Fast food hasn’t been easy on anyone’s wallet lately. Prices keep creeping up, portions aren’t getting any bigger, and a simple fast-food burger and fries order can make you feel like you’re leaving a fine dining restaurant.
So if you’re going to pull up to the drive-thru anyway, it’s fair to wonder: Which burger actually gives you the most meat for your money?
A new analysis from NetCredit tried to answer that by looking beyond menu prices and breaking down items by price per ounce. The researchers compared burgers and fries from 14 major chains, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Five Guys, Shake Shack, Sonic, Culver’s, In-N-Out and Whataburger.
To do it, the team gathered national average menu prices and nutrition data, then literally put the food on kitchen scales. Each chain’s standard single-patty cheeseburger was weighed after removing the bun, sauces, and toppings, so only the meat counted. They did the same with medium or regular fries, weighing the portions to see which chains actually hand out the most food.
The Surprising Burger That Gives You the Most Meat for Your Money
If you’re looking strictly at how much beef you get for your dollar, one burger beats them all. Whataburger, the pride of Texas, is the value champion according to NetCredit’s analysis. Researchers found the Whataburger patty weighed 3.56 ounces, the largest in the study. Once the numbers were broken down by price per ounce of meat, it came out to $1.66 per ounce, the best value among the 14 chains analyzed. So while the burger costs more upfront, it ends up delivering the most meat for the money.
Mickey D’s comes in as the runner-up, and close behind is the All-American Smash from Smashburger at $1.96 per ounce; the latter also tops the list for protein, with 15.7 grams per 100 grams of burger.
At the other end of the list was the Little Cheeseburger from Five Guys, which turned out to be the most expensive burger in the study when measured by meat alone. At $3.59 per ounce, it cost more than double the price per ounce of the top-ranked Whataburger.
Which Chain Serves the Biggest Burger Patties?
If patty size alone decided the winner, Whataburger would still walk away with the crown. The Texas chain’s burger comes with a 3.56-ounce patty, the biggest in the study and noticeably thicker than most of the competition. Shake Shack follows with a 3.03-ounce patty, while Wendy’s Dave’s Single lands in third at 2.75 ounces.
Then the scale drops off pretty quickly. Burger King and Jack in the Box both hover just above the one-ounce mark, and the McDonald’s cheeseburger comes in last with a 1.06-ounce patty — less than a third the size of Whataburger’s. In other words, some burgers really are just … smaller burgers.
Which Fast-Food Fries Give You the Most for Your Money?
Fries may be the sidekick, but sometimes they steal the show. When it comes to getting the most fries for your money, the winner is kind of a shocker. Shake Shack surprisingly takes the top spot with its regular fries working out to about $0.40 per ounce, making them the best value among the chains in the comparison. Culver’s isn’t far behind at $0.50, while Five Guys lands in third at $0.54 per ounce — not bad for a chain famous for dumping an extra scoop of fries into the bag.
Further down the list are some of the usual drive-thru staples. Burger King’s fries average about $0.77 per ounce, while McDonald’s come in a little higher at $0.89. At the expensive end of the fry basket is Sonic, where the price works out to about $1.27 per ounce, the highest in the lineup.
Which Chains Gives You the Biggest Pile of Fries?
When it comes to sheer fry volume, Five Guys clearly doesn’t believe in holding back — which will surprise absolutely no one who’s ever opened one of their famously overflowing bags. A regular order weighed in at 11.29 ounces, by far the largest serving among the chains analyzed. Shake Shack comes in a distant second with 6.17 ounces, followed by Culver’s at 5.29 ounces. Toward the smaller end are chains that take a lighter hand with the scoop, including Whataburger at about 3 ounces, and Sonic, which served the smallest portion at 2.54 ounces.
