It’s often said that bacon makes everything better. That’s especially true for sandwiches. Without crispy slices of savory bacon, the classic club sandwich is essentially just turkey on toast, and the beloved BLT is a skimpy salad with oversized croutons. Conversely, a cheeseburger is still a cheeseburger, but topping it off with crackly pork certainly kicks things up a notch—enough to make the bacon cheeseburger a highly desirable subspecies in its own right.
The old-school fast-food chain A&W is widely credited with popularizing the bacon cheeseburger, first offering the menu item over half a century ago. Nowadays, virtually every burger joint worth visiting offers some take on the cheesy, beefy, porky combo.
As tasty as it can be, however, bacon is not entirely foolproof, particularly in a quick-service environment. When done right, it’s a rich and crispy accompaniment to any juicy burger. When done wrong, it can become a flaccid and greasy distraction.
I recently sampled the bacon cheeseburger at five popular fast-food chains to find out which one does the divine-tasting swine the most justice. I ordered the most basic version at each location and mostly avoided customizations to keep things as even as possible.
For me, the ideal bacon cheeseburger provides ample coverage, so you taste both bacon and beef in every bite, and the bacon itself should be more crispy than chewy, providing the perfect textural contrast to the tender meat. I found that some chains do a good job of attaining that balance, while others could use some pointers. I also found a wide range of prices, ranging from about $3 to nearly $11 for a single burger, and in most but not all cases, you get what you pay for.
Here’s how each bacon cheeseburger ranked in descending order, starting with my least favorite and counting down to the absolute bacony best.
McDonald’s Bacon Quarter Pounder
Nutrition: (Per 1 Burger)
Calories: 630
Fat: 35 g (Saturated Fat: 15 g, Trans Fat: 1.5 g)
Sodium: 1,470 mg
Carbs: 43 g carbs (Fiber: 3 g, Sugar: 10 g)
Protein: 36 g
The world’s largest fast-food chain offers just one option for bacon-topped burger lovers. The Bacon Quarter Pounder with Cheese is advertised as a “hot, deliciously juicy bacon cheeseburger,” made with “thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon” and “100% McDonald’s fresh beef that’s cooked when you order.” Notably, the Quarter Pounder, which also comes in two other varieties, is the only McDonald’s burger that’s reportedly made with fresh, never frozen beef, so you should expect a more superb bite when ordering it. This one cost me $8.19.
The look: Skimpy! Though the beef patty was substantial, the bacon came in a much more modest portion—just two razor-thin, roughly three-inch strips that hardly covered even half of the meaty surface. The burger also featured two slices of American cheese, one on top and one below the patty, and two pickle slices, with a considerable amount of white onion shards and ketchup within the visibly toasted sesame-seed bun.
The taste: Dry and oniony. Though deficient in its serving size, the bacon was surprisingly crispy, if extremely brittle. What little smoky flavor it delivered really helped the overall experience because the parched, puck-like beef patty seemed like it had been sitting around for a while. The desiccated meat was the least enjoyable part of the whole package, which is certainly not what you want with a burger. The most prominent flavor was the onion, which came in abundance, probably to help cover up the item’s other shortcomings.
While not the most expensive burger in this survey, it was the worst one for the price, which is why I’ve ranked it dead last.
Wendy’s Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger
Nutrition: (Per 1 Burger)
Calories: 370
Fat: 23 g (Saturated Fat: 8 g)
Sodium: 670 mg
Carbs: 25 g (Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 5 g)
Protein: 18 g
America’s third-largest burger chain is perhaps the best place for bacon lovers, at least in terms of variety. The current menu includes a dozen different bacon-topped burgers, including the carnivore-magnet Baconator, a double-patty monstrosity packed with a total of six porky strips. For a more rudimentary example, I chose the Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger. Described as a “favorite of bacon lovers everywhere,” this item is made with fresh beef, applewood-smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. It cost me just $3.39.
The look: Comically tiny. Wendy’s made a big stink about the meager portion sizes at other burger chains with its legendary 1980s slogan, “Where’s the beef?” Today, I could level the same accusation at Wendy’s after ordering this puny excuse for a burger. The nanoscopic, square-shaped patty was hardly noticeable under a flimsy blanket of half-melted, room-temperature cheese. To be fair, the item is duly labeled a junior size, but this paltry amount of meat would barely qualify as a slider, much less a real burger. On the plus side, the bacon certainly looked thicker than the papery example at McDonald’s, and against the backdrop of a baby beef patty, the modest portion seemed more sizeable, as well. An enormous lettuce leaf dwarfed everything else on this item.
The taste: Creamy and crunchy. With the amount of dressing and fibrous vegetation on this burger, you might as well order the Parmesan Caesar Salad. Though barely detectable under all the toppings, the slim beef patty was somehow softer and juicier than the saplass mass at McDonald’s. The bacon was richly flavored, but chewier than I like. Overall, it’s a fresher-tasting experience than the Mickey D’s variety, but you can still do better.
Burger King Bacon Cheeseburger
Nutrition: (Per 1 Burger)
Calories: 340
Fat: 16 g (Saturated Fat: 7 g)
Sodium: 940 mg
Carbs: 30 g (Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 7 g)
Protein: 18 g
The home of the Whopper also entices bacon fans with five different options featuring their beloved burger topping, including this very straight-forward Bacon Cheeseburger. The simple construction includes Burger King’s trademark flame-grilled beef patty, topped with bacon, American cheese, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. Priced at just $2.99, it’s easily the most affordable option in this survey, and probably the best value, too.
The look: Compact. While not quite as diminutive as Wendy’s version, the Burger King patty was still pretty small. Its thickness could be measured in millimeters. Yet, the bacon coverage was considerable, spanning the entire cheesy surface and even spilling over the sides in some places.
The taste: Rich and crunchy. The bacon flavor was evident in every crackly bite and paired extremely well with the smoky taste of the beef, which lived up to its flame-grilled billing. Of the big three fast-food giants, Burger King’s offering was the most impressive, especially for its dirt-cheap price tag. Even so, there are much finer examples elsewhere, but naturally, they’ll cost you much more.
Shake Shack Bacon Cheeseburger
Nutrition: (Per 1 Single Burger)
Calories: 500
Fat: 29 g (Saturated Fat: 13 g, Trans Fat: 1 g)
Sodium: 1,480 mg
Carbs: 25 g (Fiber: 0 g, Sugar: 5 g)
Protein: 35 g
Like other modern-day, fast-casual-style burger joints, Shake Shack offers an elevated experience for contemporary tastes, promising beef patties made from 100% pure beef—the high-grade Angus variety, to be exact—that is fresh, never frozen, and raised without hormones or antibiotics. The burgers are also prepared in the voguish smash style. Naturally, this modish approach also raises the price tag. The Shack’s bare-bones Bacon Cheeseburger, made with just beef, cheese, and bacon, cost me $9.49—that’s $1.30 more than McDonald’s but far and away a better overall bite for your buck.
The look: Picture perfect. The bun was shiny but pillowy. The cheese was immaculately molten. The beef was fully caramelized like a smash burger should be. And the bacon was plentiful, with long strips extending out the sides like wings.
The taste: Juicy and well seasoned. Admittedly, I’m a huge fan of the Shack and consider its smash burgers to be one of the standard bearers, at least in terms of national chains. Crispy and salty on the outside, yet moist and beefy inside, these burgers are hard to beat, and this particular specimen is a shining example of that. My only quibble was with the bacon. While certainly tasty and obviously high quality, it was more chewy and greasy than I like, and a winning bacon cheeseburger really needs to meet the crispy, crunchy standard. This one fell just short, but another got it just right.
Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger
Nutrition: (Per 1 Burger)
Calories: 692
Fat: 39 g (Saturated Fat: 18 g, Trans Fat: 1 g)
Sodium: 950 mg
Carbs: 40 g (Fiber: 2 g, Sugar: 9 g)
Protein: 33 g
Five Guys is known as much for its high-quality burgers as it is for its “out of control” prices. So, it came as no big shock that the Virginia-based chain charged the most of any restaurant in this survey. All the standard burgers at Five Guys come with two patties, but even the “little” single-patty versions cost more than double- or even triple-decker burgers elsewhere. Five Guys’ Little Bacon Cheeseburger cost me $10.99. For that price, you should expect a product that’s a cut above the rest—and, at least in this case, it delivered.
The look: While not as photogenic as the Shake Shack variety, this one was nonetheless quite meaty looking, with a lightly charred patty standing about a third of an inch thick, topped with melty American. Five Guys was the only chain in this taste test to layer its bacon beneath the beef and the pieces were neatly arranged to cover whole toasty bun.
The taste: Mutually tender and crisped. Like Shake Shack, Five Guys griddles its burgers in the fashionable smash style, so the patty attains a nice crust. This one wasn’t as fully caramelized as its rival at the Shack, or as well-seasoned, but the lighter touch allowed more of the natural beefy taste to shine through. The crispy bacon, though, is what set this burger apart. Five Guys provided full coverage on the pork front, meaning every bite delivered a satisfying crunch—much like Burger King, albeit with juicier, better-tasting beef as the base.
You can certainly find a cheaper kind someplace else, but if you want a good-quality burger with bacon that won’t droop, Five Guys is your move. Excellence always comes at a cost, and for a bacon lover like me, it’s a price I’m willing to pay.
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