Reading a menu board is fine. Seeing the food is better. This guide walks the Panera lunch menu with prices and pictures so you can look at the sandwiches, soups, and salads before you spend a dollar. The Panera lunch menu with prices and pictures below follows how a real lunch order comes together: pick a main, add a warm side, then decide whether dessert earned its place.
Lunch is Panera’s main event. The midday rush hits around noon, the soup kettles are full, and the bakery case is stocked for the day. Everything photographed here is the kind of plate you will actually see at the counter, not studio food.
Quick Answer: The Panera lunch menu with prices and pictures centers on toasted sandwiches (about $9 to $13), soups and mac & cheese (about $6 to $10), and salads (about $9 to $13). The You Pick Two combo lets you pair smaller portions of two items, and most lunches land between $11 and $16 with a drink. Prices vary by location.
Sandwiches: The Lunch Headliners
Start with the sandwich wall, because that is where most of the Panera lunch menu with prices and pictures gets decided. The Toasted Frontega Chicken, stacked with pulled chicken, mozzarella, tomato, red onion, and chipotle aioli on black pepper focaccia, is the longtime favorite. Close behind are the Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt, the Bacon Turkey Bravo on tomato basil bread, and the classic tuna salad for people who like lunch cold and simple.
Whole sandwiches run roughly $9 to $13, halves in a combo a few dollars less. Newer additions like ciabatta cheesesteaks and chicken bacon rancher-style builds rotate through many cafes. Our full Panera sandwich menu breakdown covers every build in detail, but the short version is easy: if it comes off the grill press with melted cheese, it sells.
Soups and Mac & Cheese
Soup is the second pillar of the Panera lunch menu with prices and pictures, and the Broccoli Cheddar is the star of the whole company. It comes in a cup, a bowl, or the famous sourdough bread bowl that turns lunch into an edible project. Ten Vegetable Soup and Cream of Chicken & Wild Rice cover the lighter and heartier ends, while Homestyle Chicken Noodle stays the comfort pick.
Mac & Cheese deserves its own mention. It is creamy, baked with a cheddar blend, and sold in small and large sizes that work as either a side or the whole meal for smaller appetites. Kids treat it as the main event, and plenty of adults quietly do the same.
Soup prices usually sit between about $6 and $8 for a cup and $7.50 to $10 for a bowl, with the bread bowl version adding a dollar or two. See the dedicated Panera soup menu guide for the full rotating list and which soups appear on which days.
Lunch Prices at a Glance
Here is the Panera lunch menu with prices and pictures condensed into one table. These are typical ranges gathered from U.S. cafes; your local prices can sit a little higher or lower.
| Lunch Item | Typical Price Range |
|---|---|
| Whole toasted sandwich | $9.00 – $13.00 |
| You Pick Two combo | $10.00 – $14.00 |
| Soup, cup / bowl | $6.00 – $10.00 |
| Mac & Cheese, small / large | $6.00 – $10.50 |
| Full salad with protein | $9.50 – $13.50 |
| Flatbread pizza | $9.00 – $12.00 |
| Fountain drink or iced tea | $2.50 – $3.75 |
For the category-by-category numbers without photos, our Panera lunch menu with prices page keeps the plain list updated.
Salads That Eat Like a Meal
The salad case in the Panera lunch menu with prices and pictures is no side dish afterthought. The Green Goddess Cobb with chicken is the best seller, loaded with avocado, egg, bacon, and pickled red onions. The Fuji Apple Chicken salad brings sweet and crunchy together with apple chips and pecans, and the Caesar stays the safe classic with or without chicken.
Half salads join combos, full salads stand alone, and dressings come on the side if you ask. Warm grain bowls appear seasonally and blur the line between salad and entree in a good way. If you are ordering for the office, salads travel better than anything toasted, which wilts in the bag after about fifteen minutes.
Drinks, Flatbreads and the Sweet Finish
Rounding out the Panera lunch menu with prices and pictures are the extras that turn a sandwich into a spread. Flatbread pizzas, in flavors like cheese, Margherita, and chipotle chicken bacon, bake fast and share well. The drink wall pours fountain sodas, iced teas, lemonades including the agave lemonade, and the popular flavored lemonades that change with the season.
Breakfast people wander into lunch too, and the kitchen handles it gracefully. A few cafes keep flatbreads and soups ready from 10:30 onward, and the full lunch board usually opens by 11 a.m. If you arrive in that in-between window, ask what is already hot; the staff would rather sell you something fresh than have you wait on a kettle.
Dessert lives in the bakery case: cookies the size of a saucer, brownies, and pastries from the morning bake that are still fresh at noon. A kitchen sink cookie added to a combo is the classic two-dollar upgrade nobody regrets. Coffee stays on all day too, so a hot cup with lunch is never a problem.
Sides: The Baguette Question
Every entree comes with a side choice, and it sparks a small debate at every table. The default is a chunk of French baguette, warm and chewy, made for dragging through soup. Chips are the crunchy option, and the apple is there for anyone balancing out a cookie later. The baguette wins most days. It costs nothing extra, it fits the soup-and-sandwich idea perfectly, and a leftover piece with butter at home is a fine snack.
Upgrades exist if you want them. A cup of soup as your side, an extra piece of bread, or a fruit cup adds a few dollars. Seasonal sides, like certain grain blends, pop in during the year. None of this is complicated, but picking the baguette with a bread bowl soup means double bread, and some people call that lunch perfection while others call it too much. Decide for yourself.
How to Order Lunch Without the Line
The noon line is real, so work around it. Order in the app twenty minutes early and walk straight to the Rapid Pick-Up shelf. MyPanera rewards stack up quietly; a free cookie or a few dollars off shows up more often than you would expect. You can also scan Panera’s official menu for the newest limited-time items before deciding, since seasonal sandwiches sometimes appear there before they hit the in-cafe boards.
Groups are easy here. The Value Duet style pairings and family-sized soup quarts keep bigger orders simple, and catering trays of sandwiches and salads handle office lunches with a day’s notice.
Feeding the family at home works too. Soup by the quart, whole loaves from the bakery case, and a four-pack of mac & cheese cups turn the cafe into a takeout dinner shortcut. Prices for the family sizes are not on the pictures above since they change often, so check the app for your cafe’s current numbers before you promise anyone dinner.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most popular item on the Panera lunch menu with prices and pictures?
The Broccoli Cheddar Soup and the Toasted Frontega Chicken sandwich fight for the top spot. The You Pick Two pairing of those two is probably the single most common lunch order in the whole chain.
How much does lunch at Panera usually cost?
Most people spend $11 to $16 for a combo or sandwich with a drink. A cup of soup with a free piece of bread on the side can keep lunch near $7 to $8 in many areas.
Does the Panera lunch menu with prices and pictures change by location?
The core items are national, but prices, a few regional sandwiches, and the soup rotation differ by cafe. The pictures here show the standard builds; your cafe’s version may vary slightly in garnish or bread choice.
What comes with a You Pick Two?
You choose two smaller portions from sandwiches, soups, salads, and mac & cheese, and it includes a side choice of chips, an apple, or a piece of French baguette. It is the easiest way to sample the menu.
Are there vegetarian lunch options?
Plenty. Ten Vegetable Soup, the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich, plain Mac & Cheese, several salads without meat, and the flatbread pizzas all work for vegetarians. Vegan picks exist too, mainly salads with dressing swaps and the ten vegetable soup.
Lunch here rewards a little planning. Pick your main from the photos, match it with a soup or salad in a combo, and watch the total on the board before you pay. That is the whole trick to using the Panera lunch menu with prices and pictures well: decide with your eyes first, then order once.