10 Fast Food Chains With The Highest-Protein Classic Cheeseburgers

America's obsession with protein continues after consumers propelled the nutrient to the top of their dietary concerns throughout the early 2020s. While eggs are considered the gold standard of protein, meat, and beef in particular, is a terrific source of the stuff, as well as one that is easy, convenient, and not too terribly expensive to obtain. The price of beef has indeed gone up in recent years, and with it, the price of fast food cheeseburgers. But if you can rustle up at least $6, you can grab a meaty sandwich that will more than help you meet your protein goals on any given day.

We've compiled a list of the 10 fast food chains that make the classic cheeseburgers containing the most protein. To keep things fair, our interpretation of "classic" means counting single-patty cheeseburgers only, with no meaty extras like bacon. If the protein content of your next burger with cheese matters to you, then you'll be pleased to note that every sandwich on this list contains at least 20 grams of the essential nutrient. Some of the ones that didn't make the cut had as few as 16.2 and 18 grams — that was Burger King and Dairy Queen, respectively. So, without further ado, here they are, in order from lowest to highest.

In-N-Out is the quintessential West Coast fast food joint, and its locations are so limited because the chain refuses to put a restaurant outside a specific radius of one of its food processing facilities. But the lucky customers who live close to a location reap the benefits, including access to its fresh-beef Cheeseburger with Onion, which clocks in at 20 grams of protein.

A&W is a much bigger deal in Canada than it is in the United States, and some customers even find that it tastes better up north. Still, if you happen to live within driving distance of one, you shouldn't let that detract from the Single Cheeseburger on its menu, which will provide you with a worthy 21 grams of protein.

Culver's has such a wide and varied menu that, amid its famous pot roast sandwich and scratch-made mashed potatoes, it's easy to forget that when the chain was founded, its ButterBurgers were, in fact, the headliners — or perhaps co-headliners, sharing the limelight with its frozen custard. But we bet you won't forget now that you know its single ButterBurger Cheese contains 24 grams of protein.

While Five Guys might be pricier than other chains, at least you're getting 26 or 27 grams of protein with your expenditure if you order its Little Cheeseburger. That variation in the exact amount is due to which supplier's cheese your location receives; one contains 4 grams of protein, and the other contains 3.

Located primarily in the American Midwest and South, Hardee's has made a name for itself with its in-house, scratch-made biscuits. But it's still a burger joint at heart, and its single Big Cheeseburger is also big on protein, with 27 grams.

Did you know that Carl's Jr. is actually owned by the same company as Hardee's? The two are sister chains, but Carl's Jr.'s take on the Big Cheeseburger takes first place when it comes to protein, just edging out Hardee's with 28 grams in a single-patty sandwich.

While you can order as many as three beef patties on a Shake Shack Cheeseburger, one patty will provide almost half of the protein necessary to keep your body functioning. That's 29 grams, to be exact. It's also over $5 cheaper to get the single-patty cheeseburger than the three-patty version.

The only fast food chain on this list with space for both a drive-thru and a drive-in, Sonic offers its customers a variety of retro-inspired menu items, like slushy drinks and coney dogs. Its Plain Sonic Cheeseburger, which is a truly stripped-down classic — it's literally just a beef patty, cheese, a bun, and condiments — nonetheless contains 30 grams of protein.

Wendy's — the burger chain known for its fresh, never-frozen beef and distinctive square patties — should also be recognized for how much protein it packs into a single cheeseburger. For instance, the Dave's Single, a one-patty, two-slice-of-cheese burger, contains 31 grams of protein.

Finally, you can really get your protein on at Whataburger. The Whataburger on its own contains a whopping 34 grams, but if you add a large slice of American cheese for a fee, the cheese tacks on an additional 5 grams, for a grand total of 39 grams — far and away the most of any cheeseburger on this list.