An Iowa Breakfast Favorite Turned 22-Years-Old This Week

Happy birthday to a Midwest breakfast staple! Casey's breakfast pizza officially turned 22 this week!

Casey's got its start back in 1968 as a general store in Boone, Iowa, but they didn't start selling fresh pizza until 1984. By 1996, Casey's had opened their 1,000th store in Altoona. It wasn't until September 14th, 2001 that Casey's began serving their signature breakfast pizza nationwide, although breakfast pizza had already been a staple at the store in Corning. The Des Moines Register reports that the Corning Casey's had been making it since 1984! According to their website, Casey's is currently the fifth largest pizza chain in the United States.

A Casey's breakfast pizza starts with a base of either cheese sauce or sausage gravy. It is then topped with scrambled eggs, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese. Meat choices include bacon, sausage, or ham, but there is also a veggie breakfast pizza, which features green peppers and onions. Mushrooms, black olive, and jalapenos are also available to add on. The Des Moines Register says that "Casey’s sells 2.5 million orders of breakfast pizza every year."

I had never heard of breakfast pizza until I moved to Iowa almost nine years ago, but now I don't think I could live without it! To me, the perfect breakfast pizza is topped with egg, sausage, peppers, onions, and cheese, with a cheese sauce base. Don't sleep on that sausage gravy base, though. It's DELICIOUS.

What's your favorite kind of breakfast pizza? Is it from Casey's or elsewhere? Let us know in the comments or by sending us a message on the app!