Psst. Hey. You. Yeah, you, who else would I be addressing? Lean in. A little closer… a little closer… You looking to get your mind blown, friend? ‘Cause we’ve got the stuff. As you may know, fast food can get boring in a hurry, especially if its a weekly habit for you. That’s why “secret menus” exist. We’re not talking about menu hacks here, those involve too many complicated maneuvers or worse, self-assembly. We’re talking about the menu items that your favorite fast food joints are perfectly capable (and willing) to make but, for whatever reason, remain off-menu.
From Taco Bell to In-N-Out, we’ve put together a guide of all the secret menu fast food items that you need to try to be considered a true aficionado of the genre. Read on to peep all the secret deliciousness they have to offer for the people in the know, which after today, will be you!
Burger King
Unfortunately, because we decided to alphabetize this list for ease of navigation, it means we have to kick off our guide with Burger King, which you’ll find has one of the weakest secret menus across the whole fast food industry. Still, Burger King did a better job than Carl’s Jr — which doesn’t even have a secret menu. And while that isn’t saying much, the burger monarch does have some curious offerings.
The Rodeo Burger
The Rodeo Burger was once a BK menu staple until it was taken down and probably replaced with those awful chicken fries. Luckily, ordering a Double Whopper with cheese, ketchup, and mayo, and requesting that they add BBQ sauce, bacon and onion rings will get you pretty darn close. One bite into the Rodeo Burger you’ll wonder why Burger King has been playing you all this time by keeping this one a secret.
If your cashier doesn’t respond to the term “Rodeo Burger” just add the BBQ, bacon, and onion rings as additions and they’ll still put it together for you. Burger King has temporarily brought back the actual Rodeo Burger for a limited time over the years, but now that we’ve tried the secret menu method we’ve found that if it doesn’t have the double patty or bacon, it’s just not our kind of rodeo.
Frings
Seriously Burger King, why do you gotta do us like this?
Frings — a combination of french fries and onion rings in a single serving — should absolutely be a menu staple. When you order fries from Burger King and a stray onion ring or two makes its way into your order, it’s a pleasant surprise. But when you have an equal share of both fries and onion rings? You can plan out every bite of your meal and truly “have it your way.” Plus, you can add those fries and rings straight to whatever sandwich you’re eating.
Yes, you can simply ask for “Frings” and BK should know what’s up.
“The Suicide” And Other Notable Orders
When a secret menu item amounts to little more than additional meat patties, it just feels lazy. Burger King’s “Suicide” burger combines four meat patties with four slices of cheese for one heart attack. In addition to the Suicide, Burger King Whoppers can also be prepared with mustard in place of mayo and ketchup, or you could opt for the Burger King Club, which combines the crispy chicken sandwich with cheese bacon and tomato. These options are middling at best.
Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A has an official secret menu, but unfortunately, it’s only filled with menu hacks that require you to self assemble the food, like the Cookie Icedream Sandwich, which requires you to purchase soft serve ice cream in a cup and buy two chocolate chip cookies and press the thing together yourself. Luckily, Chick-fil-A fans came up with a few tweaks of their own that are definitely worth ordering and an improvement over the stock menu.
Fried Chicken Club Sandwich/Bacon On Everything
Chick-fil-A serves bacon at breakfast, so why they don’t have an official sandwich with bacon is puzzling. To enjoy a delicious chicken club sandwich, request that your Chicken Club — which consists of grilled chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cheese on a multigrain brioche bun — be made with a fried chicken breast instead, and you’ve instantly got yourself a better sandwich than anything on Chick-fil-A’s official menu.
You could also order a Deluxe Chicken Sandwich and just add bacon, it’s essentially the same thing but you get pickles with it and a white bun. See Chick-fil-A, this is why you need an official Chicken Bacon sandwich. Stop playing with us.
Spicy Char
Some Chick-fil-A’s will do this, and some won’t, but the Spicy Char is basically a spicy version of Chick-fil-A’s Grilled Chicken sandwich. Arguably, this is a better way to enjoy the grilled sandwich, offering an added kick of flavor to an otherwise dull piece of grilled chicken.
Now if only we could get some spicy nuggets.
Chipotle
Chipotle doesn’t have an official secret menu but considering their entire menu is fairly customizable, there are a lot of simple changes you may not be aware of that considerably expand the stock menu.
Nachos
You’d think Nachos would already be a Chipotle staple, but alas, you’re still required to order a burrito bowl and sub out that rice for chips. We’d recommend any meat and beans of your choosing, with grilled fajitas, green mild sauce, corn, cheese, and guacamole for an almost perfect serving of nachos.
The only thing that would make it better is some melted cheese on top, which is almost impossible considering everything at Chipotle is lukewarm at best.
Quesarito/Burritodilla
What’s better than a burrito? A burrito wrapped in a quesadilla. Chipotle’s got it, it’s called the Quesarito and it’s fairly popular. For a less extreme take, grab the Burritodilla, which is just a Chipotle quesadilla filled up with your favorite burrito fillings.
Five Guys
Five Guys doesn’t have much to offer by way of secret menu items because the menu is totally customizable. You want a hot dog in your cheeseburger? Just ask. Five Guys can grill onions, which means they can grill any vegetable, so get some grilled jalapenos, grilled green peppers, and grilled mushrooms on your burger. Anything goes at Five Guys! There are rumors that you can even add cheese to your cajun fries, but we have yet to see any photos circulating online of such a thing. (Send us some!)
Five Guys does have one major menu item that they might as well make a permanent addition.
The Patty Melt
Five Guys has a grilled cheese offering for those who want to skip out on the meat, but what that essentially means is that Five Guys is perfectly capable of making you a patty melt, all you have to do is add a meat patty to your grilled cheese. Go HAM and add some bacon to that baby and you’ve got one of Five Guys’ best menu items ever.
To think, it’s been lurking in plain sight all this time!
In-N-Out
In-N-Out has one of the best secret menus in the whole fast food industry. It’s so good that we wouldn’t be surprised if they invented the concept of the fast-food secret menu to begin with, so we thank and recognize them for that. With just three meal numbers, In-N-Out has a lot under the counter, but unfortunately, they still don’t have bacon.
Because In-N-Out has a visible Secret Menu on their website — dubbed the “Not So Secret Menu” — we’re going to skip over the advertised hidden items and go straight for the stuff they don’t tell you about. But in case you aren’t aware, at In-N-Out you can order your burger bunless (Protein Style), with a mustard grilled bun, grilled onions, and pickles (Animal Style), totally bunless (The Flying Dutchman) or stack meat and cheese as high as you want (3×3, 4×4, XxX). Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s get wild.
Animal Style Burger With Chopped Chilis
A favorite of burger master Alvin Cailan, adding chopped chili peppers to your Double Double takes your Animal Style burger to the next level by adding some subtle heat. Chopped chiilis add a nice layer of complexity and an extra crunch to In-N-Out’s just-the-basics burger construction.
Animal Style Fries
For whatever reason In-N-Out doesn’t advertise the Animal Style fries on their Not So Secret Menu, but the customization is so popular that they even serve it in a special box that reads “Animal Style.” If you’re wondering, “can I add chopped chilis to this too?” The answer is absolutely! In truth, it’s the only way you should have them.
Neopolitan Shake/Rootbeer Float
In-N-Out’s Neopolitan Shake is simply an equal mix of their chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry shake flavors. Any of In-N-Out’s shakes — including the Neapolitan — can be turned into a rootbeer float, personally mixed by In-N-Out’s dedicated employees. We won’t show a picture of that because it tastes a million times better than it looks, but trust us: It’s bomb.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s has a few really great secret menu options and a lot of weird menu hacks that can get you the same food for cheaper. We won’t go into those — there are just too many — but let’s run through some of the lesser offerings real quick. Like at all the other fast-food burger joints, you can stack as many patties of meat in a burger that you want. So if you roll up to McDonald’s and suddenly have a hankering for a Pound and a Quarter Pounder(whoa), you can totally do that. You can also make a killer affogato by pouring McCafe coffee over a vanilla milkshake. And of course, you can shove a McNugget into anything, and it’ll be delicious. Now let’s get into the good stuff.
The Land, Sea, and Air Burger
Look, we’ve all been there. Driving up to that McDonald’s drive-thru feeling like Noah, you know, from the bible, with a hunger the size of the Ark. “Give me all the meats!” You say, to yourself. Why wouldn’t you want a sandwich that combines a McDonald’s Big Mac patty, the fried Filet-O-Fish, and a McChicken into one giant ball of ultra-processed protein? Yum!
Okay, the Land, Sea and Air Burger feels more like a challenge than anything else, but it truly is a sight to behold, and if you miss the state fair this is as close you’ll get to fair food this summer.
Chicken Cordon Bleu McMuffin
Like the Land, Sea, and Air Burger, this McDonald’s alteration is all about piling the meat. Simply ask for a chicken patty to be added to your McMuffin and you’ve got yourself a Chicken Cordon Bleu McMuffin. Never has something so fancy sounding looked so basic.
Hashbrown McMuffin
Okay, so this one does require some self-assembly, but it takes such a low amount of effort we had to include. Because it’s f*cking delicious. Order a McMuffin and a hashbrown, open up your sandwich, stick the hashbrown in and now you have a Hashbrown McMuffin. Hey Ronald, put this on your menu immediately!
Raising Cane’s
Founded in Baton Rouge Louisiana in 1996, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers has spread throughout the states of Louisiana, Texas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Georgia, Colorado, and Texas in recent years thanks to their delicious fresh chicken fingers made with never-frozen chicken. They’re a bit like In-N-Out in that they specialize in exactly one thing: chicken fingers. Before we get to the off-menu items, I’d like to recommend, as a hardcore Caniac, to always order your chicken “extra-crispy,” it’s a massive improvement on the whole experience.
Cane’s Sandwich On Texas Toast
The sandwich at Raising Cane’s consists of three chicken fingers on a Kaiser Roll with lettuce and Cane’s Sauce. It’s delicious, but the sandwich is massively improved when you ask for it on Texas toast, which swaps out that Kaiser roll for Raising Cane’s delicious garlic butter French toast.
B.O.B.S
Raising Cane’s Texas toast is delicious, but the bread is taken to a whole other level when you ask for it to be buttered on both sides. Roll up to Cane’s and ask for a “BOB” and you’ll receive a perfect piece of thick Texas toast that is buttered and toasty on both sides, and soft and doughy in the middle. It’ll be the only way you’ll ever order Raising Cane’s again.
Taco Bell
Before we get into Taco Bell’s best secret menu items, we’d like to take this time to highlight a hack of sorts — every meat item in the menu can be swapped out for additional beans or potatoes. Which is great if you’re trying to avoid meat and want options, though we’d like to note that Taco Bell potatoes are fried in the same oil as the meat. If you’re looking for a vegan twist, most of the items can also be ordered “fresco style,” which cuts out cheese and any other animal products making the menu vegan friendly — even the crunch wrap!
The Cheesarito
The Cheesarito looks, well, we don’t want to say “gross” but — no yeah, look at it, it’s gross. But it tastes good, and at the end of the day, that is all that matters. The Cheesarito consists of a taco shell filled with cheese, scallions, and taco sauce. You can order it by name, but in the event that you’re speaking with a newbie, just ask for it in parts.
The Incredible Hulk Burrito
To order the Incredible Hulk Burrito, ask for a Beefy Five-Layer Burrito and swap out that nacho cheese for guacamole. It’s actually a straight-up improvement on the original, and if you still really need cheese, you can ask for shredded cheese to be added.
Enchirito
If there is anything on Taco Bell’s Secret Menu that deserves it’s own combo number and spot on the main menu, it’s the Enchirito. This is as close to a wet burrito as you’re going to get and your Taco Bell likely knows it by name. If not, just order an Enchilada and ask for it to be stuffed with beans, beef, and cheese. The only thing that would make this better is if they offered in it green sauce.
Wendy’s
Unless you really like meat, and we mean really really like meat, then you’re going to be disappointed by the Wendy’s secret menu. It’s pretty much just several different options for piling up meat. Luckily Wendy’s has arguably the best menu in all of fast food. Everything they do, from burgers to chicken sandwiches to sides, they do well. Including piling meat!
The Grand Slam/Meat Cube
We’re not completely sure why Wendy’s secret menu community felt the need to give what is essentially just a quadruple cheeseburger its own name, but here it is, the Grand Slam or Meat Cube. Meat Cube is probably a more apt name, Grand Slam sounds like it calls for eggs and bacon. Either way, if you really want the meat, grab a Meat Cube and call it a night.
The Barnyard Burger
Almost as wild as McDonald’s Land, Sea, and Air Burger, the Barnyard Burger piles the meat with a quarter-pound beef patty, bacon, and Wendy’s fried chicken filet. We highly suggest you opt for Wendy’s spicy patty if you really want to kick up the flavor a notch.
Asiago Beef Burger
The Asiago Beef Burger is just Wendy’s Asiago Chicken Sandwich, which consists of Ranch, bacon, fried chicken, lettuce, and asiago cheese between a buttery brioche bun, but with a beef patty instead of the chicken. It’s pretty delicious, but you gotta be down with the flavor combination of beef and ranch — which is suspect at best.
A good photo of the creation doesn’t exist online, so we had to settle on a Baconator with ranch. Just imagine that the above burger has Asiago cheese instead of American, and you’re essentially there.
The T.Rex Burger
We weren’t going to include this because it’s essentially just a Meat Cube gone aggro, but look at this thing! We had to include it, in fact, we can’t look away. You never think you’re going to see something in fast food that will surprise you, and then life finds a way. Incredible.