Burger Showdown: Applebee's Vs Chili's

Craving a good burger? A stop by Applebee's or Chili's might be in your near future. These restaurants are more fast casual than fast food and offer lengthy menus that feature freshly cooked burgers to order. There's no shortage of topping combinations and specials, so we tried some of the most popular options to see which were the best.

We were "eatin' good in the neighborhood" at Applebee's, but also sampled some of the spicy, savory, and zesty options on Chili's menu. We put some of the tastiest burgers from each chain to the test to see which reigned supreme.

Focusing on classic favorites like the double-decker burger with cheese, bacon burger, and mushroom-loaded burger, we were able to compare across categories. While there were a few features that were the same across the board at each chain, the two restaurants put their own spin on burgers that had very similar ingredients — and what's a burger without great fries? 

We stuck with this classic side with each order, although you can switch them out for other options if you prefer. Overall, the quality at both Chili's and Applebee's is fantastic, especially given the price — but when push comes to shove, which one wins the battle for the best burger?

If you like a classic cheeseburger with a twist, go with the Neighborhood burger when dining at Applebee's. This double-decker burger has melted American cheese and garlic-mayo made in house. It comes on a fluffy brioche bun, but the plentiful pickles stood out to us and added a fantastic tangy element. We could have done with a little bit less shredded lettuce, but you can omit it if you want. Other customizable ingredients include swapping out the kind of cheese, adding bacon, or opting for plant-based Impossible patties instead.

All of the Applebee's burgers have a signature seasoning blend that brings out the savory flavor of the meat. Each of the patties is 3.5 ounces and there are two on this massive burger, with a layer of melted cheese between them. The entree costs around $15 and upgrades like extra cheese or bacon adds to the cost. You can get it with fries, like we did, or pay a few dollars more for an upgraded side like waffle fries, onion rings, or mac and cheese.

If you don't want the double-decker, go with a classic burger. It's only has one of the seasoned burger patties and costs around $13.50.

We already knew Chili's makes a mean burger and that they're large enough for two people in our household to share. In fact, not a single burger made it onto the list of Chili's menu items that are worth skipping and it's because the chain really has its recipe and grilling process down to a science.

Like Applebee's, Chili's also has a two-patty burger with cheese and all the fixings, which they call the Double Oldtimer with cheese. This one comes with a slice of tomato plus diced red onions, both of which add some fresh flavor and crunch to the burger. This one has cheddar cheese, which adds sharpness, and plenty of pickles for some zing. Overall, it was a very balanced burger where all of the toppings worked together to highlight the meaty savoriness of the actual patties themselves.

You can customize it by removing or adding toppings when you order online or at the restaurant. Swap out the cheese, add or skip condiments, or change out the toppings to make your burger just how you like it.

The Double OldTimer with cheese costs $17.50, but it comes with a side of fries, plus two giant burger patties. You can also go with the single-patty version of an Oldtimer with cheese if you aren't as hungry. That would be more than enough for us for most meals, as we struggled to make a dent in the Double Oldtimer.

The most noticeable difference between the two burgers is the size. Chili's Oldtimer burger with cheese is quite a bit larger than the Applebee's Neighborhood burger. While both are big enough for an entire meal (and leftovers), the value of the Chili's option is hard to beat. It is a couple of dollars more, but when you see the two burgers side-by-side, it's easy to see why. It stands noticeably higher than its counterpart from Applebee's and has thicker, juicier beef patties.

The patties on Chili's OldTimer with cheese burger aren't quite as flavorful as the ones on the Applebee's Neighborhood burger, but still delicious. We probably wouldn't notice a difference between the two types of patties if we weren't trying them at the same time. Applebee's uses a signature seasoning blend on most of its burger patties that is worth calling out for it's delicious flavor. Still, it wasn't enough to top the better balance of flavor on the Chili's Double Oldtimer with cheese.

The side options at Chili's are also more extensive, and only a few cost an upcharge of less than $1. Compared to Applebee's, which charges as much as $4.50 for some premium side swaps, that's quite a steal. Of course, the Chili's burger is more expensive, but you get a much bigger meal overall. That's what gave it the edge when it comes to this classic burger style.

For bacon lovers, it's hard to beat the Whole Lotta Bacon burger at Applebee's. This style has bacon seared into the patty and three additional strips on top. We liked that the strips were perfectly cooked for a burger and not too chewy or crispy. It also has a bacon sauce slathered onto the top bun. If you can add bacon to a particular ingredient, Applebee's has done it and put them all together in this suped-up menu item. There are slices of red onion, lettuce, and tomato, plus tangy sauce and pickles.

It's very salty, which is expected give how much bacon is crammed into one burger. However, the well-seasoned patty helps the meatiness come through. We typically omit red onions, especially if they come in large slices, but we left them on to get the full experience. Because there's so much bacon on the sandwich, the red onion was not as prominent, and it paired well with the other flavors without overwhelming the burger.

You can also substitute a grilled chicken patty or an Impossible burger patty, two options that we appreciated if we wanted to switch things up. Like with other burgers at Applebee's, you can add extra toppings but we recommend sticking with it as-is. It's already pretty loaded, and anything else would make it difficult to eat. When you order it without any alterations, the burger costs around $17.

With two beef patties and six slices of bacon, the Bacon Rancher burger at Chili's is a meat-lovers dream. It also has cheese and ranch dressing to add a little bit of creaminess and zest. There are sauteed onions for a little sweetness, plus pickles for that tangy flavor. There's a lot going on with this burger, but it's the meat that really stands out.

The six slices of bacon were a bit hard to wrangle and they kept sliding off the burger. However, we liked how they were packed on top and in between the patties, making sure that we got the flavor of bacon in every bite. The same was the case with the cheese and the ranch. The layering on this burger was top notch, and everyone who tried it commented on how they were able to taste each ingredient in every bite that they took. Since this is another one of the massive burgers from Chili's, that's a lot of bites!

It costs just under $19.50, making it the priciest burger that we tried. Given how much meat is on it and the gigantic size, though, we think it's still fairly priced. We'd happily pay a bit more for this burger and end up splitting it.

Our big issue with bacon on burgers is that they are often difficult to eat. We tend to end up with most of the bacon on our plate, having slipped out the back of the bun. Both versions from Applebee's and Chili's took steps to make sure that doesn't happen, however. Applebee's sears bacon right into the burger patty itself, while Chili's layers things to keep them in the right spots. However, there can only be one winner, and the combo of seared bacon and seasoned beef really stood out.

The Applebee's Whole Lotta Bacon burger won hands down in this round. Putting the bacon directly into the patty set it apart not just from the Chili's bacon burger, but from any similar option we've tried at other restaurants. It was a lot of bacon and a large burger overall, so we shared it among a few taste testers. Everyone agreed that this was a bacon-lovers dream burger.

Cajun spices add some extra flavor to the Bourbon Street Mushroom Swiss burger from Applebee's. It's loaded with mushrooms and plenty of Swiss cheese, but the patty is what we noticed most, especially when compared to other Applebee's burgers. It has Cajun spices mixed in, which gives it a little bit more kick than the typical seasoned burger. The Swiss cheese is key here to keep it from being too spicy or intense. It also has a black pepper sauce and garlic mayo, both of which are strong in the flavor department.

The mushrooms aren't as prominent as we expected, especially when competing with the rest of the flavorful ingredients. They came in sizable slices and were well cooked, but they just couldn't hold their own next to the sauces and spices. We liked the burger overall, but we'd classify it more as a Cajun burger than a mushroom one. It costs around $15, which we felt was a good deal for the tasty entree. You can upgrade with more toppings, like extra mushrooms or onions, but you'll have to pay a small upcharge.

If you like mushrooms on a burger, the Mushroom Swiss burger from Chili's is its answer to this craving. This burger has mushrooms, Swiss cheese, and sauteed onions. This trio adds a lot of flavor to the burger. The onions were lightly caramelized to add a little bit of sweetness, but they didn't overpower the savory mushrooms.

It also comes with lettuce, tomato, and creamy mayo. It has all of the makings of a classic burger plus added mushrooms and onions. They're meaty enough to work with the burger and fill you up. The burger costs less than $14.50, making it the cheapest of the Chili's burgers that we tried — but it was just as large as the others when it came to the size of the patty.

The only part that we didn't love was the placement of the lettuce and mayo. They're at the bottom of the burger, which can make the bun a bit soggy. If you're enjoying dinner at Chili's, it's unlikely to matter since you'll be digging into this burger the minute the plate hits your table. We ordered Chili's to-go, and by the time we got it home, the lettuce-mayo combo was already making a bit of a mess. It wasn't enough of an issue for us to avoid this burger, but we might put a special request in for less lettuce and mayo next time.

Chili's Mushroom Swiss burger won the battle for the best mushroom burger by a small margin. It emphasized the mushrooms a bit more than the Bourbon Street Mushroom Swiss burger, which was tasty, but focused more on spices. If we're ordering and expecting a savory mushroom burger, only to be given something that was a bit saucier and spicier than we hoped for, it won't quite hit the note we wanted — even if it is delicious. We'd recommend the Bourbon Street burger, especially for those who like a lot of sauce, but it's not our favorite mushroom-topped burger.

This was another case where the balance of ingredients worked better on the Chili's burger. We're not sure if it was the similar size of the sliced mushrooms and caramelized onions or just that they were well-placed on the burger, but the duo worked together to bring a ton of flavor. The mushrooms on the Applebee's burger got a little lost in everything else that was going on between the buns.

The Chili's version was also quite a bit bigger, but it had a lower cost when ordered without extras. This wasn't the case with most Chili's burgers, so we felt like we were getting an even better deal. Chili's burger patties are pretty large, and the addition of mushrooms and onions made this plenty of food for us.

Applebee's gained a lot of points in our book with the Whole Lotta Bacon burger, but in the end, Chili's took top honors with balanced flavors and massive burger patties. All of the Chili's burgers had great topping combinations with plenty of flavor, whether it was tangy, creamy, spicy, or savory. Applebee's tended to lean heavily into one flavor profile at the expense of balance.

The size difference was obvious when we compared Applebee's Neighborhood burger with the Double Oldtimer with cheese from Chili's. Even put next to each other on a plate, we could easily pick out which one was from which restaurant. The burger patties at Applebee's had a lot of flavor, which we liked, and they were well seasoned. However, the combinations of toppings at Chili's worked a little bit better for us.

Even though the burgers at Chili's tended to be a bit more expensive (with the notable exception of the Mushroom Swiss burger, which was also our pick for best mushroom burger based on taste), we felt like the larger size justified the higher price.

The sides offered also tipped the scales in Chili's favor. We liked that we could upgrade from fries without an upcharge in most cases. The Chili's fries were a bit heftier than the Applebee's ones and had crispier edges. Both restaurants have pretty standard fast food French fries, however, so that wasn't nearly as important to us as the actual flavor of the burgers. 

To compare burgers from Applebee's and Chili's, we first had to come up with standard criteria and categories. Of course, we wanted to sample a classic-style burger, each done in the restaurant's signature style so we added the Neighborhood burger and Double Oldtimer with cheese to our list. Bacon and cheese are also popular burger toppings, so we made sure to try one from each restaurant that featured those tasty ingredients. Finally, we looked for burgers topped with mushrooms and onions, two savory ingredients that we love on a burger, to see how they compared.

Taste was our top criteria, especially when it came to balancing flavors on burgers with a lot of toppings. We also looked at price versus size, prioritizing a good value over just the lowest cost. We enlisted the help of multiple taste testers — which worked in our favor, since all of these burgers were massive — to get as many opinions as we could.