The Worst Items You Can Get At Burger King
Much like its rival McDonald's, Burger King is an American fast-food institution. Since its inception in 1953 in Jacksonville, Florida, the royal chain has turned its hamburger recipe into one of the biggest dining conglomerates in the world. In 2021, Burger King made more than one billion dollars in revenue, and the company now has more than 7,000 franchises in the United States alone.
The Burger King menu is always changing, with new items being introduced and getting their days in the sun on a regular basis. Foundational items like the Whopper and the Chicken Fries remain unmoved and give the restaurant a sense of identity. You can't get a Whopper at McDonald's, after all. On the downside, this fast-food titan isn't immune to mistakes and not every invention is worth the money in your wallet. From bad coffee to lackluster side dishes, we've gone ahead and ranked the worst items you can get at Burger King.
BK Café Decaf
It's hard to knock any fast-food restaurant for their coffee. Unless you're Starbucks or Dunkin', it's clear that your mission statement doesn't revolve around the breakfast drink, so the quality is bound to be subpar. Burger King's medium cup usually costs about $1.79 — one of the higher price marks among most fast-food chains. Taking into consideration that it's one of the worst Burger King menu items, as well as one of the worst coffee drinks out of all of the big-wig burger spots, and it's difficult to ignore its severe mediocrity.
Burger King's coffee has been crucified online in rankings. Noted for having a bitter flavor that leaves a burnt aftertaste, we're going to single out the BK Café Decaf in our ranking. It's one thing to drink below-average coffee, but it's an unforgivable undertaking to drink a below-average coffee without caffeine in it. At least with the former you're getting a jolt of energy once the dust of melancholic bitter disaster settles. With the decaf option, you're left with merely a hollow feeling and a foul taste on your tongue.
Egg-Normous Burrito
The issue with Burger King's Egg-Normous Burrito starts in the name itself. There's just too much egg in this thing. Unlike their Croissant Breakfast Sandwich, which comes in a relatively small size compared to that of the company's competitors, the Egg-Normous Burrito lives up to its title, for better or for worse. If you're the kind of person who loves to eat a heaping pile of eggs during breakfast time, then don't take this critique too close to heart. The price of the breakfast sandwich, which clocks in at roughly $3.50, is fair given just how much food you get.
Made with fluffy sun-yellow eggs, a slice of sausage, bacon bits, hash browns, a special sauce, and melted American cheese, it's a standard breakfast burrito. Unfortunately, Burger King's sausage is one of their worst menu ingredients, given its horrendous lack of seasoning. On top of that, the eggs on Burger King breakfast items, across the board, tend to be underwhelming and inconsistent with texture. There are better breakfast options to be had — especially the hash browns.
Four-piece Chicken Nuggets
This might be a controversial choice, but the four-piece chicken nugget meal is, in fact, one of the worst menu options at Burger King. For starters, why get just a four-piece when you can go as high as a 16-piece? The value just isn't there, especially when the 16-piece typically costs less than four times a four-piece. It's not even quantity over quality at that point; it's smart shopping.
Perhaps the biggest reason for the four-piece's downfall is the Chicken Fries exist. The long, slender chicken straws remain a heavyweight item on Burger King's menu, and for good reason. They are delicious and even a hint spicier than the nuggets. The original nuggets are nothing exceptional. They taste great on their own and are one of the bigger nuggets on the fast-food market — much larger than KFC and Wendy's offerings. But if Burger King ever brings back their Spicy Chicken Nuggets, the four-piece original will slip even farther down the ranking.
Fat Free and Low-Fat Milk
This was an easy choice and practically a gimme — it's low-hanging fruit, you might say. However, the reason that Burger King's fat free and low-fat milk make an appearance on this list is because milk is, somehow, available for purchase off of the regular dinner menu. Of course, milk is a great option for children to have with their kids' meals. But the idea of an adult drinking milk with a Whopper is a disturbing image to sit with.
On their online menu, Burger King calls fat free milk a "refreshing complement to any meal," and they couldn't be more wrong. Also, around $2 or more for a cup of milk? You can probably get an entire carton for $4 at your local corner store. The next time you're at Burger King and find yourself contemplating ordering milk, just get water. It's free, and you won't earn any judgmental eyes from the peanut gallery who are wondering why a grown-up is drinking plain milk at a Burger King on a weekday afternoon.
Garden side salad
There is no shame in ordering a salad from a fast-food restaurant. If it's a social situation and you don't want to play with fire by ordering a greasy burger, getting a simple salad is never a bad choice. Unfortunately, in Burger King's case, it would help if their garden side salad was actually palatable.
The garden side salad, especially in its crispy chicken iteration, is not the healthy substitute it masquerades as. Dietitian Sue Heikkinen pointed out in an interview with Mashed that it's actually unhealthier than the classic Whopper. You're better off getting a packed salad from the prepared foods section of your local grocery store deli. But if you're in a time crunch and the grocery store isn't an option, Burger King's garden side salad is a serviceable option, as long as you're not going into the meal expecting the greatest veggie odyssey of your life. This company specializes in cheeseburgers for a reason.
Single Sourdough King
The Single Sourdough King is the newest menu item on this list, and it has yet to make a memorable mark among a hefty, burger-filled array of options. The Sourdough King came out in 2018 and is an alternative to any of Burger King's sandwiches plagued by the divisive sesame seed bun. Sourdough sandwiches are good — that's not what's up for debate here. The way that Burger King's sourdough sandwiches taste, though, does not succeed. In fact, the Single Sourdough King is the worst burger you can get from the royal fast-food heavyweight.
Let's call the Single Sourdough King for what it really is — a glorified patty melt without any diner-style heart. There are worse items available at Burger King, no question, but unless you absolutely despise sesame seed buns, there's no reason for choosing the Single Sourdough King over something like a Whopper or double cheeseburger. Perhaps the biggest reason that the Single Sourdough King isn't our favorite is because it's an instance of Burger King cashing in on the popularity of sourdough without actually bringing any creativity to the table.
Whopper Jr.
To be fair, the Whopper Jr. is not a bad sandwich. It's quite good, actually. What lands the item on this list is the fact that it's heavily overshadowed by its older brother, the original Whopper. You're getting the same taste but in a smaller vessel, which is a bummer, given that a Whopper's taste is incendiary and should be enjoyed in the biggest quantity available.
At roughly $3, you're paying nearly half the price that you would for a regular-sized Whopper. The Whopper Jr. is another example of a staple kid's meal item needlessly thrust into the dinner menu. If you look at the two sandwiches side by side, there's a clear difference in size. The Whopper Jr. is akin to McDonalds' Big Mac Jr. But if you're looking to save a little bit of money and maximize the flavor palate in front of you, order a double cheeseburger with all of the toppings. It's the same great taste for a few cents less.
Strawberry Shake
If you're an item at a fast-food restaurant competing to stay off a worst item on the menu list, you don't want to find yourself the worst version of an item that has two or more flavor options. Just like with Dairy Queen Blizzards, there will always be something at the bottom of the barrel. For the Strawberry Shake at Burger King, it's going to be a long road to the top.
Burger King has one of the better dessert lineups among its fast-food counterparts. It doesn't have the Frosty or the McFlurry, but their milkshakes are mesmerizing. The very best of the best is their Oreo Cookie Shake, which you can get in either vanilla or chocolate. Then you have the traditional plain vanilla and chocolate shakes ... and then you've reached the basement — the strawberry milkshake.
It's been a tough career for strawberry milk in general. Never taken as seriously as its peer chocolate milk, strawberry milk's transformation into a milkshake at a top-tier fast food establishment adds insult to injury. It's hard to not root for the Strawberry Shake to make a comeback, though, even if the Chocolate Shake at Burger King is on the Mount Rushmore of fast-food milkshakes.
Pancake and Sausage Platter
You wouldn't be wrong to skip breakfast at Burger King if the option presents itself. Fast-food breakfast, in general, is not up to par with the work of Denny's, Waffle House, and IHOP, even if the lines between diner food and fast food are somewhat blurred. Nevertheless, the Burger King Pancake and Sausage Platter is one of the worst items across the restaurant's entire menu.
The sausage used in the Egg-Normous Burrito is the same sausage in this platter, and it doesn't work any better here than it does there. What tops this whole charade off, however, are the pancakes. Though a breakfast heavyweight, these pancakes toe the line of being inedible because of their fullness and rich texture. Two pancakes in and you might start feeling your stomach start to twist and turn. Pair that potential gut disaster with thin, lackluster sausage patties, and you've got yourself a doozy of a morning meal. Stick to hash browns and coffee if you can help it.
Onion rings
When done correctly, onion rings can be the most delectable part of a fast-food menu. Take Sonic or Whataburger or Carl's Jr., for example, as they all have cornered the market on the onion ring industry. They're delicious in flavor and have crispy breading that stands out immediately after the first bite.
Burger King, however, is not making the same kind of magic in their fryers. The restaurant's french fries are pretty solid, despite recipe changes over the years, but their onion rings have not reached their full potential. Bonus points to Burger King for even having them, though, as its biggest immediate competitors, McDonald's and Wendy's, still stick to just french fries.
Some more seasoning would go a long way for Burger King's onion rings. They just taste like onions and aging deep fryer oil. Despite the underwhelming mushiness and soggy texture, finding a stray onion ring in your carton of fries is one of the best things that can happen to you at Burger King.
French Toast Sticks
There are some breakfast foods that age gracefully as you grow older: oatmeal, coffee, and whole wheat toast for instances. Then there are the breakfast foods that flounder in mediocrity once your taste buds graduate into adulthood. Burger King's biggest example is the French Toast Sticks.
The French Toast Sticks are a messy and uninspired meal. Obviously, French toast is rarely considered a high-brow delicacy, but if you can't make a solid iteration of the breakfast staple, you should just leave it off your menu entirely. Without heaps of syrup, it's just lightly sweetened toast. For a fast-food restaurant that makes such good dessert food, the sweet breakfast items leave a lot to be desired. Get yourself a Fully Loaded Biscuit or a Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Maple Waffle Sandwich instead — it'll make for a more rewarding breakfast experience that doesn't leave maple syrup stains on your shirt and an empty hole in your stomach.
Italian Royal Crispy Chicken
Burger King's line of chicken sandwiches are much better than you might think. Against restaurants like Popeyes, Chick-fil-A, and KFC, they aren't titans. But when put in conversation against McDonald's and Wendy's, Burger King triumphs with flying colors ... usually. One abomination still has a place on the menu, and it's the Italian Royal Crispy Chicken. In theory, there's nothing wrong with a fast-food restaurant trying to get creative and take one dish and make it into a sandwich. But in practice, that sandwich has to justify its existence.
The Italian Royal Crispy Chicken is, in short, a chicken parmesan sandwich. It's a breaded chicken patty topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Ditching their signature sesame seed bun, Burger King instead has opted for a potato bun. The chicken is good, but the marinara sauce is what ruins this sandwich, as it tastes like glorified ketchup. With the right ingredients and food scientists at work, this sandwich could succeed, but not at Burger King. If you're seriously considering ordering the Italian Royal Crispy Chicken, just go to a sit-down restaurant or the prepared foods section at your local grocery store and get a chicken parm. The results will be much more satisfying.
Egg and Cheese Biscuit
The worst breakfast item at Burger King is, without a doubt, the Egg and Cheese Biscuit. It's one of the few vegetarian options available on the menu, which has to be the only reason it ever gets ordered at all. The title says it all — it's a biscuit with scrambled eggs and a slice of melted cheese. The egg items at Burger King are let-downs more often than they are successes, but at least most of them have some kind of meat ingredient to fall back on. With this biscuit, there's no sausage or bacon in sight, leaving patrons with a very lackluster and flimsy sandwich.
"Biscuit" is a generous word for the bun. It's much more akin to an English muffin than something your grandma would whip up for a holiday dinner. Burger King has a glaring problem — for some reason, they can't make their scrambled eggs taste good. That issue only pertains to their breakfast items, thankfully. The American cheese on this sandwich is nothing to speak negatively about, because Burger King's cheese is one of the better options across all fast-food restaurants. If you want an egg and cheese biscuit, ask for a serving of sausage or bacon on it for good measure.
Impossible Whopper
It's difficult to put the Impossible Whopper on this list at all, given that Burger King is one of the few fast-food chains that offers a plant-based burger option. Even so, the Impossible Whopper just isn't very good. It's a vegan burger made exactly like a normal Burger King burger, which spurs a unique element of flavor chaos that'll leave you dissatisfied. It looks like a real burger, and it's got the texture of a real burger, but that's where the comparisons stop.
For one sandwich, it typically costs somewhere in the ballpark of $6, which isn't bad considering that it's a vegan patty. It's usually cheaper than the Bacon King and Triple Whopper. At a reputable, sit-down restaurant, you might pay something upwards of $15 for a good vegan burger. The Impossible Whopper is worth a try, whether you're vegan, vegetarian, or not. If you aren't accustomed to a plant-based diet, the taste might be jarring for you, and you're more than likely to find a much, much better option someplace else. Points to Burger King for being inclusive, though. Not many other fast-food chains can say the same.
Rodeo Burger
Not to rehash the onion ring debacle, but the absolute worst item on the Burger King menu is the Rodeo Burger. There's nothing magical about it; it's just a burger patty, barbecue sauce, and two onion rings on a sesame seed bun. For a restaurant so essential to the alchemy of burger spots in North America, having to put a burger at the bottom of this list is a gut-wrenching task for fast-food afficionados like us.
But tough as it may be, no one can turn their eye away from the misfire of the Rodeo Burger. If you agree with our assessment of Burger King's onion rings, then there's no debate here. Barbecue sauce on a burger? Fine. No cheese, sauces, tomato, or lettuce? That's not unheard of. But onion rings? If Burger King wants to throw an odd ingredient on top of their flame-grilled burger patties, they should have a french fry option. At least their fries aren't crimes against the deep fryer.
The Rodeo Burger could be something great if it had some complexity or grit. Yes, the simplicity of two onion rings on a lone patty and the unchallenging price tag is part of the allure. But when your company makes a billion dollars every year, it pays to spend a few bucks on taking a risk. Hopefully the Rodeo Burger will, someday, get a revamp that takes it off of this list entirely.