6 Fast Food Bacon Cheeseburgers, Ranked

Fast food is something most people will turn to at least occasionally when they don't have the time or desire to cook. The convenience of having hot food ready to eat in minutes is an absolute lifesaver, especially when your days get busy and the very idea of having to cook is exhausting — as a working mom, it's a feeling I know all too well. But, there are questions people have about the fast food chains they rely on for quick meals. Will Chick-Fil-A ever open on Sundays? Which is better — the McDonald's Shamrock Shake or the Arby's Andes Mint Chocolate Shake? Most importantly, who has the best fast food bacon cheeseburger?

Daily Meal has answered the other questions for you already and today, I'm going to help answer that final pressing question. I had the chance to try bacon cheeseburgers from six popular fast food chains in my area and rank them from worst to best. I relied on my more than fifteen years of experience in the food industry to assess the taste, smell, and texture of each burger. You can find a full methodology slide at the end of this article. Ready to see which bacon cheeseburger reigns supreme? Let's get into it.

The Sonic Garlic Butter Bacon Cheeseburger comes with a beef patty, American cheese, bacon, mayo, and grilled onions. The added garlic butter is a deviation from the normal, which made me excited to try it — but, that excitement quickly faded the moment I saw it. Before we get into that, this burger cost just under eight dollars, which was average for my area.

Sonic's take on the bacon cheeseburger came in dead last by a far margin and it was the only burger on this list that I couldn't finish eating — if I had, I have zero doubts that my stomach would have suffered the consequences. In fact, it was so greasy that it felt slick and a few bites made me feel nauseous. What's worse is that it didn't even taste like garlic butter (which is what I assume the slickness was from), but instead it tasted strongly of onions. To add to the heavy feeling on my stomach, the burger came with so much mayo that it became the predominant taste after the weird onion one.

It's my personal opinion that Sonic should have spent less time giving their fries a face lift for the first time in decades and instead made their burgers edible. This one is a hard pass for me, and unless you like your burgers drenched in oil, I recommend you add this to the list of things you might want to avoid ordering at Sonic.

The Burger King Bacon Cheeseburger features a flame-grilled patty, bacon, and American cheese. It's layered with pickles, mustard, and ketchup on a toasted sesame bun. Basically, all the most standard, classic cheeseburger toppings. Coming in at just over three dollars, it was the cheapest burger option on this list.

I'm generally a big fan of Burger King overall, and have always especially loved its best-selling Whopper. But, this bacon cheeseburger didn't quite live up to my expectations. That's not to say it was bad, because it wasn't — but it was just kind of "fine" and mediocre. However, the flame grilled scent of this burger was as delicious as every other Burger King option, which I found exciting since I value the smell of my food so much.

Taste-wise, this was pretty good. The meat had a nice charred and well-seasoned appeal, while the pickles were crisp and freshly tangy. However, the bread was kind of dry and felt overly full of sesame seeds. Also, the bacon and cheese faded away behind the other flavors so they weren't really noticeable, which I thought was disappointing. That aside, if I didn't prefer my go-to Burger King sandwich instead, I'd probably order this again — but I'd definitely pair it with the mysteriously crafted Burger King onion rings next go around.

The Five Guys Bacon Cheeseburger comes with two freshly cooked patties, American cheese, and smoked bacon. From there, the burger is automatically customizable instead of standardized, allowing you to get as many of their toppings as you want for free. Mine came with ketchup, mayo, pickles, and tomato, which are fairly standard bacon cheeseburger toppings. Coming in at just under 15 dollars, it was also the most expensive burger on this list by far.

I've always heard great things about Five Guys and, in fact, it's my daughter's boyfriend's absolute favorite burger place ever. However, this was my first personal experience with them — and with such high praises from people I know, I had big hopes. I'm not going to say those hopes were dashed, but I will say that this bacon cheeseburger didn't quite live up to my expectations. The bacon wasn't great by itself, but it did add an extra layer of flavor to the burger. There were two patties instead of one, which was nice. The toppings were fresh, contributing a nice sweet and earthy contrast to the umami beef patty. Overall, it was an okay burger that I would eat again, but I don't think I'd go out of my way to do so.

The Arby's Big Cheesy Bacon Burger is a large offering that includes both Swiss and American cheese in addition to the burger and bacon. It also came topped with burger sauce, which had a vaguely garlic taste. Red onion, tomato, pickles, and lettuce were also piled inside of the sweet brioche bun. Coming in at just under eight dollars, it was a relatively average price for my area.

There wasn't a very strong scent to this burger, although I did catch light umami tones with barely noticeable garlic and sweet notes — which was an interesting combination. This smell was indicative of the taste, which was surprisingly the perfect flavor combination. The sweetness of the bread perfectly balanced the tangy burger sauce, and the umami flavor profile of the bacon enhanced the fresh, nostalgic taste of typical burger toppings. Although I liked that they used a unique bread, the bun on my burger was kind of hard and decreased the overall experience a bit.

Although this option from Arby's didn't top the ranking, I would definitely eat it again and appreciate the unique pairings. I recommend eating it with Arby's perfectly soft yet crispy curly fries. While I think most people would enjoy this burger, anyone looking for a more traditional bacon cheeseburger should skip it in lieu of other options on this list.

The McDonald's Bacon Quarter Pounder with Cheese features a quarter pound ground beef patty topped with all the classic toppings you'd expect. There's two slices of American cheese, slivered onions, pickles, thick-cut bacon, ketchup, and mustard between two hamburger buns generously topped with sesame seeds. Coming in at just under seven dollars, it's average priced for my area.

There was a fairly strong umami smell to this burger that I can only describe as quintessentially McDonalds — to me, their burgers have a distinct charred meat smell laced with sweet ketchup and bitter notes of mustard, overlaid with the smell of fried foods. It's a smell I enjoy, so that worked in this burger's favor. What worked even more in its favor is that the patty was well-seasoned and layered with the perfect amount of cheese. The bacon was a little sweet, and the bun was soft, contributing to a complex mouthfeel I look for in my bacon cheeseburgers.

I can definitely recommend the Bacon Quarter Pounder with Cheese, and McDonalds are everywhere, so it's an easily accessible choice. Even better? If you're not a bacon fan, you can choose a standard Quarter Pounder with Cheese instead. Consider pairing your burger with a classic milkshake (like McDonald's Shamrock Shake when it's available) and an order of their best-selling fries.

I want to offer a full disclosure and say that Wendy's, overall, is my favorite fast food chain. (However, the Wendy's Baconator, not the Big Bacon Classic, is my favorite burger.) That being said, the Wendy's Big Bacon Classic is a reintroduction of a 90's beloved item as part of the Made to Crave menu. A square quarter pound beef patty is topped with bacon, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, ketchup, and mayo, sandwiched together with a toasted bun. Coming in at just over seven dollars, this burger was an average price for my area.

The first bite of this big bacon cheeseburger was an explosion of mayo, which wasn't terrible but tells me they could have distributed the condiments better — but, that's my sole complaint. Otherwise, the whole taste test went well. The burger was thick, well-seasoned, and cooked nicely. The bun had a delicious fresh starchy taste that perfectly paired with the earthy, sweet toppings. Plus, I prefer the mayo and ketchup combination for burgers over mayo and mustard, so that was a bonus for me.

Overall, I highly recommend this burger, especially to anyone looking for a bite of 90's nostalgia. And, if you don't have a Wendy's conveniently located near you so you can enjoy this offering, don't fret — this fast food chain is planning significant restaurant growth this year and opening numerous new locations.

Fast food chains were chosen for participation in this list based on what was available to me locally. Although most fast food burgers were found in the Vineland, New Jersey area, I did need to travel to Cape May County, New Jersey for the Arby's burger. From each chosen chain, the most standard fast food bacon cheeseburger offered was chosen and each was ordered exactly as-is without customization to keep this ranking fair. The offerings on each burger are noted in the slides above to the fullest possible extent, to showcase what each chain has to offer.

To make my judgments, I relied on more than fifteen years experience in the food industry, which included two years working the grill at fast food chains and nearly a decade of working the grill at sit-down restaurants. Although burger presentation was taken into consideration when creating this ranking, I didn't lean too heavily into it because I ordered the food to go and recognized it could have gotten a little sloppier on the short drive home. Price versus quantity and quality was also considered to an extent. However, the taste, smell, and texture of each burger held the most weight during my considerations.