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Highest Protein Burgers: Which to Choose?

Highest Protein Burgers: Which to Choose?

In this post, we'll break down the protein content and protein-to-calorie ratio (protein density) of popular fast food burgers from major chains. While not the optimal nutrition choice, when fast food is your only option, we'll help you maintain your protein goals with our comprehensive list. Which burger deserves an occasional spot in your diet—and which ones should you skip? Get ready for our deep dive through 300 burgers from the top chains.

What We Aim to Discover

What can analyzing dozens of menus and running comparisons tell us about the best burger for packing in protein or optimizing your calorie-to-protein ratio?

Burgers might not be the perfect choice, thanks to the bun and condiments like sauce and mayo, but when it’s your only option, we’ve got the data to help you make a smarter pick.

We’ll rank the highest-protein burgers (regardless of size, cost, or calories) and highlight the most protein-dense options—burgers that deliver the most protein for the fewest calories.

How We Broke It Down

We researched the menu's of 26 USA based burger franchises.  Here were the qualifying criteria.

  1. Needed to have full nutrition information published, including macros (and somewhat recent).
  2. Needed to have at least 70 US locations (Portillo's was the smallest to make the cut).
  3. Had to be a self-serve location, meaning no wait staff (this eliminated locations like Red Robbins & Apple Bees).
  4. We also eliminated White Castle (not traditional burger), Fuddruckers (slowly dying, mostly in TX now), and Dairy Queen (most stores are treats-only).

Most burger establishments publish their nutrition information assuming default condiments.  This makes apples-to-apples a little more difficult if you customize your burger removing or adding ingredients, but we'll add some general guidance on how to figure this out as well.

Most Total Protein

RankRestaurantBurgerCaloriesProtein
1FatburgerXXXL "Triple King" Fatburger1,686129.5g
2FatburgerXXL "Double King" Fatburger1,26890g
3Burger KingBacon King1,45885g
4WendysMushroom Bacon, Cheeseburger, Triple1,35084g
5Burger KingTriple Whopper1,26082g
6Shake ShackAvocado Bacon Burger, Triple1,16081g
7Shake ShackTriple SmokeShack™1,09080g
8Shake ShackBacon Cheeseburger, triple1,02080g
9PortillosDouble Rodeo Cheeseburger1,29080g
10Freddy's Frozen Custard & SteakburgerPrime Steakburger - triple patty1,24078g

Least Total Protein

RankRestaurantBurgerCaloriesProtein
1McDonaldsHamburger25012g
2Checkers & Rally'sChecker/Rallyburger®39012g
3WendysJr. Hamburger25013g
4Checkers & Rally'sAll American Cheeseburger33013g
5WendysJr. Cheeseburger29014g
6Burger KingWhopper Jr. 32314g
7Burger KingHamburger24214g
8Jack in the boxHamburger28014g
9Jack in the boxJr. Jack32014g
10WhataburgerWhataburger Jr.®31014g

Highest Protein Density

RankRestaurantBurgerCaloriesProtein% protein
1Shake ShackTriple Hamburger7506325.20%
2Freddy's Frozen Custard & SteakburgerTriple Steak Burger (no cheese)7606324.87%
3Shake ShackDouble Hamburger5604423.57%
4Shake ShackBacon Cheeseburger, triple10208023.53%
5Freddy's Frozen Custard & SteakburgerBacon & Cheese (triple patty)9907723.33%
6Wayback BurgersCraft Your Own - Double Burger5304123.21%
7Shake ShackTriple Cheeseburger9507323.05%
8FatburgerXXXL "Triple King" Fatburger1686129.523.04%
9Shake ShackBacon Cheeseburger, double7605822.89%
10Freddy's Frozen Custard & SteakburgerDouble Steak Burger (no cheese)5704322.63%

Lowest Protein Density

RankRestaurantBurgerCaloriesProtein% protein
1Checkers & Rally'sChecker/Rallyburger®390129.23%
2Habit Burger GrillPortabella Charburger On Seeded Bun760249.47%
3Steak n ShakeButter Steakburger870289.66%
4Checkers & Rally'sFry Lover’s Double6302110.00%
5Checkers & Rally'sCheese Champ®5301810.19%
6Shake Shack‘Shroom Burger5101810.59%
7Checkers & Rally'sDouble Checker/Rallyburger™ w/Cheese5702111.05%
8Checkers & Rally'sBBQ Brisket Melt5902211.19%
9Burger FiSingle The CEO8113111.47%
10Steak n ShakeGarlic Double7302811.51%
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