10 Burger King Burgers, Ranked Worst To Best

Burger King is one of the most famous fast food chains in the world. It's known for its unique branding, playful paper crowns, recognizable mascot, and, of course, its burgers. The menu is filled with everything from stripped-down classics to towering, over-the-top burgers loaded with toppings and sauces. Some of them have been around for a few years; others, for several decades. They're immediately identifiable thanks to their sparsely seeded buns, melted American cheese, and stacks of lettuce, or tomatoes, or bacon, or all of the above. 

If one thing is certain about Burger King, it's that you come here to order a burger. The real question is: What's the best burger on the Burger King menu? I decided to find out, tasting 10 burgers that are Burger King menu staples, excluding multi-patty recreations (like the Double and Triple Whoppers) and junior options (with one notable exception). To rank them, I factored in burger construction, quality of toppings, and overall flavor. Do bells and whistles make for a better burger, or are burger King's basic options the way to go? Let's get into it.

Please resist your instinct to dash all of my credibility for putting the Impossible Whopper at the bottom of this list. I historically love an Impossible burger and sometimes order them instead of regular burgers at restaurants, and I am not even a vegan or a vegetarian. Meat alternatives have come a long way, and the Impossible Whopper has a lot of potential. Perhaps that's what made it all the more disappointing.

The flavor was so bizarre — almost grassy or like over-cooked rice -– that for a second I almost thought the patty had gone bad. Plus, there was a really confusing and powerful aftertaste that made the whole experience unpleasant. The texture was rubbery and definitely felt more processed than organic, reminding you that this was definitely not meat. Unfortunately, not even the standard Whopper toppings could save this burger; they felt like a sad attempt to mask the disappointing flavor, and failed. I definitely would not purchase it again. This isn't a knock on burger alternatives as a whole, but it definitely is a knock on Burger King's.

I typically love a barbecue burger. Barbecue sauce and sautéed or crispy onions on a burger are usually a perfect flavor combination. But this one one was bad. My main issue was the barbecue sauce itself, which must be different from the basic barbecue sauce Burger King uses on other burgers like the Rodeo Burger. 

The sauce here was syrupy-sweet, with a hint of something harsh and boozy, as if Burger King were going for a bourbon-barbecue feel here. If so, mission failed — the sauce completely derailed the burger. There are crispy onions on it, along with bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise, and pickles, but the onion flavor really got lost, as does the freshness of the vegetables. This, along with the mashed textures of all the other toppings, made for a very confusing burger that tasted like a homemade barbecue sauce recipe gone wrong. I'd skip this one and opt for a different BBQ burger.

The Bacon Cheeseburger seems like it should be a safe, basic, middle-of-the-road option, but it's one that I would unfortunately not get again. Bacon can elevate a burger if done correctly, but it falls short here. The bacon tasted extremely salty, which, as you'll see, is not always a problem on some of the other burgers, but in this sandwich, it was really obvious. I think this is because some of the other burgers have less meat and fewer toppings. Even with more meat, the bread-to-meat ratio was off for me here.

There's also something about the combination of flavors that doesn't quite fit. The pickles, which usually add tang and contrast, don't quite mesh with the bacon here, creating a strange clash that distracts from the overall taste. There is more bread than meat, which feels unsatisfying, and although it's not a terrible burger by any means, there are definitely better options.

Burger King's Hamburger is as basic as it gets, with just a patty, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. While there's something to be said about the classics, this burger lacks the depth it needs to be a satisfying meal. I think it's borderline criminal to eat a burger without cheese, so that works against this simple sandwich; there's no sauce, either, so it was noticeably dry. The overall lack of ingredients leads to suboptimal burger assembly and results in soggy top and bottom buns. Not the most appetizing option.

This meal would work in a pinch, perhaps if you had a very picky child you needed to feed. Aside from that, though, I'd never pick this over some of the more interesting options on the Burger King menu. Simplicity can be a strength, but this is so simple that it's borderline forgettable, leaving no impression of flavor or texture at all. A totally skippable menu item, in my opinion, even if you do have a more basic palate.

The Texas Double Whopper is a burger that promises bold flavor and delivers sheer volume. There's a lot going on here — this burger features two patties, cheese, bacon, jalapeños, onions, as well as tomato, lettuce, pickle, ketchup, and mustard. 

My main problem with this one was that its name didn't match expectations for a Texas-style burger. The flavor profile was overwhelming. I was excited about the prospect of adding a little spice to a burger, but these jalapeños are too much. Instead of a fun, peppery kick, they deliver a flat, uninteresting heat that dominates every other ingredient. Because of this, the other flavors get lost, and I think the bacon is unnecessary here. When I hear a Texas Burger, I think more along the lines of barbecue, so this did not meet my expectations for what I wanted the burger to be. However, it is huge, so if you like a lot of spice and are in the market for a big burger piled high with toppings, it might interest you.

The Bacon King is where things start to come together in a much more exciting way. This, by fast food standards, is a good bacon cheeseburger. The meat-to-bun ratio is great as it's balanced out by the double meat and bacon. The bacon's saltiness is also tempered a bit by the added beef patties. This meal is satisfying and filling, definitely living up to its name. Some Burger King items have way too much meat, but that wasn't the case here.

That said, I do wish there were a few more toppings to make it a bit more complex. Meat is the focus, but it gets old pretty quickly without other flavors balancing everything out. I'd appreciate some freshness in the form of standard veggie toppings to give this a little more character. In the end, though, this a true burger lover's burger. If you're in the market for a bacon cheeseburger, I would skip right over the standard one and go right to the Bacon King.

There's not much here to say about the Whopper Jr.: It's a Whopper, but smaller. You still get a flame-grilled patty topped with pickles and onions, lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup, and mayo, but this burger is a smaller size and a bit more affordably priced. A great option if you're not hungry enough for a full Whopper, or if you're dining on a budget. Not a bad option for kids, either.

My qualms have to do with ratios — there's a lot of bread for the amount of meat you get, making it a chore to chew and drying the whole thing up quite a bit. Flavor-wise, though, it's definitely identical to its larger counterpart, just brought to you in a smaller package. It's certainly not the most exciting item on the menu, but it delivers on that classic Whopper flavor, which counts for a lot. Some items (like the long-lost meatloaf sandwich and Ghost Pepper Whopper) don't last long at Burger King, but the Whopper and its Jr. version are models of consistency.

The Rodeo Burger ended up much higher on the list than I would have expected. At first glance, this burger is small and simple, and I was expecting to be disappointed. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the flavor combination this burger delivered. The barbecue sauce had a good flavor, and the onion rings came through as well, even though truthfully I expected them to be bland. The BBQ Bacon Whopper made me wary of the barbecue sauce on this one, but this is definitely a different sauce.

If you're very picky about the texture of your onion rings, I would not go for this one. After they've been sitting inside the burger (and probably sitting for a while at the actual restaurant), they're quite soggy. However, the onion flavor added something interesting to the burger that I ended up really liking.

I know you probably wanted to see something more interesting this high up on the list, but Burger King's Cheeseburger deserves its place up top. This burger is basic but beautiful. There is a perfect ratio of bread to meat, and the toppings are in harmony with the patty. Every component works together nicely, and while there aren't any bells and whistles on this sandwich, sometimes the most basic model is exactly what you're looking for.

I understand that Burger King has to roll out many different menu options throughout the year to get people in the door and ordering off the menu, but I do feel that some of the more overloaded burger options were some of the lowest on my list. The cheeseburger is nothing groundbreaking, but this it's proof that you don't need to reinvent the wheel or load a bunch of toppings on a burger for it to rank highly. Sometimes the closer you get to the original, the better it is.

Surprising no one, the Whopper was the best burger I tried at Burger King. This sandwich has earned its reputation over time, and no matter the seasonal and promotional iterations that come and go, my taste test proved that sometimes you just can't top the classic. The burger is smoky and, by fast food standards, brilliantly structured. The fresh toppings add plenty of texture and moisture, with the lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles working in tandem to create a perfectly balanced sandwich. While there are several ways to customize the Whopper, the standard original was good enough for me.

This burger feels classic in a way that isn't boring. The proportions are on point, and the restaurant uses leaf lettuce instead of the standard shredded version, which makes it a bit more interesting. The familiarity of this burger is what keeps people coming back to Burger King time after time, even when there are exciting new options on the menu. In a lineup of hits, misses, and inconsistencies, this one delivers every single time.

After figuring out which burgers to try (we excluded some specialty items as well as some Jr. versions of full-size burgers), I ordered everything and conducted a taste test, taking photos before sampling each burger and recording my thoughts. For my ranking, I took into account toppings, structure and ingredient ratios, and overall flavor. While Burger King may not be everyone's favorite fast food burger, there were definitely items on this list I would consider buying again.