12 Fast Food Burgers, Ranked

Hamburgers have been a big part of fast food for a long time. In fact, hamburgers are how fast food began, and the very first chain to introduce the concept was not the golden arches you’d expect. Known for its sliders, White Castle popularized the counter-serve style of eating with a simple, quickly-made patty and bun, thus launching America’s fast-food culinary scene. These days it’s hard to go a mile without seeing at least one drive-through offering a burger for the road; so the question is, then, which ones are worth stopping for?

While White Castle may have been the first fast-food burger on the market, it won’t appear in my ranking. This is partially because the restaurant offers sliders, not burgers — but also because the closest White Castle to me is in an entirely different state. I tried every fast food burger within 90 miles to judge beef flavor, bun texture, topping makeup, and overall value, ranking them in order of worst to best. And while I have Midwestern-favorite Culver’s on the list, my Ohio-based ranking had to do without the famously West Coast In-N-Out, so if that’s your favorite, go ahead and put it at the top of the list for me.

If I was more clever, I’d write something here about Burger King not living up to its royal name, but at last place on the list, it just feels mean to crack a joke at its expense. The burger is so confusingly flavored that I had to triple-check the receipt to make sure I received the right one. The whopping 4-ounce burger lacks any distinctive rich and meaty flavor, the meat tasted somewhat more like a veggie burger than a beef patty.

Beyond the meat, the burger is fairly standard, the bun a sturdy sesame seed, and the toppings include a straightforward cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Though I’d mostly made my decision from the flavor of the beef alone, I was even more sure when I read the price. At almost $7, The Whopper ties with Shake Shack for the third most expensive burger on the list. The cost, combined with the less-than-beefy flavor, landed the burger firmly on the bottom of the list, meaning that perhaps Burger King is no more than a Burger Prince after all (I’m sorry, I had to).

As the name implies, Dairy Queen is known for pioneering soft-serve ice cream. In fact, many locations don’t even have a grill, the savory goods are reserved only for Grill & Chill locations. As a certified ice cream non-enjoyer (I’m fun at parties), I’m the exact customer the savory menu is made for and I grew up enjoying the crispy chicken nuggets with every trip. I had surprisingly high expectations for the ice cream shop, which I’ll admit was probably a mistake.

At one of the cheapest prices on the list, the Dairy Queen burger is a worthwhile consideration especially if you want great ice cream at the same time. The problem lies in the flavor, the beef patties are relatively bland and the toppings are sparse. True to the name, there is plenty of cheese on the burger, which adds much-needed moisture to the double-patty stack. The burger is otherwise slathered with ketchup, mustard, and pickles, an acidic combination that doesn’t add a lot to the flavor of the patties. Falling to the bottom of the list, it looks like neither the King nor the Queen rule over burgers.

The Sonic crispy chicken sandwich may have ranked low among its peers, but I approached their burgers with an open mind. After all, I’ve enjoyed plenty of good food at Sonic, and much of it has been in the form of beef. Another less-than-fast drive-through experience later, though, and I’m beginning to doubt my prior taste buds. While the Sonic cheeseburger wasn’t the worst on the list, it left a little to be desired.

Like the chicken sandwich, the Sonic cheeseburger comes with an unusual spattering of toppings. What I’d thought was a bad day for the lettuce in the establishment turned out to be standard practice, as my burger came with the same sparse collection of small lettuce leaves that my chicken sandwich had. The patty is almost indistinguishable in flavor and texture to Dairy Queen’s. And at just a few cents behind Burger King’s expensive Whopper, the cheeseburger is another that doesn’t quite live up to its value, sinking it to the bottom of the pack.

Wendy’s is known for its unusually square-shaped patties. I grew up enjoying Wendy’s nuggets, Frostys, and fries, so I expected the burger to land among the best or lead the pack of mega-chain options. I was surprised to find that the burger was almost identical in flavor to its peers, the patty missing any distinctive beefy flavor or char. A restaurant I’ve considered a master of flavor for items like chicken, hash browns, and breakfast sandwiches, this surprised me a bit and led to its lower-than-expected ranking.

This isn’t to say that the burger should be avoided: The truth is, this is where the list deviates from “just bad” into “perfectly fine.” While the burger isn’t a standout in flavor or texture like some of the burgers at the top of the list, the patties are inoffensive, and the toppings are admirably fresh and plentiful. It’s a fine burger with a heavy helping of ketchup, but one I’d pass on for better beef elsewhere.

Is it bad that I didn’t know Steak’n Shake had a drive-through? Forever cemented in my memory as the sit-down restaurant with the crazy-cute paper hats, I wasn’t sure what to expect of the steakburger served in a box and handed through a window. It’s a distinctive-looking burger; a smash patty that takes the smashing very seriously, the burgers are made in such a way that causes a thin, crispy edge on each patty. The darkened edge is unique and emphasizes the steak-like quality of the meat – but there is something about the sandwich as a whole that doesn’t quite work for me.

The Steak ‘n Shake burger as written on the menu comes with pickles, onions, and a gooey slice of American cheese. Perhaps it’s the pickles themselves or simply the flavor of the beef underneath, but I couldn’t get past the sour, pickle-forward flavor of the burger. It wasn’t enough to completely turn me away from the burger, but combined with the slightly greasy flavor of the beef, it didn’t quite compare to some better options on the list. Would I get it again? Sure, but likely when I get to wear the paper hat with it.

Being that I made it almost 30 years without ever having had anything from Rally’s, I assumed it was likely because it wasn’t any good. Combined with suspiciously low prices, I was mentally prepared to seat the burger at the very bottom of the list (In reality, I’d never had it because there are no locations within 100 miles of where I grew up). Unwrapping the burger, I found it noticeably the least attractive of the list, with the soft bun smashed against the side of the parchment paper wrapping. The simple toppings are barely visible, and the meat is lighter in color than other patties on the list — a sign, I thought, of a bad burger. Interestingly, I was wrong.

The Rally’s burger is strangely impressive. It appears freshly made and the patty was thicker and less uniform than the factory-pressed frozen patties many seem to use. The burger was ready too quickly to have been made from scratch, but nevertheless, the texture and flavor are that of a high-quality burger. A pretty good burger, at almost any time of day, for less than $2? In this economy? Sign me up.

Another burger I was largely unfamiliar with before this ranking, the Arby’s Deluxe Burger, is an underrated option in the fast food burger market. Similar in flavor to Wendy’s, the Arby’s burger is a standard beef patty piled with toppings that enhance the straightforward flavor. Arby’s meat has a little more beefy flavor than the others below it, though the patty is a little more dry. Arby’s solves this with its toppings, which are high-quality for its pretty low price point.

I tend to automatically rate higher the burgers that come with a “special sauce,” even though almost every special sauce seems to be a mixture of mayonnaise and ketchup. Arby’s, known well for their sauces, bathe their burgers in what they call “Burger Sauce” and stack them with some of the freshest, crunchiest toppings on the list. Though the patty isn’t quite as big and juicy as advertised, the flavor, bread, and toppings make up for it, landing it solidly in the middle of the list.

Before you ask, I didn’t put McDonald’s this high on the list to make you mad. Side by side with eleven other burgers, McDonald’s really does hold its own and deserves to be here. McDonald’s has sold hamburgers longer than anyone else, and good marketing has made the chain a household name. I chose to sample the burger that most resembled the others on the list, the Quarter Pounder, a thick patty under a sesame seed bun. Being that it’s the only burger cooked fresh, you’ll wait a little bit longer for this than other menu items — but in McDonald’s time, that’s still less than three minutes.

The patty is still the perfectly round, factory-pressed disc most fast-food restaurants use, so why rank it this high? Truthfully, it may depend on whether you like McDonald’s or not. The burger has the distinct flavor most McDonald’s products do: pickle, onion, and sweetish flavor you simply cannot recreate at home. Believe it or not, McDonald’s has food scientists engineering every part of the burger so it has a distinct taste specific to the brand. The burger is good and a prime example of what a true fast-food burger should be.

Wahlburgers is the newest restaurant on the list and a direct competitor to other fast-casual brands like Shake Shack, Whataburger, and In-N-Out. Owned by three Wahlberg brothers, including actors Mark and Donnie, Paul Wahlberg is the chef in the operation who shares his passion for fast-casual dining with the chain’s customers. Like Shake Shack, it’s closer to a sit-down restaurant than a drive-through spot, but with all the same speed and delivery as any other fast food restaurant. The problem is the price: Is a fast food burger really worth the same as the hand-formed patty at the pub next door?

The answer is no, but that’s not what this ranking is about. Wahlburgers makes a good burger with the most homemade flavor on the list. The burger patty is thick and seems to be made fresh, especially considering the juiciness of the meat. Like Arby’s, the burger is built with toppings on the bottom, which once again caused them to be crunchier, fresher, and more tasty despite sitting underneath the warm beef. This burger doesn’t crack the top three because it’s double the cost of most the burgers on the list — and it just isn’t quite worth that price.

I’ve long thought that the Five Guys menu is a little confusing; if you order a hamburger, you get a double, and if you want a single, you have to order the “Little Hamburger,” in what is kind of a tongue-in-cheek joke for lighter eaters. The burgers don’t come with toppings unless you add them, and since I used the mobile app, I didn’t realize this until I unwrapped the burger at home (in the store the instructions are clearer). I hesitated to rank a plain burger, feeling it may be unfair, but eventually decided that I didn’t alter any other burger and should technically abide by that rule here.

Eating this burger plain made me wish I’d done the entire ranking this way. Though it lost some points for toppings and moisture that I graciously excused (that was my fault), the patty itself was so good I ate the whole thing anyway. This burger tastes like something you’d get at a ballpark concession stand in the best way: The char is authentic, the meat is beefy, and the bun is steamed to perfectly hug the patty. It’s served in a totally unpretentious, unlabelled foil wrapping and brown paper bag, further accentuating the ballpark experience. The prices are far from humble, and the plain burger is more expensive than every other burger on this list. The difference between this and Wahlburgers is that I’d happily treat myself to this burger (with toppings) again and again.

Having recently done both a burger showdown and a burger-by-burger ranking, I’m basically a Shake Shack expert at this point. Shake Shack has a menu full of good burgers, with specialty burgers and veggie options being their biggest strength. This ranking isn’t comparing all the imaginative toppings, though, but the barebones all-American version, which for Shake Shack is the ShackBurger. The thin and crispy beef patty is exemplary of high quality, with a totally different taste and texture than the rest. The potato bun is doughy and soft and the toppings picture-perfect, making it also one of the most Insta-worthy on the list. Shake Shack gets a lot of attention for its prices, though, which I considered when ranking the burger.

Interestingly — and this could be location dependent — the ShackBurger isn’t the most expensive on the list. In fact, the burger is the same price as Burger King’s Whopper and only a few cents more than Sonic or Arby’s. Have we all been fooled into thinking Shake Shack is wildly expensive because of the fine-casual environment? Or has everything else become more expensive without matching the quality? Either way, the burger being both delicious and, now, affordable led me to ranking this firmly in second place, just a hair behind the one burger that beats out the rest.

There’s something about the word “butter” in front of the word burger that instantly makes your mouth water. The Midwest chain is known for its uniquely buttery burgers, made mostly by generously buttering the buns before building the sandwich. I’ve tried every burger on Culver’s menu and can attest that the Butterburger with The Works (ketchup, mustard, pickles) is just as good as the Butterburger with lettuce and tomato — and it has everything to do with the quality of the meat.

The patty is noticeably more flavorful than even Shake Shack’s steak-like burger, which I compared extensively in the burger showdown not long ago. The beef has a garlicky flavor as if it’s been seasoned or mixed with aromatics, something many burgers on the list struggle to achieve. Better, the burger is one of the least expensive on the list, a single Butterburger sitting at less than $5. This is definitive of what a fast food burger should be: Cheap, fast, flavorful, buttery, and just plain good, and that’s why Culver’s ranks firmly at number one for me.

There’s a lot of sameness in the burger market today, and sampling each burger side-by-side made me realize that while there are seemingly infinite fast burgers out there, only a few stood out. At each restaurant, I ordered the most classic version of their best burger, electing whichever toppings were recommended and adding none of my own. 

This way, I could better understand the intended experience. Some restaurants opted for saucy burgers, while others preferred crispy lettuce and tomato. What was most important, regardless of topping, was the meat, and each patty was examined for freshness, tasted for flavor, and eaten on its own for quality. This is where the burgers began to differentiate; when the bun and toppings were taken away, the patty had to stand on its own. For some, this qualified for a top spot in the ranking, while for others, the meat was their demise. And as always, for any tie-breakers, I considered the most important question: Which one would I recommend to a friend?