A burger is as good as its patty, and frozen beef is a one-way ticket to flavorless disappointment. Ice crystals that form during freezing can affect the meat’s texture and drain it of its juicy, mouthwatering potential.
Here are 10 fast-food chains that never use frozen beef and instead serve fresh patties for their burgers.
Wendy’s
If you’re still wondering, “Where’s the beef?” Wendy’s got an answer: It’s not in the freezer. The Ohio-based chain has been serving its square-shaped patties from fresh, never-frozen beef since 1969.
“You won’t find frozen pucks passed as a meal at Wendy’s … unlike what the other guys are serving up,” the company writes on its website. To maintain this freshness, Wendy’s delivers fresh beef to its locations several times a week using refrigerated trucks.
Culver’s
Culver’s might be a regional burger chain, but its fresh, never-frozen ButterBurgers place it firmly in the top tier of fast food. Each burger is cooked to order, meaning you’ll wait a bit longer — but the payoff is a juicy, melty masterpiece that’s worth every second.
Shake Shack
Shake Shack might be one of the priciest fast-food joints around, but at least you know you’re paying for something fresh. The chain uses 100% all-natural Angus beef that’s freshly ground and never frozen. Each patty is cooked to order, with no fillers, no preservatives — just real, high-quality beef.
Five Guys
Walk into any Five Guys, and you won’t find a freezer in sight. Since its inception in the 1980s as a family-run burger joint in Arlington, Virginia, the chain has adhered to its “fresh-first” philosophy. Burgers are made from 100% fresh ground beef, hand-formed, and cooked to order right in front of you.
In-N-Out Burger
West Coast royalty with a cult-like following, In-N-Out Burger treats freezing like it’s illegal. The California-based chain is an open book about how its meat is prepared. Its burger journey starts with fresh, 100% USDA ground chuck — no fillers, no preservatives, no-nonsense.
Each patty is hand-formed from whole cuts of premium beef and delivered straight from In-N-Out’s own facilities in California and Texas. In fact, the company is limiting the locations to be within the distance of its patty-making facilities.
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Smashburger
There’s a reason Smashburger uses only fresh, never-frozen, high-quality beef. As they smash the patties onto a sizzling-hot grill, frozen patties wouldn’t survive — they’d fall apart under the pressure.
Whataburger
Everything might be bigger in Texas, but at Whataburger, y’all, everything’s also fresher. They use 100% fresh, never-frozen American beef, and that beef goes from supplier to grill in a flash, so your burger’s always as fresh as it gets.
Mooyah
Mooyah might not be the first name that comes to mind, but they’ve got a solid beef game. They use Certified Angus Beef— the world’s first premium brand of black Angus beef — and hand-form their patties daily to keep things fresh. Your burger is made exactly how you want it, and freezing is definitely off the table.
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Elevation Burger
Elevation Burger goes beyond fresh — their beef is organic, grass-fed, and free-range. It’s the Whole Foods of burger joints.
Hopdoddy
Hopdoddy Burger Bar serves elevated burgers made from fresh, never-frozen beef. Its patties are ground in-house and hand-formed every day for the best quality. In addition to beef, they offer options like bison, lamb, and plant-based patties, all topped with gourmet ingredients and house-made sauces.
More Fast-Food Chains That Use Fresh Ingredients
- 16 Fast-Food Restaurants That Use Real Cheese — The next time you crave the real deal cheese on the go, keep an eye out for these restaurants.
- 6 Fast-Food Chains That Only Serve Freshly Cut Fries — While most run-of-the-mill fast food joints don’t go out of their way to impress — tossing frozen, prepackaged fries from freezer to fryer — some chains don’t treat fries as just a sidekick.
- 7 Fast-Food Chains That Use Real, Whole Eggs — Wondering which fast-food chains actually crack real eggs instead of egg-adjacent mixtures? The answer is not many.
