Every Wendy's Burger, Ranked Worst To Best

Wendy's might be known for its Frosty as well as the combination of this icy dessert with salty fries (trust us, it's delicious), but the burger menu is quite extensive as well. With iconic square burgers meant to show off the charbroiled meat, there are plenty of options at the fast food chain ranging from smaller junior sandwiches to massive three-patty burgers so big that they are meals all by themselves. You can make adjustments to most orders but with a menu this large, there's a good chance that your ideal burger is already offered. 

The next time you're at a Wendy's drive-thru window, you can rely on our taste test results to guide you to the best burger on the menu. We tried them all and ranked our favorites based on taste, balance of flavors, toppings, and whether or not we'd order them again.

The Dave's Triple is one of the biggest burgers on the menu and you'd better like Wendy's beef if you order this giant sandwich. It comes with three quarter-pound patties and three slices of cheese, as well as all the standard toppings like lettuce, tomato, and sliced onions. Not surprisingly, this sandwich is a whopping 1,160 calories and you'll need to be pretty hungry just to finish it. 

But the toppings aren't oversized to go with the extra beef, so it ends up being a lot of meat and little else to add flavor. Even the bun can barely contain the burger and a lot of it ended up slipping out of our hands before we could finish it. It has all of the same ingredients as many of the other burgers but the balance is skewed in favor of the meat. So unless you are a hard-core carnivore, this is one you should probably skip.

Another meat-heavy option is the Big Bacon Classic Triple. It has everything on the Dave's Triple, including three quarter-pound patties, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and condiments, plus bacon on the top. The calorie count on this monster is 1,220, so it's definitely not a sandwich that many people will be able to finish without getting a bellyache. 

We did like that the cheese was sandwiched in between each burger patty on this sandwich. It helped the cheese melt a little bit more and kept the burger patties from sliding around. The bacon was embedded into the cheese as well, which kept it in place. The addition of the bacon gave this option a slight edge over the Dave's Triple, but neither sandwich will be making a regular appearance on our plates anytime soon.

The Baconator comes with applewood smoked bacon and cheese as its main toppings. While the exact number of slices included on other burgers isn't advertised, this one had more than any of the other sandwiches that we tried. Bacon and cheese are sandwiched between two quarter-pound patties, which helps distribute the ingredients well in every bite. The calorie count on this sandwich is 960, a bit better than the massive three-patty options.

The Baconator doesn't include any toppings other than ketchup and mayo and it's this lack of extras that earned it a lower spot on our list than we expected. Also known as Utah fry sauce thanks to its use in that state as a dipping sauce, this creamy combo is delicious and included on most of Wendy's burgers.

As bacon-lovers, a burger called the Baconator got our attention. But without the balance of flavor that the lettuce, tomato, and onion provide, this one was pretty dull. It also didn't include pickles, a must-have for any good burger in our book. If you love Wendy's charbroiled burger patties and bacon, you'll like this sandwich since that's pretty much all it includes. But if you want even a little bit of extra taste, try something else.

The Bacon Double Stack is what we expected the Baconator to be, so it ranked a bit higher on our list. It is a good option that is only 440 calories, less than half of the giant Baconator while still including that crispness of salty bacon. It has two standard patties, bacon, cheese, onion, and the all-important pickles. Just this addition alone earned it a higher rank than the Baconator.

This is one of only two sandwiches on the Wendy's menu to include mustard, since most have ketchup and mayo as the condiment mixture of choice. We love a good burger with ketchup and mustard, but without the creamy mayo, it just seemed to be lacking something and was the reason we ranked it lowest of all the smaller-sized options. The sandwich already has some bite from the pickles and onions, so the mustard felt a little bit unnecessary. Of course, you can always substitute mayo for mustard if you really want to stick with the Bacon Double Stack.

Wendy's loves to add bacon to a burger, and the Big Bacon Classic Double is a good balance of meat patty, bacon, and toppings. This is just like the regular Big Bacon Classic and Big Bacon Classic Triple but with two quarter-pound patties. The rest of the toppings are the same, including lettuce, tomato, sliced onion, and pickles. It's also very similar to the Dave's Double, but includes crispy bacon.

This sandwich has Wendy's signature combo of ketchup and mayo as condiments. While not a special sauce quite like those you see at other fast food chains, this combo is still a creamy and delicious addition. The Big Bacon Classic Double is another heavy hitter for your appetite, thanks to the larger burger patties and the bacon, coming in at 910 calories. So you'll have to be hungry to make it all the way to the end of this burger. The big advantage that this one has over the even larger Big Bacon Classic Triple, however, is that the toppings give a noticeable texture and taste to the sandwich that isn't overshadowed by too much meat.

The Son of Baconator is a slightly smaller burger than the large Baconator with two junior patties instead of the quarter-pound size. It comes with bacon and cheese just like the full-size Baconator and not much else. But when you get it in this smaller size, the entire sandwich somehow works better. The ketchup and mayo combo was a bit more noticeable in this smaller sandwich, which gave it a more balanced flavor. We weren't overwhelmed by the charbroiled or smoked taste and instead were able to enjoy the burger, condiments, and the bun as an entire sandwich, which clocks in at 630 calories.

Like the Baconator, the bacon on the Son is sandwiched between the patties and put on top of slices of American cheese. This helped keep the entire sandwich from falling apart, which we appreciated. This one was noticeably less messy than the original Baconator.

Those who like bacon, plus all the extras like tomatoes, lettuce, onion, and pickles should try the Big Bacon Classic. It's stacked quite high but only comes with a quarter-pound patty. This was plenty to get the charbroiled taste but we were still able to enjoy the toppings and the entire thing tasted and felt more like a sandwich than a bun piled high with as much meat as possible.

It is 650 calories, which is comparable to the Son of Baconator. But while the Son is loaded up with meat, this burger gets a bit of crunch from the lettuce and tomato, and some tang from the pickles. This was our favorite version of the Big Bacon Classic style. The only reason it didn't rank higher was due to the toppings sliding off as we tried to eat it. The cheese was under the burger patty rather than on top where it could have helped everything stick where they needed to be.

The Double Stack has two standard patties as well as pickles, onions, and cheese. It isn't advertised as having extra pickles but it had a stronger pickle flavor than any of the other sandwiches we tried. It was this flavor that set this burger apart from other double patty options. The Double Stack also has ketchup and mustard, which is different than most Wendy's burgers. Between the pickles and the mustard, this sandwich had the most zing. We liked that strong flavor paired with the two charbroiled patties and the cheese.

This was also the sandwich where we could most clearly taste the onions. In most of Wendy's burgers, they fade into the background behind the bacon, patties, or condiments. But with fewer toppings, the sliced onions were more noticeable and we were surprised that they had a sweeter taste rather than a biting one. If you don't like raw onion, you can ask to keep them off, but we thought they worked well with this burger. It's 410 calories, which is pretty low for a burger with two patties.

The Junior Hamburger is the smallest burger from Wendy's both in size and cost, and it hits all the right notes for a great burger. Call us old-fashioned, but when you charbroil a patty and keep the toppings simple, we're pretty happy. It includes mayo and ketchup, plus pickles that give it an extra tang. The entire sandwich is just 250 calories, the lowest on the menu, which is something to consider if you stop by Wendy's often and are looking for a lower-calorie option.

Like the Double Stack, the sliced onions give a strong flavor to this burger because it doesn't have a lot of other ingredients. It is one of the simpler options, which might not work if you're really hungry or want extras like tomatoes or bacon. But the beef patty had a chance to shine here, earning it a higher spot on our list than some of the more elaborate sandwiches.

A close relative of the Junior Hamburger is the Junior Cheeseburger. Like the former, this sandwich keeps things simple and includes a charbroiled smaller patty, ketchup and mayo, pickles, and sliced onion. But it's the addition of a slice of American cheese that gives this burger a very slight edge on our list. This addition does add extra calories, bringing the entire sandwich to 290 calories.

This is the sandwich that we'd order if we were eating a Wendy's burger on the go because it is a great handheld option with minimal mess. The cheese is on top of the burger patty, which helps the onion and pickles stay where they are supposed to be. The condiments were placed well and didn't drip like in some of the other sandwiches that we tried. This is also the go-to order for the younger members of our family. The size is good if you want to enjoy a burger without getting a stomach ache or going into a food coma.

The Dave's Double builds on the classic single burger with an extra patty plus two slices of cheese. This is our top recommendation for those who are a little bit hungrier and want something more substantial than a single. The quarter-pound burger patties are a bit more substantial than those on the Double Stack, which gave it a slight edge on our list. Granted, we were extra hungry when we sampled this one, so if you don't have a large appetite, it might be too much for a single meal. But after a long day, this burger hit the spot. Keep in mind that it's 860 calories for a single sandwich, so it might not be one that you want to order all of the time.

It includes two slices of cheese, one on each of the patties. This kept the tomato and onion in place on the top. The lettuce was a bit lackluster on the actual sandwich that we received, but that can vary from restaurant to restaurant and even within the same day. We got plenty of pickles, however, which was more important to us anyway. This burger includes the creamier mayo and ketchup combo, which paired well with the vinegary pickles.

The Junior Cheeseburger Deluxe has a lot of toppings but they don't overpower the burger patty. Even though it is a junior size, the patty is beefy enough to work with the strong flavors of lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles. This is our standard order when we stop at Wendy's because it leaves enough room to enjoy french fries and a Frosty as well. It's 340 calories but still includes everything that we love about Wendy's burgers, including the charbroiled meat, the pickles, and the ketchup-mayo combination. This particular sandwich had a bit more lettuce than we expected, but most of the time when we order it, all of the toppings are nicely proportioned.

We liked that the tomato slice could hold up to the meat because the patty was a standard size rather than the quarter-pound that you see on some of the larger sandwiches. We could also taste the sliced onions, which gave the sandwich an extra crispy crunch.

If you want a burger that still has bacon without indulging in one of the heavier options, the Junior Bacon Cheeseburger is the top choice, earning the number two spot on our list. The 370-calorie option comes with one junior patty, which is smaller than the standard patty and on a smaller bun. It still has cheese, lettuce, tomato, and of course, bacon. Even though there were other sandwiches with more bacon, this one had the most noticeable bacon flavor and texture. Because the patty wasn't overpowering the entire burger, we were able to enjoy all of the toppings together.

We've also seen this sandwich offered during special late-night promotions and in commercials. It is so popular because it includes bacon, which many people like on a burger, and the bacon-burger combo is something that Wendy's does really well. Like the other smaller offerings, it tastes good but still leaves room for other fast food faves like fries. 

The Dave's Single is the classic burger from Wendy's, named after its founder and our top choice. It comes with one quarter-pound patty, plus all the fixings. It was loaded up with tomato, onion, lettuce, and pickles, plus ketchup and mayo. Even though the Dave's Double and Dave's Triple have the same buns, this was the only one of the three where we were able to taste the bun as a significant part of the sandwich. The meat overpowered most other ingredients in the larger versions, but the balance was just right on the Dave's Single.

At 590 calories, this is a pretty substantial burger, so don't order it if you just want a few bites of something. This one will definitely fill you up but isn't so large that you'll be left feeling like you overdid it. We tried it with a small order of fries and a small Frosty and enjoyed every bite. A larger order of fries might be too much for one person if you also go with the Dave's Single, but two sandwiches plus a large fries would be perfect to share.

We tried all of the burgers over a few days to see which ones stood out and which we would rather pass on during our next stop at the fast food chain. When tasting, we considered the flavor and texture, as well as the balance of ingredients. Some of the biggest differences were in how large and how many patties were on each burger. Varying amounts of bacon and cheese were also available, with many of our favorites surprisingly including less meat and more toppings. The combination of condiments was also a deciding factor between a few burgers that we liked almost equally.

We also looked at the nutritional value of each burger, since routine stops by the fast food chain may not be part of a balanced diet and some of these burgers had more than enough calories for an entire meal. Since we love to pair our burger with a delicious Frosty and an order of fries, which ranked toward the top of the best fast food fries list, many of our top choices left us room to do just that.