Gas station breakfast pizza is the immortal King of Breakfast in Iowa.
For the longest time, Casey’s breakfast pizza has been the gold standard, but a slate of challengers have come for the crown in recent years. Many Iowans have debated if any of these new offerings match up with the state’s iconic slice.
As the resident food writer at Starting Line, I took it upon myself to find an answer to this most pressing question: Who has the best breakfast pizza?
Here are the competitors, which I’ll go through one-by-one, with the power ranking at the end:
Casey’s
What I Got: Sausage Breakfast Pizza – $2.99
While most of the pizza possessed a bland flavor, the sausage seasoning woke me up in the morning. The very thin crust was wonderfully cooked and not too crispy nor too doughy. The best part was the cheese sauce. With its warm ooze, the cheese sauce made for the perfect comfort food to make me excited to roll out of bed. The worst part, however, was that the sausage was not evenly spaced out on the pizza.
What I did not enjoy about the pizza was how it was as flat as Nebraska. It did not have variability on its pizza landscape, making it less appealing. The pizza was also very greasy, but that comes with the territory. While I saw eggs, I did not taste them. There was also supposed to be mozzarella and cheddar cheese on this pizza, but I never tasted them either. Although the flavor was not as strong as I hoped, the larger slice made up for this difference. At the beginning of my day, all I want is a portion of food that will fill me up.
Kum & Go
What I Got: Breakfast Pizza – $2.59
The Kum & Go breakfast pizza is great if you want to be filled up in the morning. This pizza is covered in pork sausage, Canadian bacon, and bacon bits. Of the meats, the bacon bits packed a mighty punch despite their small size and they were flawlessly cooked. Unlike the Casey’s slice, there was no seasoning to this sausage. This and the Canadian bacon were bland. Despite the blandness, the meats, fortunately, were evenly spread out across the slice. While the Kum & Go slice was smaller than the one from Casey’s, the immense amount of protein makes up for it.
Not surprisingly, this pizza slice was greasy. The crust felt like it might have been cooked too long as it was extra crispy. However, the good part about this crust was it was not as thin as the Casey’s pizza crust. The cheese was thick and, like the eggs, was not memorable. The worst part was the lack of cheese sauce.
QuikTrip
What I Got: Sausage Breakfast Pizza – $3.29
The presentation of this slice was very aesthetically pleasing. Served in a cardboard box, I understand why they protected this pizza slice.
On a cold, Iowa morning, this is the ideal pizza to bring me warmth and comfort. It was magnificently cooked. The melted cheddar jack cheese combined with the sausage gravy blended to perform a party in my mouth. It was the best combination.
The cheese and gravy create a delicious concoction of thick, creamy, and warm goodness. The sausage had a hint of seasoning while the crust was the best I tried so far. The size of the slice was ideal. It did not feel like too much or too little. The square cut, flawlessly cooked bacon bits were the perfect complement to the softness of the eggs.
Unfortunately, mediocre eggs across breakfast pizzas are a running theme. Like Casey’s and Kum & Go, these eggs were below average. Fortunately for QT, the eggs were the only thing I could really nitpick.
Kwik Star
What I Got: Sunrise Breakfast Pizza – $2.49
With being the cheapest option, it was also the smallest size. Unfortunately, it did not fill me up. Bad start, Kwik Star, bad start. While Kwik Star used a cheese sauce, it did not go well with the pizza’s smoky flavor. The taste of the entire breakfast pizza, possibly caused by this sauce, made it different from all other breakfast pizza, and not in a positive way. The cheese sauce took away from the pizza’s quality. While this taste might tickle someone’s fancy, it didn’t work with me. In addition, the sausage and eggs also did not stand out.
I enjoyed the bacon bits’ smoothness and their taste. The box for the pizza was actually the best part as it provided a nice look and feel to this sad pizza slice.
The worst part is I still preferred the QT box.
The Final, Everlasting, Never Going to Be Changed Ever for the Rest of Humanity Power Rankings*
With each ranking, comes a brief reason for its spot. Not surprisingly, the better the ranking, the more expensive the slice.
- Kwik Star: The slice was too small, and the cheese sauce didn’t match the rest of the slice’s taste.
- Kum & Go: Where is the sauce?
- Casey’s: Too bland.
- QuikTrip: The perfect size with the perfect combination of sausage, eggs, melted cheese, and sausage gravy.
Do you think I am wrong? I am not. Deal with it.
*Maybe not forever.
by Sean Dengler
07/15/22
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20 Comments on "Power Ranking Iowa’s Gas Station Breakfast Pizzas"
Love the “homey” comments.
You should try Godfather’s Pizza breakfast pizza!
Casey’s is the only pizza made from scratch and the only one with eating. The others all all premade crap.
Casey’s is by far my favorite.
218 fuel express in floyd ia has an amazing breakfast pizza. It is worth the 45 minute drive from my hometown.
Need to check out TJ’s Gas and Grub in Bennett, IA. Best breakfast pizza of those on your list, by far!
Your ignorance about Nebraska is as bad as your article! Try venturing off I 80, I know this can be scary for Iowans but now you don’t have to worry about getting lost google can assist you! Some very beautiful hilly country 15 miles north or south of the interstate! Is how people from Nebraska know if y are local or a tourist! People from Nebraska know the interstate is flat, also intelligent enough to know that north or south of the interstate is hilly! Duh one of the major attractions and geographical sites is the SandHILLS! We know that ignorant people talking smack about how FLAT Nebraska is are ignorant tourist or residents of Iowa!
Casey’s is the worst one. They just think their great.
Spot on review!
Caseys kitchens are disgusting because never enough help
Its a great thing that this is in no way an official ranking of Iowa’s great selection of breakfast pizzas.
I am an OTR trucker. This allows me to dine on every one of these brands, over the vastness of our great state.
In my opinion (and its only an opinion), Casey’s is tge best. Casey’s nearly always, atcevery location, provides the creamy cheese sause that I, and many others, find absolutely the best attribute of a breakfast pizza. After all, its NOT a dinner pizza.
Variables, that exist commonly, are seemingly most often created by the specific hands that are making the pizza of that moment.
Take that curiosity out of the factoring, and trying to judge solely by the over sll norm, Casey’s is, and likely will be for a very long time, the best of all of our options.
That stated, at literally any of the top 5 dogs in the voting, I’ve also been served, or offered from the hot case,a slice that woukd be no better or fresher than a serving of roadkill, that is 5 days old in the sun (ok, that’s just an exaggerated definer for effect).
I would also offer that Iowa’s very own Hy-Vee convenience stores have an excellent offering of breakfast pizza.
But no matter which one you choose, you’re likely going to enjoy it more often thsn not.
You forgot Big 10 Mart breakfast Pizza there is Fire
Casey’s pizza is the very best of all gas station’s pizza. Others are pretty much no comparison. Plus they always have a good special going on every week.
I work for Casey’s and you should go to other store’s and then say your right.
If you only try one kind at one set of stores you might get better at different stores and time
Unfortunately, scrambled eggs on a breakfast pizza will always be the downfall because they are too delicate to be cooked and then baked again on a pizza. They will be dry and rubbery. Cracking whole eggs onto pizza before baking is wonderful, but admittedly impractical in the convenience store setting.
Philistine! Sacrilege!!!
Caseys pizza is the best gas station pizza.
You forgot hyvee!!! Haha it’s not bad but not better than caseys. Would be alot better if they didn’t use cheese sauce instead of gravy for the sauce
Is this your day job? I read you elsewhere closer to your roots & was a classmate of your dad. Eggs on a breakfast pizza are never going to stand out for flavor. Eggs have very little flavor on their own. That’s why they are so versatile. Cookies, cake, ice cream, omelets. The are best at holding things together. An excellent protein and low in fat & calories, eggs are a perfect, nutrient dense food.
Caseys destroyed the best and original breakfast pizza. Once upon a time in the early 90’s before the world knew about breakfast pizza. a small convenience chain (handy mart or something like that) across from the highschool in ankeny iowa had breakfast pizza and breakfast pizza boats that were pure heaven. Caseys eventually purchased this store and usurped the breakfast pizza idea and then promptly sat on it for over a decade…. just sayin… those eggs, crust and toppings were bangin.