwich! Since Panera has its own bagels, you can order the bacon, egg, and cheese brioche sandwich, but swap out the brioche bun for a bagel instead. I calculated the nutrition for the sandwich if you swap out an everything bagel:

540 Calories

19.5g Fat

60g Carbs

27g Protein

Calories in Einstein Bro’s Bacon Egg and Cheese Bagel

Similar to Bruegger’s, Einstein Bros is one of the more well-known national chains out there. But unlike Bruegger’s, their bacon, egg, and cheese bagel is actually quite low in calories! At only 450 calories, it’s the lowest calorie option I’ve come across.

450 Calories

15g Fat

57g Carbs

22g Protein

Calories in Dunkin Bacon Egg and Cheese Bagel

Last, we have good ol’ Dunkin. It’s right in the middle of the road when it comes to the nutrition, but if you ask me, it’s on the lower end in terms of taste. No disrespect to Dunkin, but their bacon is always very… blah.

520 Calories

18g Fat

67g Carbs

23g Protein

Which fast-food restaurant has the lowest calorie breakfast sandwich?

It doesn’t get any better than a bacon egg and cheese bagel, but now we know that in most cases, they’re not the lowest in calories.

If a 500+ calorie breakfast sandwich doesn’t cut it for ya, check out some of these low calorie breakfast sandwiches from various fast food restaurants…

Making your own bacon, egg, and cheese bagel 

Now that we’ve looked at some options out there for ordering a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel, what if you want to make your own? Do you need to account for 600 calories?

Nope!

One of the reasons why I spend so much time at the grocery store is that I like to compare the nutrition of different options.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always about calories, but if I’m looking at 2 different brands of bagels in front of me and there is a difference of 100 calories, I’m more likely to choose the lower calorie option!

As you can see by this comparison, we can save nearly 200 calories simply by choosing different brands of ingredients.

While you can make more obvious swaps like using a bagel thin or swapping out egg whites or turkey bacon, I want to show you how you can enjoy the same exact breakfast for much fewer calories.

In the comparison above, the differences are: a different brand of bagel, using center-cut bacon (which honestly is my favorite, anyway), and using a different type of cheese.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with a 600 calorie breakfast sandwich. But maybe the same sandwich for under 400 calories is more appealing to you, so I want to show you how easy it is to accomplish that.

Ingredients in a bacon egg and cheese bagel

We looked at just how big of a difference it can make when you choose different ingredients. Now let’s look at some of the different options out there so you can compile your perfect breakfast sandwich!

Bagel Options

For the bagels, we’re going to compare everything bagels to keep everything as consistent as possible. Everything seasoning won’t add a ton of extra calories, but if you go with a plain bagel, the calories may be slightly lower.

Kroger Bagel: 220 Calories

Panera Everything Bagel: 290 Calories

Dunkin: 340 Calories

Thomas’: 290 Calories

Dave’s Killer Bread: 260 Calories

As you can see, bagels can vary quite a lot! Even if the sizes are mostly the same, you may be looking at over 100 extra calories depending on the brand!

Of course, you can always make your own bagels…

My Protein Bagels have only 180 calories and come jam-packed with 14g of protein. If you’re looking for a healthy (and EASY) bagel recipe, that one is for you!

Egg

Across the board, eggs should always contain roughly the same amount of calories. But that does depend on a few different factors:

1. The size of the egg (most will use a large egg, though)
2. If milk or cream is added to fluff the egg up
3. If the sandwich uses multiple eggs or just one

You can certainly go with egg whites if you want to save calories, but refer to the graphic above to see everything you’d be missing out on by getting rid of the yolk.

Don’t be afraid of eggs!

Bacon Options

Bacon is a very tricky ingredient, because the calories can vary a whole lot depending on the type!

Keep in mind that the following calories are based on pan-fried strips. When you look at the label for bacon, it will almost always say “2 pan-fried strips” as a serving size. This means that these are the calories once the bacon is cooked and the grease is drained out. If you were to leave all the grease, it would equate to higher calories.

Private Selection Center Cut: 50 Calories

Hormel Black Label Original: 90 Calories (7g fat & 6g protein)

Simple Truth Thick-Sliced: 140 Calories

Applegate Uncured Bacon: 70 Calories

Applegate Turkey Bacon: 60 Calories (Only 3g fat & 10g protein)

Many people turn to Turkey Bacon to save calories, but in my opinion, it’s not worth it. Sure, it cuts down the fat and adds some extra protein, but the calories are not a whole lot different. In fact, if you go with center-cut bacon, there are actually fewer calories than turkey bacon!

Cheese Options

I put together this cheese nutrition guide that is worth looking at, but for our bacon, egg, and cheese bagels, we’re looking specifically at slices of cheese.

A single slice of cheese will be less than 1oz (close to 0.5oz in most cases) so keep that in mind! Here are the calories in different slices of cheese….

Kraft Single American: 60 Calories

Borden Fat-Free American Cheese: 30 Calories

Kroger Cheddar Slice: 90 Calories

Kroger Mozzarella Slice: 60 Calories

Sargento Provolone: 70 Cals

Kroger Swiss: 80 Cals

Sargento Pepper Jack: 80 Cals

Is a bacon egg and cheese a healthy breakfast

As you can see by now, the answer to this question totally depends on the ingredients you choose!

If you go with thick-cut bacon, layer on a lot of cheese, and use a large bagel, your calories can end up being well over 600 for the entire sandwich. Not only that, but you’ll likely be left with high amounts of fat.

On the other hand, if you’re conscious about the ingredients, you can end up with a sandwich that is only around 400 calories and packed with protein.

You can do much worse!

Ultimately, the answer to whether or not is the sandwich healthy is… it depends. Not just on the ingredients, but on your own preferences.

Even if your bagel sandwich is high in calories, that may not be be “unhealthy” at all!