Less than a month after debuting a divisive new breakfast menu of savory sandwiches and over-the-top pastries, Panera Bread is launching another selection of exciting new food offerings.
The bakery-café chain added not just one, but six items to the menu on July 17, including spicy sandwiches, avocado toast, and two formerly discontinued bagel flavors. And as a bonus for customers, all but one of the new additions will stick around permanently.
One of the sandwiches is a Spicy Fiesta Chicken Sandwich (840 calories), which features grilled chicken, creamy salsa verde, melty aged white cheddar, zesty sweet peppers, roasted corn, and cilantro on Panera’s Ciabatta. Prices for the item start at $11.59.
The other new sandwich is a Kickin’ Grilled Cheese (840 calories) made with American cheese, aged white cheddar, and creamy salsa verde grilled on Panera’s thick-sliced Classic White Miche. The item—which starts at $7.49—is the only new addition that will only be available for a limited time.
Alongside the new sandwich options, Panera has also expanded its menu with two spins on a classic brunch food: avocado toast. The chain’s new Classic Avo (200 calories) features chunky avocado spread and everything bagel seasoning on thin-sliced Country Rustic Sourdough.
Meanwhile, the new Garden Avo (320 calories) features the same Country Rustic Sourdough topped with chunky avocado spread, sliced tomatoes, everything bagel seasoning, and garlic aioli. Prices for the Classic Avo and Garden Avo will start at $3.49 and $4.49, respectively.
The final two items hitting Panera menus this week are two returning favorites: the Sesame Bagel (290 calories) and Blueberry Bagel (290 calories). Both bagels were retired this past April as part of a huge menu overhaul, which added 21 new and new-and-improved items and discontinued dozens of existing options. Fans were devastated to see the Sesame and Blueberry Bagels leave menus in the spring, but they can breathe easy again knowing the baked goods are back and here to stay.
To celebrate their return, Panera is offering a “Bagels are Back Sandwich Hack” to help customers get even more bang for their buck. Anyone who orders a full-sized Panera sandwich and then customizes it to swap the bread for a bagel can score two bagel sandwiches for the same price.
Better yet, customers can choose any bagel flavor they desire to swap in, whether they’re craving a cheesy Asiago Bagel or a classic Plain Bagel. The full bagel sandwich hack menu is available now on the Panera website.
Zoe Strozewski
Zoe Strozewski is a News Writer for Eat This, Not That! A Chicago native who now lives in New Jersey, she graduated from Kean University in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Read more about Zoe
