All of Burger King's Burgers & Sandwiches—Ranked by a Dietitian
Founded in 1954, Burger King stands as the second-largest fast-food hamburger chain globally, attracting over 11 million visitors daily. While renowned as the Home of the Whopper, its menu has evolved over time to encompass an array of burgers, chicken, and fish sandwiches—but do you know which options are healthiest for you?
When navigating the offerings at this fast-food giant, discerning between better-for-you choices and less favorable options is crucial. Factors such as calories, portion size, saturated fat, and sodium content play pivotal roles in determining the nutritional value of each burger and sandwich.
While calories provide essential energy to get through your day, more is certainly not better, and excessive intake can be counterproductive. You can have a burger or sandwich made with healthy ingredients, but oversized portions increase the calories and other nutrients you're trying to keep in check. Moreover, monitoring saturated fat intake is vital due to its association with heightened heart disease risk. Sodium content, though enhancing flavor, must be monitored given its prevalence in many sandwich ingredients such as buns, bacon, and cheese.
In our analysis of Burger King's menu, we carefully examined these nutritional factors and ranked all the burgers and sandwiches from worst to best. Portion size, variety of food groups (or too much of a food group), carbohydrate content, and sugar levels are also factors we considered.
The Worst Option on the Burger King Burger & Sandwich Menu: Bacon King
This burger has two beef burgers, a hearty portion of thick-cut bacon, cheese, ketchup, and mayo on a sesame seed bun. As a registered dietitian, it irks me that establishments make this extremely unhealthy option available for the public—which is hard to resist for some folks. I usually don't recommend not eating something, but with so many other options that are much lower in calories, saturated fat, sodium carbs, and protein, it's best that you just don't order the Bacon King.
Texas Double Whopper
This unhealthy option is made with 2 beef patties, cheese, bacon, jalapeno, pickles, onion, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo and mustard on a sesame seed bun. Calories for the burger (without sides and a beverage) is 70% of the daily recommended max (based on a 2,000 calorie diet), sodium is 95% of the recommended daily max and over twice the amount of saturated fat you should have in one day. This is certainly a once in a blue moon indulgence— and shouldn't be consumed often.
Triple Whopper with Bacon & Cheese
Burgers can be topped with options like bacon and cheese and if you choose to do so you'll be getting a ridiculous amount of calories in a burger at 68% of the recommended daily max (based on a 2,000-calorie diet). The saturated fat is over the top at 165.5% of the recommended daily max and sodium is 86.5% of the recommended daily max. Remember, this is without any fries, onion rings, or any other meals or snacks for the day. It's certainly not a healthy choice for anyone.
Triple Whopper
This burger option consists of three ¼ pound beef patties, which means three-quarter pounds of beef in one sandwich. Add tomatoes, lettuce, mayo pickles, and onions and put it all on a sesame seed bun and you've got a sandwich that just is not portion-controlled. Besides the high amounts of calories, saturated fat, and sodium, the protein is way too high at 72.5 grams. Your body's ideal protein at one time is about 20-30 grams—any more than that the body doesn't absorb as efficiently.
Candied Bacon Whopper
This newer burger option is made with a flame-grilled patty, tomatoes, lettuce, crispy fried onions, garlic aioli, bacon jam, and brown sugar candied bacon on a sesame seed bun. The calories are 42.5% of the recommended daily amount (based on a 2,000-calorie diet), and the saturated fat is 65% of the recommended daily max. The sodium is lower than some of the better-for-you burger but is replaced with sugar. The 72.3 grams of sugar listed is a combo of natural and added sugar but because you have jam (which has added sugar) and the candied bacon (which has added sugar), a majority of the sugar list is from added sugar.
BK Royal Crispy Chicken
This menu option consists of a batter-dipped chicken cutlet topped with a "royal sauce," shredded lettuce, and tomato on a bun. Although it may seem majestic with the royal sauce, the calories and sodium are just too much. If you're worried about saturated fat, it comes in at 37.5% of your recommended daily max and is lower than some other options.
Whopper
This classic BK Burger has a beef patty that's topped with pickles, ketchup, tomatoes lettuce, onions, and mayo. The calories are 33.5% of the daily max (based on a 2,000 calorie diet), while the sodium and saturated fat are quite high, at 60.6% and 51% of the recommended daily max, respectively.
Original Chicken Sandwich
This breaded and deep-fried white meat menu option filled with mayo and lettuce on a sesame seed bun is certainly not a top choice. The calories are 33.5% of the recommended daily max (based on a 2,000-calorie diet)—which means that the remainder of your two meals, snacks, and the sides and beverages for your meal should stay around 1,300 calories. That may sound like a lot, but with that many meals and snacks left for the day, you're on the road to eating more calories than you need for the day. If this sandwich is on your regular order list, then that could mean weight gain over time.
Impossible Whopper
Whether you're a vegetarian, vegan, or following a plant-based diet, this menu option is not a top choice. The calories for the burger alone is 31.5% of the daily recommended max (based on a 2,000-calorie diet), the sodium is quite high at 59% of the total recommended daily max, and the carbs are higher than most sandwiches equivalent to over 4 slices of commercial bread. The good news is you'll get more fiber than any other sandwich—but is that really worth it?
Bacon Double Cheeseburger
Add saturated fat and sodium-filled bacon to your double cheeseburger and you get more calories and a boost of saturated fat to 55% of the daily recommended max. Sodium also is at 42% of the recommended daily max.
Big Fish
Most folks don't meet the recommended amount of fish per week but that doesn't mean that this is the best way to eat it. The calories are rather high for a sandwich alone, but the saturated fat is reasonable at 25% of the recommended daily amount. Carbs are also on the higher end equating to close to 4 slices of commercially bought bread.
Double Cheeseburger
Once you start adding patties, your beef portion gets bigger and the calories, saturated fat, and sodium go up too. The protein weighs in at 24 grams, which some folks are looking for but it does come with 45% of the recommended daily max of saturated fat. If you choose this menu item, then opt for plant-based protein with little to no saturated fat for your next meal.
Chicken Jr.
This fried chicken option has lettuce and mayo and is served on a sesame seed bun. Because it is fried, the calories are higher compared to grilled chicken or a 4-ounce burger patty. The saturated fat isn't too bad at 25% of the recommended daily max but the sodium is still 30% of the recommended daily max.
BBQ Bacon Whopper Jr.
This flame-grilled patty is topped with bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, pickles, onions, American cheese, and BBQ sauce on a sesame seed bun.
Rodeo Burger
This sandwich has a flame-grilled beef patty topped with BBQ sauce and onion rings served on a sesame seed bun. If you opt for this burger, skip the side of onion rings—it's already in the sandwich!
Whopper Jr with Cheese
Again, the addition of cheese slightly ups the calories and the saturated fat with 40% of the recommended daily max. Calories are reasonable and the sodium is equivalent to the cheeseburger.
Bacon Cheeseburger
Add bacon to your burger with cheese and the calories and saturated fat go up. With this option, the saturated fat is 35% of your daily recommended max and the sodium is 41% of the daily recommended max thanks to the addition of the bacon.
Whopper Jr.
On occasion, I stop by my local Burger King as I grew up on it (hello nostalgia!). This option has no cheese and as a registered dietitian is my top choice for flavor and nutrition. If I'm going to get a burger, I prefer one that has a bit more bulk to it with lettuce, tomato, and a small amount of mayo. Because it has no cheese, it has a touch less saturated fat which is always a plus.
Cheeseburger
If you need some cheese on your burger, the calories go up 40 calories and saturated fat to 30% of your daily recommended amount. You can certainly fit this option into a healthy eating plan—again, opt for a small fries or onion rings and water or a diet soda to keep the calories from the meal in check.
The Best Option on the Burger King Burger & Sandwich Menu: Hamburger
If you're craving a burger, simple is best. With only 250 calories and 20% of the recommended saturated fat per day, this burger can certainly fit into a healthy eating plan. If you need fries or onion rings, choose a small size and wash it down with bottled water.
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