The normal ingredients of a traditional full English breakfast are: bacon, eggs, fried or grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread or toast, and sausages. Black pudding is added in some regions as well as fried leftover mashed potatoes(called Potato Cakes). Originally a way to use up leftover vegetables from the main of the day before, bubble and squeak, shallow-fried leftover vegetables with potato, has become a breakfast feature in its own right. Baked beans and hash browns are modern additions that have crept into many recipes.

A popular variant is the breakfast roll, which is a French bread demi-baguette filled with the contents of a full breakfast. The concept developed as a ready-to-go meal from convenience stores. It was spurred on by the innovation of in-store ovens being used to cook part-baked frozen French bread.

When an English breakfast is ordered to contain everything available, it is often referred to as a “Full Monty”, and often attributed to Field Marshal Montgomery, the prominent British military officer of World War II. However the OED states that “Perhaps the most plausible (explanation) is that it is from a colloquial shortening of the name of Montague Maurice Burton (1885-1952), men’s tailor, and referred originally to the purchase of a complete three-piece suit”.