Name a better burger variety than a big, juicy, decadent bacon cheeseburger. Go ahead, we’ll wait…
You’ve got nothing right? That’s because there isn’t a single ingredient that elevates a hamburger quite like bacon… Oh, except cheese, which this also has. The smokey aroma and flavor, the subtle sweetness, the crunch — all the elements come together into a harmonious symphony of the senses, delivering the ultimate flavor bomb. Our mouths are watering just thinking about our favorite bacon cheeseburgers.
The fast food bacon cheeseburger is amazing when you think about it. How can something so delicious that your taste buds vibrate with glee at the first bite take less than 15 minutes to prepare? It’s the sort of dish that makes drive-thrus seem like true wonders of the world. Okay, maybe we’re overselling it a bit but the point is that bacon cheeseburgers are f*cking delicious.
But of course, that begs the question — which fast food restaurant makes the best? In an era where more and more people are opting for a market run or a sit-down restaurant rather than hitting up the drive-thru, this is an important question to answer. Fast food is expensive, so if you’re going to spend on it, you deserve the very best.
We found the best bacon cheeseburger in all of fast food by ranking the top 12 chains. Here is to great burgers — let’s eat!
12. Dairy Queen — Bacon Two Cheese Deluxe 1/3lb Signature Stackburger
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
Who are the people who are eating food at Dairy Queen? I have to know. This fast food chain routinely ranks last in our food rankings. I’ve yet to come across a dish that tastes good. Do you know how hard it is to f*ck up a bacon cheeseburger? Somehow Dairy Queen has done it!
This burger features two (or three) 1/3 pound beef patties, two pathetic strips of bacon, a slice of American and White Cheddar (why?!) cheese, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, and mayo. The beef is dry, with one flavor note: salty. The bacon might as well be nonexistent, it offers neither flavor nor crunch, and the lettuce is straight-up sad.
This burger has nothing going for it.
The Bottom Line:
Maybe the worst fast food burger I’ve ever eaten. Period.
Find your nearest Dairy Queen here.
11. A&W — Bacon Double Cheeseburger
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
It’s getting a little bit harder to find A&W restaurants in Southern California and I got to be honest, that doesn’t bother me. As mean as it sounds, A&W isn’t particularly good at anything it offers (even the root beer) but if you have a lot of A&Ws in your local area I feel like it’s my duty to warn you that this bacon cheeseburger isn’t very good.
What’s great is you get 1/3 pound beef patties, so this burger is a bit beefier than a lot of the competition, but the bacon leaves a lot to be desired. It’s thin, lacking in crunch, and lacking in flavor. Considering this is a ranking that revolves around bacon cheeseburgers, bacon quality is pretty important.
In addition to the bacon, you’ve got two slices of American cheese, tomato, white onions, pickles, shredded lettuce, and mayo. The accoutrements are all fine with the exception of the lettuce, which waters down a lot of the flavor.
The Bottom Line:
Overall, this burger is fine. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s not good either. And for that, it’s living at the backend of this ranking.
Find your nearest A&W here.
10. Sonic — Garlic Butter Bacon Cheeseburger
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
Last year Sonic’s Garlic Butter Bacon Cheeseburger ranked dead last in our ranking of bacon cheeseburgers so we’re happy to see it bumped up a few spots this time around. Does that mean it has gotten any better? Nope. There are other, worse burgers out there, so take this burger’s new rank with a grain of salt. And you might as well add a pinch of a bunch of other ingredients too, because this burger is lacking.
The flavor is dominated by the grilled onions with a touch of pungent garlic and some smoke from the bacon. All together, that creates a wonderful savory finish. So where did this burger go wrong? The beef.
The meat patty here doesn’t offer a whole lot of flavor. It’s more texture than anything else and doesn’t cut through the more interesting layers of garlic, onion, and bacon. This burger comes across as unbalanced. It’s almost the polar opposite of our number one choice.
The Bottom Line:
Great accoutrements, bad beef.
Find your nearest Sonic here.
9. Jack in the Box — Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
The Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger has a lot going for it — it provides a flavorful mix of sweet, tangy, and earthy flavors. It’s unlike a lot of bacon burgers on this list, but like a lot of the burgers living at the back half of this ranking, it’s the meet that holds it back.
The beef is underseasoned. I’m not sure it’s seasoned at all, it just tastes like cooked beef. I’m not getting salt, pepper, nothing! And the beef doesn’t taste good enough to justify its lack of seasoning. The bacon is also way too thin for its smokey flavor to cut through the double dose of American and Swiss Cheese, ketchup, mustard, and mayo.
The Bottom Line:
The beef is flavorless and the bacon is too thin to cut through.
Find your nearest Jack in the Box here.
8. Burger King — Bacon King
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
The Bacon King is a big, substantial, meat mountain of a burger. It has all the makings of a great fast food dish, but it’s just so damn dry.
The beef has a burnt, over-cooked flavor with a moisture-less gravely texture. The bacon, on the other hand, is pretty good. Smokey and slightly sweet, emphasized by the sweet tang the ketchup and mayo bring to the dish. This burger is almost good to the point of being frustrated.
Come on Burger King, you’re so close here.
The Bottom Line:
With a few tweaks, this burger could go from just fine to very good. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to get it there.
Find your nearest Burger King here.
7. McDonald’s — Bacon Quarter Pounder With Cheese
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
Beef, salty, and sweet with a sharp spice from the white onions and a lot of earthy tang from the wet pickles. It’s a decent burger, but the bacon is barely there. The strips are thin and sparingly used to the point that they barely translate through all the other flavors.
The Bottom Line:
It’s a good way to slightly elevate a Quarter Pounder but if what you want is a bacon cheeseburger, this fails to deliver thanks to its lack of bacon.
Find your nearest McDonald’s here.
6. Carl’s Jr. — Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
The Carl’s Jr. Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger is the first bacon burger on this that’s worth ordering. It’s not the best, but it’s very good. The barbecue sauce is slathered on this burger heavily, offering a strong sweet tang that dominates the overall flavor.
In addition to the sweet BBQ you’ve got savory notes from the deep-fried onions, some charred notes from the beef, and a bit of smokiness from the bacon. Unfortunately despite having two ingredients that should provide crunch and texture, this burger comes across as soggy because of how inundated with BBQ sauce it is.
The Bottom Line:
A very good… but not great bacon cheeseburger.
Find your nearest Carl’s Jr. here.
5. Rally’s / Checkers — BaconZilla
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
Anytime a fast food brand comes up with a dork name for its bacon cheeseburger, you know it’s going to be good. Case in point, Rally’s BaconZilla. On two patties of beef you get two slices of American cheese, ketchup, mayo, and four strips of bacon. Now we’re f*cking talking!
A single bite treats your tastebuds to a mix of beefy, smokey, sweet, salty, and meaty flavors that cut through the sauce and are elevated by it, rather than masked (looking at you, numbers 6-12).
This is a great bacon burger. But we can do better!
The Bottom Line:
Delivers on the sort of unhinged decadence you want from a bacon cheeseburger.
Find your nearest Rally’s/Checkers here.
4. Five Guys — Bacon Cheeseburger
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
How good or bad your Bacon Cheeseburger is at Five Guys totally depends on how you build it. We like a mix of grilled mushrooms, grilled jalapeños, and barbecue sauce, resulting in a burger that is smokey, umami-packed, and spicy.
Here is the thing though, the bacon cheeseburger at Five Guys is expensive. In Los Angeles, this simple burger build will cost me $15. I could save two dollars by ditching the bacon and ordering a cheeseburger or save $5 and get a patty melt with the same build (minus the bacon of course) and both options would be just as good if not better. That means the bacon at Five Guys is inessential, and because of that it doesn’t deserve top 3 status.
The Bottom Line:
There are better ways to spend your money at Five Guys. We suggest a Patty Melt.
Find your nearest Five Guys here.
3. Smashburger — Double Bacon Smash Burger
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
The Smashburger Double Bacon Smash Burger has a lot going for it. The meat is juicy, beefy, and well-seasoned with a simple mix of salt and pepper, with a Maillard crust that adds a nice amount of texture to each bite. The cheese is salty and creamy, always a good thing, but the real highlight is the bacon.
It’s smokey, crispy, a bit sweet, a bit fatty — I love it. In addition to that you’ve got a wonderfully buttery flaky bun with tomato, lettuce, and mayo to round out the flavors.
This was another hard one. I’d say it was neck and neck with our number one choice and what kept it from getting the top spot was that there wasn’t quite as much bacon as I wanted. I have nothing bad to say about this burger, it’s just not my favorite. But, it could be yours!
The Bottom Line:
A great, high-quality, bacon cheeseburger. There is a lot to love here.
Find your nearest Smash Burger here.
2. Wendy’s — Baconator
Tasting Notes & Thoughts
The Baconator is ticking all the boxes: affordable, beefy, heavy on the bacon, and comes with a dorky name, which as I said earlier, is always a good sign. This burger has a strong emphasis on its bacon, it’s almost an even 50-50 split between being beefy and smokey. The bacon here reminds me of a greasy spoon spot, it’s crispy, oily, smokey, and sweet on the backend, while the beef is rich and meaty, dressed with ketchup and mayo that together create a rich umami finish that comes across as decadent, rich, and deep.
If it weren’t for our number one pick, this would easily be the best-tasting bacon cheeseburger in fast food. But unfortunately for Wendy’s, it’s not.
The Bottom Line:
As much about the bacon as it is about the beef. This is a great bacon cheeseburger, it’s just not our favorite.
Find your nearest Wendy’s here.
1. Shake Shack — Smoky Classic BBQ Burger
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
This year Shake Shack dropped two new bacon cheeseburgers, the Carolina BBQ Burger (which is very good) and the Smoky Classic BBQ Burger, our new choice for the best fast food bacon cheeseburger.
This burger is incredible. There’s a delicious, lacy, smashed beef patty (or two), American cheese, bacon, pickles, fried onions, and BBQ sauce. No lettuce, no intrusive veggies watering down the flavor, this burger is focused.
The bacon and fried onions provide an audibly pleasing crunch with a smoky umami flavor that complements the sumptuous beefy notes of the patty. All of those elements create a lot of richness on the palate which is nicely balanced by the sweet flavor you get from the BBQ sauce. This burger is a must-order and one of the few single patty burgers that can come across as indulgent and decadent in all of the best ways.
The Bottom Line:
Not only the best bacon cheeseburger of 2024, it may be the best fast food cheeseburger currently on the market. Period.
Find your nearest Shake Shack here.