Elevate Your Wendy's Baconator With These 5 Ordering Tips

I'll admit, I come to this article with a great deal of prejudice — I'm a huge Baconator fan. It just contains everything good about a burger: lots of beef, lots of bacon, lots of cheese, a soft potato bun, creamy mayo, and tangy ketchup, all melting into a magical medley in your mouth. As much as I love the beefy, bacony sandwich, though, even the bodacious Baconator can be enhanced if you know how to navigate Wendy's ordering options.

While Wendy's customization choices aren't nearly as robust as those at "Have It Your Way" fast-food royal family member Burger King, there is nonetheless room for innovation. Cases in point are the Baconator upgrade options on the forthcoming list, which take this already over-the-top burger to even greater heights. We highly recommend trying them out on your upcoming trips to that fast-food franchise with the redhaired, pigtailed girl on the sign — who, incidentally, is based on restaurant founder Dave Thomas' real daughter, though he later came to regret making her the name and face of his company. For better or worse, though, the real-life Wendy is the inspiration behind the household name, and the Baconator is one of the chain's most popular and iconic sandwiches.

Per the Wendy's website, to "baconate" means to "make everything better," and I, for one, agree with that sentiment. It's honestly difficult to imagine feeling unhappy with that melty, meaty giant of a burger between your hands. If you feel the way I do, keep reading for some innovative ways to get your Baconator on with even more fierceness!

If you're going to make something like the Baconator even better, the logical place to start is by adding even more of the things that make it so good — like the cheese. The sandwich comes standard with two slices of American, but why stop there? Via Wendy's online ordering interface, you can add up to five more slices of American cheese, along with up to five slices of Asiago cheese.

A gooey, creamy cheddar cheese sauce comes standard on menu items like the chain's baked potatoes and loaded fries, and you can order a side cup of this heavenly meltiness to pour on top of your Baconator, as well, though it's not an app option — you'll have to make this request in person. Finally, bleu cheese crumbles are offered as toppings for the chain's salads, and sprinkling on a side helping of these (another request you'll need to make in person) gives your 'Nator a bacon & bleu burger vibe. All added up, you get a Baconator that is so exquisitely cheesy, you just might think you've died and gone to burger heaven.

Chili burgers, as the name implies, are hamburgers topped with chili, among their other adornments. Thought to have originated in Los Angeles in the 1920s, chili burgers can now be found from coast to coast, with regional renditions showing up in culinary creations like the Carolina burger of North and South Carolina and the cowboy burger of Texas. Since Wendy's chili is a famous fan favorite, mashing it up with the Baconator for an uber-meaty chili burger is practically a given.

To execute this menu hack, all you need is a Baconator and some Wendy's chili, which the chain sells in both small and large single-serve sizes as well as by the bucket. The size you should get depends on how much you want to chili up your Baconator — though we're reasonably sure that even the biggest chili fan doesn't need that family-sized bucket just to top one hamburger.

Since chili and the Baconator are standard menu items, this compilation can be fully executed with app ordering — no need for a custom request at the restaurant counter or drive-thru. Simply DIY your burger creation by lifting off the top bun and spooning on as much chili as your heart desires.

Wendy's also offers some topping add-ons for its chili, including shredded cheddar cheese, sweet onion, hot sauce, and sour cream. Any or all of these will add extra flavor and texture to a Baconator, and sour cream is an especially intriguing way to add a cool dairy element to the sammie. So, feel free to add any or all of these toppings to your chili order, as well.

If there's anything better than a Baconator, it's even more Baconator. Understanding this principle well, Wendy's offers various offshoots of the burger, from the Breakfast Baconator on the morning menu (at locations where Wendy's still offers breakfast) to the smaller Son of Baconator for bacon lovers with slightly smaller appetites.

Another meaty, gooey menu item paying homage to the bacon-loaded burger is the chain's Baconator Fries, which marry Wendy's natural-cut fries with crumbled applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese sauce, and shredded cheddar. If you want to turn up the everything-ness of your Baconator sandwich, add an order of these loaded Baconator fries. And by "add an order," we don't mean simply order some of the meaty, cheesy spuds and eat them alongside your burger — we mean literally add them to your burger. Yep — pop the top bun and pile them right on top of all that bacon, sauce, cheese, and meat. 

What you end up with is even more bacon (never a bad thing), even more cheese, and the savory, salty crunch of those French fries, making this sandwich possibly the most complete burger meal you can get at any fast-food restaurant. If that isn't "extra," we don't know what is.

If you want to take the Baconator in a bigger, bolder flavor direction, turn it into a barbecue burger. It's easy to do, and you can do it right in the app or web-based ordering platform; the needed toppings are there for the choosing — no need to make a custom request to a restaurant server.

When placing your order, simply add Honey Barbecue Dipping Sauce to your Baconator (which comes with a small upcharge), along with sweet onion, which you can add for free. Suddenly, you'll find you're not eating the Baconator at all but the Baconator's smoky-sweet cousin. The family resemblance is certainly there, but it's an entirely different sandwich — one you may find yourself going back to again and again. We also recommend going big with even more bacon — you can add up to five extra slices, for an added charge.

Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain never put lettuce on burgers, believing the veg causes too much slippage and makes one's burger fall apart. He also had strict opinions about tomatoes on hamburgers. If you're a Bourdain disciple, therefore, this next tip might not be for you. Although, having said that, a true Bourdain purist wouldn't be eating a Baconator to begin with, since the star firmly felt that no more than a single bacon slice should ever be applied to any burger. With its six pieces of applewood-smoked goodness, the Baconator certainly smashes that rule.

If you're a fan of the meaty sandwich, you know it comes with nary a vegetable. (Unless you count the tomatoes they use to make the ketchup, which we don't.) Admittedly, the Baconator has a whole lotta meat — in addition to all that bacon, there's a half-pound of beef up in there. So, adding vegetables brings some much-needed freshness, and that's exactly what we suggest. 

Load it up with "the works," meaning every veg offered as an add-on. Via Wendy's online ordering and the Wendy's app, you can pile on lettuce (sorry, Anthony Bourdain), tomato, sweet onion, and crinkle-cut pickles. There's also an option to add mustard, which the Baconator doesn't include. This hack gives you a deluxe version of the Baconator that has the added dimension of garden freshness, truly making an already fantastic sandwich even better.