Fast Food Burger Buns Ranked From Worst To Best

Bun quality might not be the first thing that comes to mind when sitting down to eat a hamburger, but that doesn't mean the bun is anything less than a pivotal burger component. After all, it's hardly controversial to suggest that a patty in between two halves of a bun is all that's necessary to constitute a hamburger — the fancy toppings and sides are just a bonus! 

In order to rank the those all-important burger buns at many of the biggest fast food spots, I visited 13 of the most popular national chains that serve hamburgers. My first step in determining bun quality was removing the bun from the burger entirely and tasting it on its own. After that, I reassembled the burger and analyzed how the bun contributes to the finished product, taking into consideration both its flavor and texture. As it turns out, bun quality ranges somewhat significantly from chain to chain. We'll get more into the methodology at the end, but for now here's my ranking of fast food burger buns from worst to best.

Burgers are hardly the focus of the menu at Dairy Queen — after all, the frozen treat chain offers just a few variations on a standard cheeseburger, and that's only at the locations that serve savory food at all. Some Dairy Queen locations are dedicated exclusively to desserts. It's hardly a surprise, then, that the burger bun at a chain focusing much of its energy elsewhere ended up at the bottom of this list.

Straying from what's typical for a fast food restaurant, the Dairy Queen bun is untoasted. Texturally, it's somewhat pillowy at first, before turning gummy after biting into it. It's that gumminess, in fact, that is its downfall. It's hard to imagine a hamburger bun tasting actively bad, given the uncomplicated nature of a bread that must merely hold a burger together. And while it's not so bad that it's actively unpleasant, the Dairy Queen burger bun is excessively chewy and unnecessarily tough. With a neutral flavor that does little to affect its quality, that toughness is detrimental enough that the bun at Dairy Queen is simply worse than the buns at its closest competitors.

More than any other fast food chain, McDonald's is synonymous with hamburgers, and its major international presence means that it's the largest fast food chain in the world. However, even if the hamburgers at McDonald's are iconic, its buns are little more than serviceable, failing to match the quality of the buns at most other fast food restaurants.

The top of the McDonald's hamburger bun is toasted a medium-heavy amount whereas its bottom is heavily toasted. Visually, the McDonald's bun is smaller than average, predominately by height but also in its overall area. Most prominent in its flavor is toasted bread, underscored by a noticeably yeasty character. That flavor is subtle enough that, on a burger, it disappears entirely. In terms of texture — just like at Dairy Queen — the McDonald's bun is excessively gummy, resulting in the bread overstaying its welcome in a burger bite. Because it's less substantial than the Dairy Queen bun, this is comparatively less of an issue. Nevertheless, that extra toughness holds McDonald's back from burger bun greatness.

Burgers at Burger King are served in a sesame seed bun that's toasted noticeably more than buns are at competing chains. That imbues the bun with a crispier texture than the industry standard, adding at least a little bit of substance to what is otherwise a relatively insubstantial amount of bread. In fact, that toasted element is the bun's greatest strength — however, that's not saying much, because the Burger King burger bun is largely unsatisfying.

On its own, the bun at Burger King tastes closer to a wheat bread than a white bread. Where this becomes an issue is the fact it's still, by all appearances, a sugary style of bread typical for a fast food restaurant. So, whereas a grocery store wheat bread might sacrifice some flavor for healthfulness, the Burger King bun tastes like it should be healthier, but seemingly without the benefit of better ingredients. On a burger, the fact that this bun is sub-par isn't a major issue, but that's only because the signature flame-grilled flavor of Burger King's beef patties does a lot to help the bun's character fade into insignificance. Since this bun does nothing positive other than adequately provide Burger King's burgers with structural support, it lands near the bottom of this list.

Checkers and Rally's — for what it's worth, I visited a Rally's, but the names are interchangeable — serve their hamburgers inside of a seedless bun. Its top is moderately toasted, whereas the bottom is just lightly toasted.

In the flavor department, there's really nothing all that interesting going on with the burger bun at Checkers and Rally's. It's not soft or buttery enough to satisfy the way a good white bread does, but at the same time it lacks any flavor elements that might make it outright unenjoyable. This fits the style of burger that Rally's serves, which doesn't really excel at any one thing. The best that can be said about this bun is that the toastiness of its top bun adds a little bit of flavor, but it's also breadier than would be ideal, resulting in a net neutral. The Checkers and Rally's bun gets the job done with virtually nothing notable to show for it.

The first thing that stands out about the Carl's Jr. burger bun is that its surface area is larger than most of its competitors. The names of most of the burgers at Carl's Jr. start with either "big" or "double," so it's clear that substance is something pivotal to the Carl's Jr. style burger. The size of its bun immediately delivers on that implicit promise.

Each Carl's Jr. bun is lightly toasted. Its texture is light and spongy, albeit with a little bit of heft for balance. Its flavor skews closer to a wheat bread than a white bread, but — at least on the sesame seed version, which is one of two bun styles at Carl's — a satisfying sesame seed flavor is unusually prominent. On a burger, the wheat flavor effectively disappears, and the bun's heft, as well those sesame seeds, are positive contributors to the overall eating experience. It's not the best burger bun in the world, but it does its job more than adequately.

The quality that stands out most about the Whataburger bun is its size. In a dining landscape that rewards loading a burger up with heaps of ingredients, Whataburger opts instead to expand outward rather than upward. That wide bun is seedless and lightly toasted.

Whataburger's hamburger bun is substantially hefty compared to many of its competitors. Its flavor, meanwhile, is light and buttery. On its own, it's almost akin to the sort of lightly toasted bread served at a diner. Burgers at Whataburger come standard with a substantial amount of toppings in addition to a relatively flavorful patty, so that light butteriness is somewhat lost once it's part of a complete hamburger. That said, the bun's heft provides it with a satisfying textural element. Because its flavor is simple and ultimately negligible on an actual hamburger, the Whataburger bun doesn't rank any higher on this list. Nevertheless, between its width and heft, it's at least more than simply competent.

As is more common than not for fast food burger chains, the Wendy's hamburger bun is seedless. Straying from the norm, however, was the fact that my Wendy's bun appeared to be untoasted. Wendy's claims to toast its buns, so either my location simply forgot to do so, or it was so lightly toasted that it became negligible.

Whatever the case may be, the texture of my imperceptibly toasted burger bun was a net positive — it was naturally soft and pillowy, and excessive toasting could have compromised that softness. The flavor of the Wendy's burger bun is buttery, like a good white bread, and it even has an almost sourdough-adjacent richness to it. This all complements the Wendy's burger nicely, providing a pleasant textural element as well as a flavor that pairs well with the butteriness of the chain's square beef patty. There's nothing fancy going on here, but for satisfying in both the texture and flavor departments, the Wendy's bun lands around the middle of this list.

Jack in the Box serves its burgers on a lightly toasted, seedless burger bun. Texturally, it's a little denser than some of its competitors, becoming just slightly gummy after biting into it. Its flavor is buttery, and it even has a noticeable sourdough-esque richness like the Wendy's bun.

On a Jack in the Box burger, the bun's flavor is subtle enough that it more-or-less fades into the background. That said, its heft and gummy character add a significant, satisfying textural element. More than just housing the burger patty and whatever ingredients are on top of it, then, the Jack in the Box bun distinctly helps those ingredients achieve something greater. While that may predominantly be a factor of its consistency alone and not its flavor, such a pleasing consistency means that the bun becomes something more than just a delivery mechanism. For doing more than it has to do, the Jack in the Box bun earns a spot in the upper half of this list.

Quality is the name of the game at Five Guys. While the chain explicitly serves fast food, a higher price point than normal is indicative of a desire to provide customers with a superior product than competitors with cheaper menu items. Housing the famously pricey Five Guys burger is a lightly toasted sesame seed bun.

What immediately stands out about the Five Guys bun is that it's taller than what could be considered standard for a burger bun. Its flavor is akin to buttered white bread. Texturally, the way it's toasted gives it a bit of a crunch, complementing a natural fluffiness. On its own, this is one of the more enjoyable burger buns in the mix, pairing a larger size with a pleasant flavor as well as a satisfying consistency. That said, since each of these positive qualities is a little subtle, they do all fade somewhat into the background when part of a complete burger. Nevertheless, this is a bun that tastes pretty good on its own and contributes positively toward a hamburger's overall flavor. Simply put, Five Guys' commitment to quality is reflected in the above-average taste of its burger bun.

Sonic Drive-In tends to do things a little differently, from its carhop-based drive-in model to its highly customizable drink menu. The differences between a Sonic hamburger bun and the industry standard aren't glaring, but they're substantial enough to earn the bun a spot close to the top of this list. Based on its appearance alone, the Sonic bun sets itself apart from the pack, sporting a very lightly toasted top and a heavily toasted bottom rather than being uniformly toasted.

While the flavor of the Sonic burger bun is buttery like many competitors, it happens to be more buttery than most. Its texture is solid and distinctly gummy, without veering into excessiveness. Gumminess, of course, isn't natural, and there's no way the Sonic burger bun is all that good for you. But since this list consists of fast food burgers only, healthfulness is effectively a non-factor. Ultimately, Sonic's bun seems artificial, but that artificiality is in service of qualities that simply wouldn't be possible with more natural ingredients. On a burger, the prominent buttery flavor goes great with a beef patty, and its textural solidity is a major plus too. Sonic's hamburger bun is messy and delicious, just as you'd expect for good fast food, serving as one of the foremost examples of what a cheap chain restaurant burger bun should be.

First thing's first: people have begged Shake Shack to change its burger buns due to controversy over a political donation made by a chairperson at supplier Martin's Famous Potato Rolls. Of course, anyone who would rather avoid consuming Shake Shack's burger buns for this reason has a right to do so. Assessed for quality alone, it's hard to argue that the Martin's Famous Potato Rolls served at Shake Shack should end up anywhere other than around the top of this ranking.

Shake Shack lightly toasts its buns, and they even appear buttered. That's reflected in their flavor, which is light and buttery, in addition to noticeably sweet like a slice of Wonder Bread — albeit with a cleaner taste than its heavily processed analogue. The bun is not dissimilar to an egg bagel, but lighter and spongier, complete with a just slightly toasty crunch. On a burger, Shake Shack's beef is flavorful enough to somewhat overpower even this atypically flavorful bun, but some of that flavor and especially its balanced texture shine through all the same. The result is a burger bun that stands out considerably from its competition.

The menu at Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers is closer to a Five Guys than a Burger King in that price points are high, but matched by an apparent commitment to quality. Fortunately, anyone willing to splurge on a Freddy's burger can rest assured that it's bun is one of the best in the game.

Freddy's opts to toast its bun asymmetrically, heavily on top and lightly on bottom. This is one of the tastiest buns out there when eaten on its own, with a flavor that approaches a sourdough more closely than any other burger bun on this list. Its texture falls somewhere between pillowy and gummy, matching lightness with heft. On the Freddy's burger, its balanced texture and rich flavor complement the quality of the chain's ingredients perfectly. Overall, the Freddy's bun excels in virtually every relevant category, and would be an upgrade — most notably in flavor — on almost any burger in fast food.

It's no secret that In-N-Out is one of the most hyped fast food burger chains in America. For example, people waited eight hours in line when Idaho's first In-N-Out opened. Whether or not the chain is deserving of its reputation may be a matter of debate, but after pitting its burger bun against the buns at 12 other chains, In-N-Out lived up to the hype and came out on top.

The bun at In-N-Out is visibly taller than average, and this turns out to be key to one of its strengths. Texturally, the bun is soft and spongy by default. Both halves of the bun, however, are pretty significantly toasted, creating a contrast — soft on one end and crisped on the other. Every bite, then, contains both a soft white bread component and a buttered toast element at once. On one of In-N-Out's burgers, that dual nature adds more value than virtually any other burger bun could. It's uniquely and distinctly In-N-Out, and indicative of just why the chain is held in such high regard.

In order to determine this ranking of fast food burger buns, I ordered whatever was more-or-less the least expensive hamburger option at each of these chains. I visited seven of the 13 spots in one trip, and the remaining six in a second trip. Based on extensive notes and my own taste memory, I was able to come up with this list of all 13 burger buns ranked from worst to best after completing the second outing.

As is reflected in my individual analyses of each burger bun, both the taste of the bun on its own and how it contributes to a complete burger were important. In most cases one of those factors didn't end up outweighing the other, because however good a burger bun was on its own typically matched how it held up on a burger. That wasn't always the case, however — if I hadn't tried it on its own first, for example, Burger King's bun might have ranked just slightly higher. While burger buns are virtually never eaten on their own, I felt that this was an important step in assessing their overall quality, and lent it some weight nevertheless. Value was not a factor, since buns are included on a variety of menu items at each fast food chain.