The Hands-Down Best McDonald's Burger Is Made For Meat Lovers

McDonald's dependable nature makes it all too easy to pick an item and stick with it — so long as you can find a favorite on the brand's giant menu. Yet the chain has offered as many as 145 menu items at once, with the burger selection still going strong. So to aid your selection of the chain's more than a dozen beef sandwiches, our own Food Republic reviewer ranked every McDonald's burger worst to best. The item that took first place? Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese.

The build delivers beefy burger appeal, comprising two American cheese slice-topped patties, grilled onions, and pickles, all contained between sesame buns. Like its smaller Quarter Pounder counterpart, the dish is McDonald's only burger that's cooked fresh, not frozen, with the patties seasoned and prepared on a griddle. Our Food Republic taster applauded the dish's appealing classic burger flavor, noting that the two stacks amplified the savory meat palate — no fillers to override the beef. You won't need to worry about dryness, either. Many find the quarter-pounder patties contain more juice than the frozen burgers, with only mustard and ketchup as the included condiments. So for fans of a beef-forward burger style, this McDonald's dish hits the spot.

Unsurprisingly, the delights of the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese are no secret. While not quite the iconic level of the storied Big Mac – which came fourth in the Food Republic ranking — many customers have grown to love the dish since its 1993 introduction. "It's the burger that made me a burger lover when I was a kid," noted a Redditor.

The Golden Arches' freshly-griddled patties deserve the love, but the dish's appealing size is another advantage. Our own Food Republic reviewer commended the pleasures of two patties instead of the single on the Quarter Pounder. The dish comes more filling than the Big Mac, but by way of beef rather than filler. The latter contains only 3.2 ounces of thin beef, accompanied by three buns and signature sauce, while FR's favorite pick packs in some 8 ounces of freshly prepared beef.

The difference between a McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder and Big Arch is smaller, but still, the predecessor pleases purists. The Big Arch is a recent release — now available in Portugal, Great Britain, and Canada, and with a U.S. release set in March 2026 — that features the same quarter pounder double stack, but with even more cheese and a Big Arch sauce. So far, fans enjoy the new dish, but the Double Quarter Pounder formula has long won over hearts. "[It's] a top-tier fast food burger for me," noted a poster on a Fast Food Reddit thread, even citing a preference over the iconic In-N-Out Burger with its fresh beef patties.