Every Burger King Sauce, Ranked

If you've spent time wondering which Burger King sauce reigns supreme, we primed ourselves to answer this question in service of chicken fry fans and onion ring dippers around the globe. For our taste test, we sampled each of the five available sauces: BBQ, Buffalo, Ranch, Sweet & Sour, and Honey Mustard. 

You might note a popular sauce missing in our lineup. In the wake of a global horseradish shortage in 2019, Burger King ran into supply issues with its signature Zesty Sauce that have not been remedied still today. While it used to be served with onion rings, this sauce is hard to get a hold of, and according to fans, the locations that do have it can be stingy with how much they give out. Unfortunately, this means we couldn't get our hands on this legendary onion ring dipping sauce. 

So, taking out the obvious frontrunner and spicy fan favorite, how do the rest of the BK sauces stack up? We dipped and dunked our way through an order of nuggets, chicken fries, fries, and onion rings. We tested each pairing to (as scientifically as possible) determine the all-around best sauce on the Burger King menu.

In last place, we have Burger King's Buffalo sauce. If you've had fast-food Buffalo before, then you already have an idea of what to expect. A creamy, fairly mild take on a standard hot sauce is exactly what we got from BK's Buffalo. Why is it in last place? Because this sauce fails to bring the heat and the flavor. 

While the Buffalo taste is immediately identifiable, it's extremely mild. Even compared to McDonald's Buffalo sauce, Burger King's offering lacks any kick of heat. It was overall too mild and bland to rise above the bottom of the list. We found it went best with chicken (as opposed to the fries or onion rings), but still deemed it to be the most disappointing of the five sauces we tried. If you are missing the punch of the Zesty Sauce, Burger King's Buffalo isn't going to fill that void. 

Next up is Burger King's most savory dipping option: Ranch Sauce. This condiment is an American classic and many people can't live without it. Ranch lovers won't necessarily need to bring their own bottle to BK, but it wouldn't hurt either. This fast-food Ranch Sauce is not bad, and in fact, it's far from the worst version we've ever tasted. The consistency is pleasant and creamy, not at all watery — a tell-tale sign of garbage tier Ranch — and the herbal, salty flavor is present, if not super strong. Still, it's a decent Ranch dressing. 

Our biggest problem with it comes as a dipping sauce. For what it's worth, we felt Burger King's Ranch went best with the chain's onion rings — an option many fast-food restaurants don't have. Even if Burger King's doughy fried rings are not the best fast-food onion ring, they are enhanced by the Ranch. The same can be said of the under-seasoned fries, which get a salty boost when dunked in the sauce. For these reasons, it rises above Buffalo Sauce in terms of usefulness and flavor. But when it comes to using Ranch as a dipping sauce for chicken, we just don't see the appeal. 

Climbing the ranks you'll find Burger King's Sweet & Sour sauce. This sauce isn't bad and goes well with everything we tried, but it was definitely lacking in some departments. For starters, this is meant to be a Sweet and Sour sauce, so where is the sour element? We tasted an achingly sweet sauce that had hints of fruitiness. One thing can be said for Burger King's Sweet & Sour sauce — it's not trying to copy McDonald's beloved take on the Asian-inspired sauce ... but maybe it should have.

At first, the sauce just reads sweet, but after a few bites, it became easier to taste the hints of pineapple and citrus. However, these flavors don't balance out the sweetness with a sour element and instead, just lead to it tasting even sweeter. It's not a bad complement to chicken fries and a handful of onion rings. We wouldn't recommend it with fries though, as the sweetness is too much and the fries don't bring the saltiness to back it up. 

We are now moving on to the sauces that surprised us ... in a good way. From the options available, we would hands down recommend these top two Burger King sauces. Are they the best sauces in the fast-food world? In the case of Honey Mustard, far from it. For example, we much prefer the version of the sauce at Chick-Fil-A. Still, compared to the competition at Burger King alone, this sweet and balanced option almost ran away with it.

The Honey Mustard we got with our nuggets and fries was a great complement for both items, but especially the nuggets. The creamy sauce was sweet at first but had a recognizable kick of Dijon mustard that gave it just a little bit of complexity. The Burger King Honey Mustard was as one-note as the sauces below it in our rankings, which gave it a crave-ability that was almost unmatched. Almost.

We've made it to the top of this short (and mostly sweet) list. Here it is, Burger King's BBQ Sauce, which we found to be surprisingly delicious. While it is still very much on the sweeter side of the barbecue sauce spectrum, there is a hint of smokiness that makes it perfect for dunking chicken fries, nuggets, and even onion rings. This sauce wins top honors due to it not only being the best dipping sauce on the Burger King menu but one of the best fast-food BBQ sauces we've tried. 

In terms of flavor, the Burger King BBQ outranks some of our local favorites like McDonald's and Popeyes. This taste test has us thinking it might even be on par with Wendy's, which is definitely smokier than Burger King's offering but might not be quite as tasty. Regardless, after some thought it was clear that there was only one sauce that could wind up topping this list. All hail the Burger King BBQ Sauce. It doesn't get much better than this.