11 Best Breakfast Tacos In Austin (For 2024)
It’s not hard finding breakfast tacos in Austin, but what about the best ones? We’re talking about soft homemade tortillas that are softly dusted with flour, warm, fluffy eggs, and homemade, fiery salsas. Sure, you can get decent breakfast tacos on just about every street corner in Austin. If you’re a and you want to find truly GREAT breakfast tacos, here’s a map with the results from our deep dive into the Austin breakfast taco scene.
THE RESEARCH...
For starters, we've tried a lot of breakfast tacos. Dozens and dozens.
You start to notice pretty quickly about the things that make a difference! The tortilla is a huge factor… If it’s a homemade tortilla, it will most likely be thick and soft, super warm and pliable, and the perfect vehicle for all of those delicious fillings. (If it’s a cheap factory-made tortilla, it might be kind of dry and boring.)
The fillings make a bigger difference than you might realize, too! Not all eggs are created equal.. The breakfast taco spots that use eggs from organic, free-range chickens serve superior breakfast tacos in Austin. And things like nitrate-free bacon, freshly grated cheese, and housemade salsa add up, too.
Finally, breakfast tacos should be fun! Lots of these places smoke their own meat, have creative taco names and branding, and provide gorgeous patios where you can enjoy your breakfast taco + cup of coffee.
For more information on each place, read on! You’ll find a link to each restaurant’s website, as well as their address.
11. Joe's Coffee Shop and Bakery
There’s always a line of hungry Tex Mex lovers lined up outside Joe’s Coffee shop and Bakery in east Austin, and it’s been that way for the 60+ years they’ve been operating. This is a true Austin institution and a MUST TRY if you want to know where to find the best breakfast tacos in Austin.
It all starts with their flour tortillas, made in-house. They’re warm and a little bit floppy (pick up a handful of napkins!) but the end result is a perfect juxtaposition of soft tortilla wrapped around super crispy bacon on the inside. This is a memorable breakfast or lunch spot, and Austinites have been calling them the best breakfast tacos in Austin for decades and decades.
What to order: A basic bacon/egg/cheese breakfast taco
WEBSITE | 2305 E 7th St, Austin, TX 78702
10. Tacodeli
Two words: Doña Salsa. If you know, you know.
Tacodeli is a cult favorite in Austin with locations all over the city (and now expanding out of Austin, too!) and it’s been around basically forever. After many (too many…) conversations with local Austinites about Tacodeli tacos, the general consensus is this: Tacodeli tacos are great for their fluffy pasture-raised scrambled eggs (leagues better than lots of other breakfast tacos in town!), consistency regardless of which location you visit, large menu (lots of options, even if you’re GF/veg), and general taste. But where could they do better? In the tortillas. If they could just be, like, 10% better, these tacos would be THE BEST.
Keep in mind that Tacodeli tacos are available at most coffee shops in town, but they’re pre-made and kept warm in steam trays so the tortillas get a little bit gluey. They’re much tastier if you can order them fresh from an actual Tacodeli locatioon.
What to order: What to order: The Otto, add scrambled eggs
WEBSITE | 1500 Spyglass Dr Suite B, Austin, TX 78746
9. Vaquero Taquero
This little restaurant, which is just north of UT campus, is the perfect place to visit as a hungry college student. These are some of the BEST Mexico City street tacos in Austin (so go for lunch or dinner if you can), but Vaquero Taquero is also a crowd favorite for their delicious breakfast tacos.
The tortillas are made in-house and absolutely delicious. (Order whatever you want, but it’s pretty standard to get a flour tortilla for breakfast tacos and corn tortilla for lunch tacos.) The Machacado & Eggs is the real winner here, with that warm shredded Mexican beef and flavorful tomato/onion/garlic topping. But you can’t go wrong with the basic bacon/egg/cheese, either. The bacon is crispy and chewy, and the whole thing is topped with costra de queso, a totally yummy, melty/crispy cheese.
What to order: Machaca (shredded Mexican dried beef), tomato, onion and a pinch of garlic scrambled with eggs
WEBSITE | 104 E 31st St, Austin, TX 78705
8. Tyson's Tacos
This neighborhood taco joint is a popular spot for folks who live in the North Loop area. It’s open 24/7, so there’s always someone there…but it’s especially crowded on Saturday mornings when Austinites line up to get those delicious tacos full of smoked meat, fluffy eggs, and creamy sriracha.
What to order: The Rage 2.0 (egg, potato, refried beans, bacon, pepper jack, sauteed onion and bell pepper, queso)
WEBSITE | 4905 Airport Blvd, Austin, TX 78751
7. Veracruz All Natural
Owned by two sisters who were born in Mexico and now live in Austin, Veracruz All Natural is on pretty much every “best breakfast tacos in Austin” list, and for good reason. Veracruz has been an Austin favorite since 2008! It started as a food truck, and Veracruz is one of the places that put Austin on the map for being THE breakfast taco city! The location at the base of the Line Hotel is a fun one. It's a walk-up window that's close to both downtown Austin and South Congress Ave.
Food Network called their migas taco the best one in the country, and we can't argue with that... That’s the first one you should try on the menu. They don’t skimp on those avocados! After you try the migas, though, branch out and explore the rest of the menu. There are some really good taco on there that lots of people don’t try because they’re so infatuated with the migas taco.
What to order: migas taco
WEBSITE | 111 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin, TX 78701
6. Lazarus Brewing Co.
This little brewpub in the heart of east Austin is such a gem! It’s a coffee shop in the morning (they roast their own beans) and there’s a small kitchen in the back that serves a simple taco menu. Their breakfast tacos are some of the best in Austin. These tacos are no frills, simple, just the basic ingredients, and really solid.
The other fun thing about these tacos is that you can enjoy them on Lazarus Brewing’s massive east Austin patio. It’s not crowded in the mornings (unlike weekend afternoons when the beer crowd is there), and you can bring your laptop and enjoy a breakfast taco and cup of coffee and get a few hours of work done.
What to order: bacon/egg/cheese
WEBSITE | 1902 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702
5. Fresa's
Most Austinites will call the breakfast tacos at Fresa’s Chicken a little bit bougie… But they are so scrumptious! They’re just a bit pricier than your average ones and they’re kinda small, so this probably isn’t where you want to go if you’re ordering tacos for the entire office. But if you need a quick drive-through option, you can’t beat Fresa’s.
These Austin breakfast tacos include ingredients that you don’t always find at average breakfast taco spots, like cabbage and rajas on their veg taco, and steak + eggs + charred onions on The Margie. They’re wrapped up nice and tight in a foil and have a small, cute sticker on the outside with the name of your taco. The homemade flour tortillas + Fresa’s amazing salsa make all the difference!
What to order: The Margie (steak and eggs, rajas, charred onions, flour tortilla)
WEBSITE | 915 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78703
4. Rosita's Al Pastor
Simple and timeless, Rosita’s Al Pastor is known for its consistently good breakfast tacos (and not necessarily for its ambiance or charm…) It’s a small truck parked in a parking lot outside their brick-and-mortar on E Riverside Dr. You could definitely eat indoors, but the trailer has the same menu and is a bit more accessible if you want a quick order of tacos to bring back home.
The soft, thick flour tortillas are an absolute show stopper (those alone might make Rosita’s your favorite breakfast taco spot in Austin!) but the fillings are always good. Think: eggs that are scrambled on a flattop grill, crunchy bacon, and really good potatoes. Don’t forget to grab a couple plastic containers of homemade salsa.
What to order: egg, potato, and chorizo
WEBSITE | 1801 E Riverside Dr, Austin, TX 78741
3. El Primo
El Primo seems to have been on everyone’s list of best Austin food trucks for years now, and there’s always a line for their authentic street tacos. It’s a small, unassuming trailer parked outside a South First Street gas station.
You’ll place your order through the front window, where someone will scratch it down on a notepad and then get to work preparing your tacos. They scramble the eggs on a flat top and then mix in the protein (chorizo and bacon are the most popular options here), and top the whole thing with melty cheese and fiery red salsa. Grab them to-go or enjoy them on one of the two small picnic tables outside the trailer.
What to order: egg, potato, and chorizo
WEBSITE | 2101 S 1st St, Austin, TX 78704
2. Polvos
Most people only know about Polvos for their lunch/dinner menu of delicious fajitas and other Tex Mex favorites, the serve-yourself salsa bar, and the pitchers of margaritas. But listen carefully: these are some of the BEST best best breakfast tacos in Austin, and most people don't know about them!
Polvos is open in the morning, but it's never crowded. (Again, because people only know about this as a dinner restaurant.) But you can either sit down to enjoy a few breakfast tacos or call in and have them ready to pick up when you arrive.
They make those delicious flour tortillas fresh every morning, and they're all warm and thick and soft and sooo delicious. Any of the fillings are delicious, but try adding refried beans to your taco. There's just something about the soft/warm flour tortillas with the soft/warm beans that's all so satisfying.
What to order: egg/bean/bacon/cheese
WEBSITE | 2004 S 1st St, Austin, TX 78704
1. Valentina's Tex Mex BBQ
It’s hard to pick the best breakfast taco in Austin, but if you have to try JUST ONE and you really want a definite answer for the best of the best, here it is: the Real Deal Holyfield from Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ.
Valentina’s does everything right: they make the best (BEST!) flour tortillas in Austin. They’re thick and warm and dusted with little bits of flour. They're so darn delicious, you could probably just eat plain flour tortillas without any fillings and leave satisfied. Weird, but true.
But don’t do that… be sure to indulge in the smoked meat, because Valentina’s is also one of the best BBQ restaurants in Austin. And if you’ve never tried a brisket breakfast taco, this is the place to do it.
What to order: The Real Deal Holyfield, or any breakfast taco with brisket in it
WEBSITE | 11500 Menchaca Rd, Austin, TX 78748
This post is part of the Austin Food Bloggers Alliance City Guide! To see more guides to the ATX food scene, click here.
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