Good day, fellow breakfast sandwich fans.
This is not the first time I’ve written about a sandwich that uses potatoes as the bread. I’ve even shared the most potato sandwich of all time on this blog. I’ve used store-bought or homemade hash browns or tater tots multiple times to add crunch to a sandwich. But this is the first time I’ve done it this week, and because of that, I decided to share how I made my version of Bojangles’ Carolina Crunch sandwich.
What is this sandwich?
This is a breakfast sandwich with no bread that a Southern-based fast-food franchise called Bojangles released in August of 2026 (just a couple of months before this writing). The sandwich ingredients are Bounded not by buns, but by crispy, circular hash brown patties. The rest of the sandwich is pretty solidly in the American breakfast sandwich category with a folded egg, bacon, and American cheese. I’ll let Bojangles’ marketing team give you all the specific details from their press release.
Crunchy and delicious, the Carolina Crunch stacks crispy Applewood-smoked bacon, fluffy eggs and melty American cheese, all served in between two extra-large Bo-Tato Rounds® seasoned with Bo’s Famous Seasoning. Inspired by one of Bojangles’ most beloved breakfast fixin’s, the sandwich turns the fan-favorite Bo-Round into the star of an all-new menu item.
Bojangle’s press release from August 3, 2026
So this sandwich seems pretty simple, and it also seems right up my alley as a true breakfast-sandwich-Stan, so I decided to create a version in my own kitchen.
Why Carolina Crunch?
Why is this sandwich named Carolina Crunch? The crunch part is easy. The fried hash browns that replace the biscuit as the bread in the sandwich are supposed to be crispy and give the sandwich a crunch. The Carolina part of the name is most likely just because Bojangles was founded in 1977 in North Carolina and is still headquartered in that state today.
Disclosure: The closest Bojangles to my house is 134ish miles away in a regularly named place called Normal, Illinois. I did not drive the 2+ hours to give this Carolina Crunch a try, so I had to rely on online sources for any reviews or feedback in creating my version of this sandwich. I do have a plethora of experience eating Bojangles, though, and in 2022 I recreated the best combo meal on their menu, the Cajun filet biscuit combo with seasoned fries and a sweet tea.
Because I didn’t get a chance to taste this sandwich, I turned to a very detail-oriented guy I found on the internet.
Joe is Hungry reviewed the Carolina Crunch sandwiches when they were released. If you’re not familiar, Joe is Hungry is a somewhat intense fast food reviewer who posts his reviews to YouTube. His style is very helpful for someone like myself who might want to try to recreate the item he is reviewing.
Through his fairly honed and standardized reviewing process, he buys at least 5 of the items he’s reviewing and will disassemble some of them to get a full breakdown of what you as the consumer should expect. His reviews dive so in depth that he probes the internal temperature of each item and timestamps those temperatures so the viewer will know how long that temperature was recorded after he received the food. He also weighs each of the items that he reviews and shows how the food he received looks in comparison to the marketing that the franchise produces.
Because he’s a little bit unique in how he presents the food, I can imagine that Joe is Hungry is not the type of content creator that everyone would enjoy. I am assuming that a lot of people just want a quick and dirty ranking of the food; that’s not the only thing you’re going to get from Joe. He does eventually give his full ranking, but he gives you all the details like calories by weight and more along the way.
If you want to skip the video, I’ve summarized Joe’s review below. Click/tap the black text to see the spoiler.
Spoiler: Joe is Hungry says the Carolina Crunch is a “novelty item without the best flavor combination.” He says Bojangles should stick to biscuits because the Carolina Crunch is a bit fragile (because the hash browns fall apart) and he thinks it’s too salty. He ranks the Carolina Crunch as 5.3 out of 10.
Joe’s review score for the Carolina Crunch isn’t great, but there’s still some pretty good news. We can fix those issues that Joe brings up in our homemade version. Or at least we can control them by making a crispier/crunchy hash brown and also controlling the salt level in our sandwich components.
Because Bojangles considers their chicken, French fries, and Bo-Rounds to be seasoned well with Cajun spices, I decided to lean into that with my version of their Carolina Crunch to create my version, which I’m calling the Carolina Cajun Crunch.
Let’s get one thing straight: this isn’t a healthy sandwich that your cardiologist would want you to eat every day, but other than the large portion of potato, it’s sort of like a typical American diner breakfast. My version of the Carolina Cajun Crunch uses 1 large egg, 2 slices of bacon (that I Cajun-ified), and a single slice of cheese.
Now that we know what sandwich we’re making, let’s get into the individual components.
The bread
Whoa. How’d this section get in here? There’s no bread in this sandwich. Keep scrolling.
Crispy hash browns the easy way
The official easiest way to create the “bread” for a Carolina Crunch sandwich would be to buy the premade hash browns and cook them as they are, straight out of the package. These aren’t round, though, and they’re a bit thinner in appearance than Bojangles extra-large Bo-Rounds seem to be, so I do create a secondary option that I enjoyed more just below. But if you’re just looking for a super quick and quirky breakfast sandwich with no bread, this is what you should do.
You can sauté these hash brown patties in just a touch of oil for the absolute easiest way to cook them, but this method (and any oven method mentioned on the packaging) will not give the patty very much in the way of crunch.
The best way to cook these patties in order to achieve maximum crunch is by pan-frying. Sautéing in just a small amount of oil will not bring them to full crunchitude, and deep frying is overkill for this situation in my opinion. Since these hash brown patties are flat, we need to keep them sitting on the bottom of the pan to retain their flat structure. Deep frying will ensure that even the thin sides of the hash brown patties are fully crunchy, but in my opinion it requires too much oil for this situation.
| Pan/pot needed | Amount of oil/fat needed | Crunchy method? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| sauteing | Sauté pan, skillet, or griddle | Less than 2 tablespoons of oil or butter. | Not crunchy enough. |
| pan-frying | Skillet or deeper pan | Enough oil to come halfway up the side of the food. | Yes. Crunchy on both sides. |
| deep frying | Large pot/Dutch oven or dedicated deep fryer | Enough oil to fully submerge the food. | Yes. Very crunchy. |
AIR FRYER NOTE: This is where someone on social media or elsewhere will speak up and ask, “What about the air fryer?” I don’t own an air fryer. I have a toaster oven and a regular oven with convection settings, and those do not crisp things up nearly as much as frying in hot oil. I would assume that the small volume of space inside of an air fryer does a bit better at crisping up than a convection oven or sautéing. But I’m going to guess that to get maximum CRUNCH you’ll need to fry in oil. Your mileage may vary, though. Try it and let me know.
So, pan-frying these hash brown patties is the best way to create the crunch that the name of these sandwiches implies, which means we’ll need a pan that can hold up to 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch of hot oil. I used a 10-inch cast iron skillet for most of the pan-frying, but you could use a larger Dutch oven, with just a bit of oil in the bottom that will come up to at least half the height of what we’re frying.
You could use tongs to flip these hash brown patties, but I’ve found two spatulas are the best tools for the job. The trick is to make sure you can flip them safely without splashing up too much burning hot oil and also not breaking the hash browns. If you’re just eating them on the side of your scrambled eggs, it really shouldn’t matter if you break the potato patties, but since we’re using them as bread, we want them to stay in one piece.
After the hash brown patties are fully cooked, move them to an upside-down inverted cooling rack laying on top of paper towels and season them immediately.
The cooling rack keeps the crispy hash brown patties from lying in their own puddle of oil, and the paper towels should wick any oil away that’s touching the metal spokes of the rack. This cooling rack and paper towel combo keeps the patties crisp, and it’s actually a great plan for any fried item.
We now have some crispy store-bought oval hash brown patties, but what if we wanted to step it a bit further and create round, slightly thicker hash browns that would be more similar to an extra-large Bojangles Bo-Round?
Crispy hash browns the slightly harder way
If you go online and follow other recipes that you might find for making McDonald’s-style hash browns patties, you’ll likely start from raw potatoes. Those recipes typically will have you shred a bunch of raw russet potatoes and then rinse and drain them before cooking until tender. Most recipes have you place the rinsed, shredded potatoes in a neutral oil and bring everything up to temperature or until the shreds are tender and almost fully cooked. Then the potatoes are cooled, shaped into ovals, and frozen until firm.
But you can skip all of the above steps by reforming the frozen hash brown patties that I’ve already shown you how to use. If you look at the ingredient list for almost any of the brands of frozen hash brown patties, you’ll see that the ingredients are: potatoes, oil, salt, sugar (or dextrose), some sort of corn or potato starch, and then they all will have one color/preservative. In most cases, the preservative will list what it actually does, which is typically helping to retain the potato’s original color. If you’re ok with this preservative, you can totally use the frozen hash browns to create new shapes and sizes of hash browns.
| Name on Ingredient list | Wikipedia definition | |
|---|---|---|
| Mr Dee’s and Glacier brands | Disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate (aka Disodium pyrophosphate) | “Disodium pyrophosphate is also found in frozen hash browns and other potato products, where it is used to keep the color of the potatoes from darkening via enzymatic browning.“ |
| Ore-Ida, Kroger, and McCain brands | Sodium acid pyrophosphate (aka Disodium pyrophosphate) | Same as above |
| Walmart’s Great Value brand | Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (aka Hypromellose) | “As a food additive, hypromellose is an emulsifier, thickening and suspending agent, and an alternative to animal gelatin.“ |
Since I like to live on the edge, experiment with new things, and also save a few steps, I decided to make the majority of my Carolina Cajun Crunch sandwiches with store-bought fried hash brown patties that I’ve formed into new shapes.
To do the shaping, I used 1.5 thawed hash brown patties that I packed into a 4-inch biscuit cutter to ensure that I had a pretty standard-sized circular tater tot round.
To make up for the thinness, I use 1.5 hash browns per extra-large Bo-Round. This ensures that they are thick enough and sturdy enough to hold a breakfast sandwich easily. Be careful not to break them up too much, and once you have the potato patties inside the rough biscuit cutter, press down very well for about 30 seconds to make sure they’re compact.
Once shaped, place the potato patties on a sheet pan or plate and move the newly shaped patties into the freezer to freeze until just before cooking. If you want to make a bunch of these, you can. Once they are fully frozen, you can move them into a zip-top bag for storage. You’re going to fry them directly from frozen, so once they’re all frozen, you can get them fried in less than 10 minutes or so.
The patties are fried for about 3 minutes per side, which should make them very crispy. Remove them to a cooling rack and season with more Cajun spice or just salt if you’re boring.
Allowing the hash brown patties to cool will not only allow some of the oil to remove itself from the situation, but they will firm up and crisp up even more after a couple of minutes of rest time. Cook your eggs and warm up the bacon, and things should be ready to go once all of that is done.
Crispy hash browns the hardest way
I did not use this technique or recipe this time, but if you really wanted to, you can make your own hash browns from scratch. This recipe is more along the lines of the recipes that you’ll see recreating McDonald’s-style hash browns scattered across the internet.
It works well, but honestly the end result isn’t that much better or worse than using store-bought hash browns. Use this recipe if you want, and instead of shaping into squares as I did in the photo, just use a circular biscuit cutter, cookie cutter, or even a jar lid to make sure you retain a circle shape.
Going the extra step and making your crunchy hash browns from scratch can be satisfying, so you get an extra star for effort on this one.
Crispy hash brown patties
A crispy, fried patty of grated potatoes that will work perfectly as a side to your next breakfast sandwich or even be used as a component in the sandwich itself.
Get RecipeWhich hash brown technique is better?
In my opinion, as long as you’re not afraid of disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate, you can skip some steps and just form the store-bought hash brown patties into any shape you want. Then freeze them and fry in 3/4 inch deep oil until super crispy.
You can make your own hash browns from scratch, but I’m just fine saving a few minutes in prep and cleanup by using the store-bought versions.
Bojangles Cajun seasoning copycat
This spice blend is one of my most Google-searched and clicked recipes on Bounded by Buns. It’s a very easy way to create your own version of Cajun seasoning that’s pretty similar to the seasoning that Bojangles uses on their fries and Bo-Rounds. It does require 9 ingredients, but some of them should already be in your pantry.
Even if you’ve never visited Bojangles, you’ve likely already tasted a similar spice blend because Cajun mixes are readily available at every grocery store. You could just use one of those if you have a favorite because it’s going to be close to what Bojangles is using. Bojangles’ version is very mild in spice level, though, so what you buy at the store might end up having more of a kick.
There are a lot of Cajun or Creole seasoning blends out there. One in particular that is pretty popular is called Tony Chachere’s Original Creole seasoning. I also keep some Chachere’s on hand for seasoning French fries or meat occasionally. The difference between blends like Chachere’s and the seasoning that Bojangles uses is that Chachere’s has a much lower amount of any sort of sugar or sweetener in the mix. This Bojangles-style seasoning is salty, but there’s also a lot of sweetness from the brown sugar. Feel free to use something like Chachere’s, though if you don’t want to make your own blend. It works just fine on potatoes, in my experience.
Cajun seasoning blend (Bojangles french fry seasoning copycat)
Not just for French fries, this seasoning mix is perfect for pretty much any type of vegetable. Add this seasoning to your fried chicken dredge or even sprinkle it on your next steak or pork chop before grilling if you're into flavor experiences. If you're trying to use this to recreate Bojangles Fry Seasoning, do not add the optional cayenne powder.
Get RecipeBrown sugar Cajun-spiced bacon
Bojangles Carolina Crunch sandwich just uses applewood smoked bacon, but I wanted to introduce a bit more Cajun spices into the sandwich. I chose to do that by adding brown sugar and my homemade Cajun seasoning blend onto each piece of bacon just before they’re added to the oven.
This produces a crispy and chewy piece of bacon that has just a tiny touch of spice and a pretty substantial brown sugar caramelization, which ends up working really well alongside any other savory flavors. I enjoyed this enough that I added it to its own sweet and savory bacon recipe that you can find and bookmark just below.
Here’s my Brown sugar Cajun-spiced bacon recipe, and it’s a good one if you like the combination of savory and sweet flavors. You can use regular bacon if you want, but the sweetness in this recipe adds a bunch of depth to this Carolina Cajun crunch sandwich.
Brown sugar Cajun-spiced bacon
This super easy and flavorful bacon is a great addition to your next breakfast, and it can be a stellar upgrade to a future BLT.
Get RecipeFolded fluffy egg
Bojangles says this sandwich has a folded egg, but honestly it doesn’t matter that much if it’s folded. Just do your best to keep the egg in one piece so that it doesn’t fall apart in the sandwich. You can see in the examples below, it’s not easy to make a camera-perfect folded egg, but I just do the best I can to make sure it’s not too messy and that the egg is shaped to be about the size of the bun or, in this case, extra-large Bo-Rounds.
During the last minute or two of egg cooking, add the cheese so it will have more time to melt.
American cheese
If you want to use Cheddar in this sandwich, I will understand. But American cheese is really the way to go when it comes to combining it with bacon and eggs (and crispy potatoes). Make sure you get American cheese directly from the deli, or that you buy the Deli-style American cheese instead of the stuff that comes individually wrapped in plastic.
Add the cheese to the top of the eggs right as they’re almost finished cooking so the heat from the eggs and pan will start to melt the cheese just a little bit.
Ketchup or sriracha?
Bojangles cross-promoted the Carolina Crunch sandwich with Heinz ketchup shown in the images. Does this sandwich require ketchup? No. Did I try it and actually enjoy it? Yes.
If you’ve eaten hash browns with your breakfast in the past, you’ve probably enjoyed them with ketchup or at least been offered ketchup to accompany the potatoes. That part isn’t weird. The flavors of bacon and American cheese are often joined with ketchup in a cheeseburger. So that part isn’t weird either.
It’s the eggs plus ketchup that weird people out sometimes.
For those ketchup and egg haters, maybe you could try sriracha in this sandwich.
Sriracha is a spicy chili sauce, but used in moderation, paired with eggs, creamy cheese, and a couple of large tater tots, the heat level becomes fairly mild. I like to try different versions of sriracha, and I especially like the Ox Brand sriracha and Shark Brand sriracha. Ox Brand is slightly milder than the normal Huy Fong sriracha that you’ve probably tried or at least seen, and Shark Brand sriracha is fairly mild and sweet. But they both go better with eggs than the stuff with the rooster on the bottle, in my opinion.
Carolina Cajun Crunch photos and recipe
If you like breakfast sandwiches, this one is right up your alley. There’s great crunch coming from the crispy hash brown patties that pairs well with the textures of bacon to complement the soft egg and cheese. The sweetness in the brown sugar Cajun-spiced bacon brings a flavor that helps to balance the other savory flavors.
Is this a gimmick sandwich? Yes, it is. Is it still fun to eat with a great balance of textures and flavors? Also yes. If you want to get the full recipe, scroll past the photos below and definitely let me know if you make a Carolina Cajun crunch in your own kitchen.
Easiest way
Slightly harder way (but still mostly easy)
Carolina Cajun Crunch sandwich
Ditch the bun and get down with this crunchy bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich that's packed with flavor and texture. The addition of sweet and savory bacon, eggs, and cheese inside two crispy hash browns creates a fun breakfast sandwich adventure!
Ingredients:
Cajun seasoning blend and brown sugar Cajun bacon- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon dark brown sugar (or light brown sugar)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon celery salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1⁄2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1⁄8 teaspoon MSG (optional)
- pinch cayenne powder (optional)
- 1 pound bacon
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 to 3 teaspoons Cajun spice blend (from above)
- 3 store-bought hash brown patties (thawed)
- peanut oil (or another frying oil - enough for about 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep in your pan)
- 1 whole large egg
- salt and pepper
- 1 slice American cheese
- 2 slices of Brown sugar Cajun bacon (from above)
- ketchup or sriracha sauce (optional)
Directions:
Cajun spice blend: add the salt, brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt, black pepper, chili powder, MSG, and cayenne pepper powder to a small bowl and stir to combine. Store in a sealed container on the counter or in your spice rack.
Brown sugar spiced bacon: line a sheet pan or two with aluminum foil. I typically overlap two or three pieces.
Remove the bacon from the package and lay as many slices as you can on the foil-lined baking sheet. You can place your bacon very close together, but try not to overlap the pieces. If you can't get the whole package on there, put the remainder back in the fridge for later.
Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over all of the bacon strips and then dust each piece with the Cajun spice blend.
Do not preheat your oven. Place the sheet pans with bacon in a cold oven and set the oven to 400°F (204°C).
Set a timer for 20 minutes and start checking the bacon. Depending on the type of bacon and thickness, it could take another 5 or more minutes.
I start checking at 20 minutes, and if it's not fully done, I will cook for another 5 minutes or so, checking the doneness every so often. Once the bacon is done to your liking, remove the slices to a paper towel-lined plate and store in the fridge if you're not using it immediately.
Extra-large hash brown patties: thaw 3 store-bought hash brown patties.
Break one hash brown patty in half and press 1.5 hash brown patties inside a 4-inch biscuit cutter to form a circular shape. Press really well for about 30 seconds to make sure that the hash brown is really compacted and everything is stuck together. Place each patty on a parchment-lined sheet pan and place the pan in the freezer for about 2 hours to make sure the patty retains its shape.
Frying the patties: when it's time to cook the hash browns, bring about a 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch of oil up to 350 degrees in a large pot or pan. Once the oil is at the proper temperature, carefully add the frozen hash brown patties, one to two at a time, and cook on the first side for around 3 minutes, then flip to cook the second side for about the same amount of time. Once both sides are golden brown and crunchy-looking, remove them to a paper-towel-lined plate to cool. Immediately sprinkle with Cajun seasoning blend while they are still hot.
Folded egg: break one whole egg into a small bowl and whisk to combine fully. Add salt and pepper to the egg to season. Place a non-stick pan on medium-low heat and add a tablespoon of butter.
Once the butter is bubbly and melted, pour your whisked egg on top of the butter. Immediately start letting the egg spread out on the bottom of the pan so that it all starts to cook. While it is cooking, you can help it out by keeping the egg in a round or square-ish shape and tilting the pan to allow the runny egg on top to roll off and touch the pan itself. Try to keep the shape somewhat consistent. This will help with folding.
Once most of the egg is set (after 1 to 2 minutes), you can start to fold. Using a spatula, attempt to scoop up one side and fold it over the other. This isn't always easy to do, and it doesn't really matter if you mess it up. But you effectively want to fold everything over itself once or twice until the egg is folded into a size that is consistent with your sandwich.
Once the egg is fully folded, add a slice of American cheese on top and cook for an additional 1 minute, which allows the cheese to melt.
Move the fully cooked egg to a plate to start sandwich assembly.
Sandwich assembly: break 2 slices of bacon in half and place on top of one circular hash brown patty.
Top the bacon with the egg and cheese, and add any ketchup or sriracha on top. Then close the sandwich with the second crunchy hash brown patty.
Serve and enjoy.
Check back in two weeks
I believe that for my mental health, I will be switching to 1 sandwich blog post every 2 weeks going forward. It just makes things a lot easier and less stressful trying to hit this arbitrary deadline. FIVE whole years is longer than I expected to be writing this sandwich blog, so we’ve already surpassed what I could have imagined back in 2021 when we were all such naive youths. If you’re still reading along, thank you very much!
