What to order · Updated September 2026
What to Order at Cracker Barrel: Every Item, Judged
Cracker Barrel is a breakfast restaurant that also serves dinner, and the menu keeps trying to talk you out of that. The all-day breakfast is where the kitchen is confident and the prices are still sane. The dinner entrées drifted north of eighteen dollars while nobody was looking.
Two things to know before you order. First, the biscuits and corn muffins are complimentary and refillable, so the cheap plates eat bigger than their price suggests. Second, and this trips people up: Cracker Barrel's published calorie counts cover the entrée alone. The Old Timer's Breakfast lists 150 calories, which is two eggs and nothing else. Every side, biscuit and ladle of sawmill gravy gets added separately, so the plate that reaches your table is several times the number on the menu.
Sourcing note, because it matters here. Cracker Barrel doesn't publish a national price list, and prices below come from a July 2026 survey of one benchmark location's delivery menu. In-store prices run lower, sometimes noticeably. Treat them as a ranking of what costs what, not as what you'll be charged. Calories are Cracker Barrel's own published figures.
Every item, judgedThe verdicts
Hashbrown Casserole (side)
Order itThe reason Cracker Barrel has a reputation. Shredded potato, Colby, onion, baked until the top goes crisp and the middle stays soft, and at 140 calories it's the cheapest side slot you'll ever feel good about. Get it with everything. People buy the quart to take home, which tells you what you need to know.
Biscuits n' Gravy with Bacon or Sausage
Order itThree hand-rolled biscuits, sawmill gravy, and a meat, for less than the Onion Petals and a drink. Every full breakfast plate here costs six dollars more and hands you eggs you could have made at home.
Chicken n' Dumplins
Order itThick and doughy, simmered long enough that the dumplins have gone soft at the edges. It's also the last dinner entrée here still priced like one. The 360 calories is the bowl alone, so build the rest of the plate accordingly — or order it as a $3.68 side and try it without committing.
Momma's Pancake Breakfast
Order itThree buttermilk pancakes, two eggs, and a meat. The griddle is where this kitchen is most sure of itself, and the pancakes arrive properly hot, which half of this category can't manage. Fifteen dollars is a lot for pancakes. It's also the plate most people leave happiest with.
Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola Cake
Order itWarm, dense, served with vanilla ice cream melting into it. The house dessert, and the only one on this list that regulars don't argue about. If you're splitting one thing at the end, split this and not the beignets.
Chicken Fried Chicken
DecentA big hand-breaded breast under sawmill gravy, and it's well fried. But 1,140 calories and 2,920 mg of sodium before a single side lands is a real number, and nineteen dollars now buys this at a place people still describe as cheap. Good food, uncomfortable price.
Country Fried Steak
DecentLighter than the chicken by 540 calories and cheaper by fifty cents, which makes it the better of the two gravy plates. The breading holds up. The steak underneath varies more than it should from visit to visit.
Old Timer's Breakfast
DecentTwo eggs, grits, a meat, hashbrown casserole or fried apples, biscuits and gravy. It's the classic order and it's fine. It's also six dollars more than the Biscuits n' Gravy plate for eggs and grits you won't remember.
Lemon Pepper Grilled Rainbow Trout
Skip itIn a Mashed reader survey this finished dead last among Cracker Barrel entrées, with over 37 percent ranking it worst. Order fish at a place built on biscuits and gravy and you get what you'd expect. If you want the lighter plate, the dumplins are 360 calories and five dollars cheaper.
Onion Petals (shareable)
Skip itNine hundred and seventy calories of fried onion, arriving at a table where the biscuits are already free and refillable. The whole appetizer section is skippable. This is the reason why.
Sweet Whole Baby Carrots (side)
Skip itCooked with brown sugar until they stop being a vegetable, which is what reviewers mean when they keep calling them dessert. Fried apples fill the same slot and don't pretend otherwise.
Biscuit Beignets
Skip itBiscuit dough, deep fried, rolled in cinnamon sugar. A Mashed poll put these last among Cracker Barrel desserts, with more than 36 percent ranking them worst, and the common complaint is that they land dense and greasy rather than light. The Coca-Cola Cake costs a dollar more and never has this problem.
Frequently askedFAQ
What is the best thing to order at Cracker Barrel?
Hashbrown Casserole, on whatever plate you're getting. For a full meal, Biscuits n' Gravy with Bacon or Sausage at $9.27 feeds you better per dollar than anything else here, and Chicken n' Dumplins is the one dinner entrée still worth its price. Momma's Pancake Breakfast if you came for breakfast proper.
Why do Cracker Barrel's calorie counts look so low?
Because the published number covers the entrée only. Cracker Barrel lists sides, biscuits, corn muffins and sawmill gravy as separate items, so a plate listed at 150 calories arrives as a full breakfast once the hashbrown casserole (140), biscuits (140 each) and gravy are added. Add up every component to get the real total.
Is Cracker Barrel still cheap?
At breakfast, yes. At dinner, no longer. Breakfast plates and the biscuits-and-gravy order sit under fifteen dollars, but Chicken Fried Chicken and Country Fried Steak now run past eighteen, which is casual-dining money at a chain most people still picture as a bargain. Order off the breakfast side of the menu and the old value is intact.