Though a fast-food burger isn't really the healthiest thing you can eat, it's also far from the worst. When it comes to a fast-food menu, between chicken and so many fried sides, sometimes the cheeseburger is actually the lightest choice.
We as Americans eat 50 billion burgers every year (enough to circle the globe 32 times), so we probably want to know which options are the best for us. Using official nutrition facts from 10 of the most popular burger chains in America, we took a look at calorie count, total fat, grams of saturated fat, and sugar. We then viewed the healthiest options on each menu and ranked them by calorie count.
While some answers are obvious (the smaller, the better!), a few made our collective jaws drop. Interested to know which chain hamburgers are the best for you? Here are the 10 healthiest fast-food burgers in America.
#10. Single Whataburger (Whataburger)
- Calories: 590
- Total Fat: 25g
- Saturated Fat: 8g
- Sugar: 12g
Whataburger was born in Corpus Christi in 1950 and went on to take Texas by storm. Texans worship Whataburger the most, especially the spicy ketchup, but the chain has expanded to 17 states. Unfortunately for all of those loyal believers, a single Whataburger clocks in at almost 600 calories, which is far higher than most of the others on this list. And that's without cheese.
Five Guys Burgers & Fries
2 / 10#9. Little Hamburger (Five Guys Burgers & Fries)
- Calories: 540
- Total Fat: 26g
- Saturated Fat: 11.5g
- Sugar: 8g
What Five Guys calls a "Little Hamburger" is what most places would just call a regular hamburger. This is the least damage you can do to yourself at Five Guys, and it's all without bacon and cheese. The high calorie count here is probably due to the peanut oil that the chain fries everything in, which adds quite a few.
#8. Jr. Double Cheeseburger (Sonic Drive-In)
- Calories: 390
- Total Fat: 23g
- Saturated Fat: 8g
- Sugar: 6g
Sonic's Jr. Double Cheeseburger doesn't really feel that healthy at first, but when you compare it to Five Guys or Whataburger, it looks a whole lot better. You've got an additional patty and cheese here, for over 100 calories less than the other two.
#7. Single ButterBurger (Culver's)
- Calories: 390
- Total Fat: 17g
- Saturated Fat: 7g
- Sugar: 6g
While places like McDonald's have multiple patty sizes for different burgers, Culver's just has the one. A standard ButterBurger comes with a single patty on a buttered Kaiser bun, so it's safe to say that the butter is helping crank the fat content up a bit.
Carl's Jr. // Instagram
5 / 10#6. Double Cheeseburger (Carl's Jr.)
- Calories: 370
- Total Fat: 21g
- Saturated Fat: 8g
- Sugar: 6g
Though Carl's Jr. started as a hot dog cart, it quickly became known for charbroiled hamburgers. Theoretically, a charbroiled burger might be healthier than one cooked on a flat-top grill because the oil drips away, but it's hard to know if that's exactly what's going on inside of a Carl's Jr. or Hardee's today.
Nhat V. Meyer/Digital First Media/The Mercury News // Getty Images
6 / 10#5. Single Hamburger (Shake Shack)
- Calories: 370
- Total Fat: 18g
- Saturated Fat: 8g
- Sugar: 5g
A single hamburger at Shake Shack is basically a blank slate. In this case, 370 calories gets you a quarter-pound patty and a potato bun with no condiments. While the Shake Shack single burger has the same number of calories as Carl's Jr.'s Double Cheeseburger, it's got slightly less fat overall.
#4. Jr. Cheeseburger Deluxe (Wendy's)
- Calories: 366
- Total Fat: 19g
- Saturated Fat: 6.5g
- Sugar: 7.5g
If you're ordering a burger off the value menu at a fast-food chain, there's a good chance that the patty is going to be noticeably smaller than the other burgers on the menu. This is the case with three of the top four burgers here. At Wendy's, you'll get a different, larger patty on Dave's Single, but you'll also get almost 200 more calories.
#3. Hamburger (In-N-Out)
- Calories: 360
- Total Fat: 16g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Sugar: 8g
In-N-Out is the only burger in the top four with a standard patty size, or at least the only one that isn't downsized into "mini" territory. The chain's dedication to fresh, never-frozen ingredients speaks for itself with regard to the calorie count, and that's including Spread. While there is no truly healthy choice when it comes to a fried piece of beef, In-N-Out is probably the closest thing to it.
#2. Hamburger (Jack in the Box)
- Calories: 280
- Total Fat: 11g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Sugar: 5g
This is a simple, value-menu burger. Jack's standard single comes with one patty, ketchup, mustard, and a single pickle. The thing is small, but it's under 300 calories and only about 1.6 ounces. Most people wouldn't eat a single Jack in the Box hamburger and feel full, so that number may not be the final calorie count of your meal.
#1. Classic Hamburger (McDonald's)
- Calories: 250
- Total Fat: 9g
- Saturated Fat: 3.5g
- Sugar: 5g
The classic burger at McDonald's is kind of like a burger, but in this day and age, there's no way around the fact that it's far too small to be a meal. After cooking, this patty shrinks down to about 1 oz. That's far different than the Quarter Pounder, which tells you how much you're getting right there in the name.
It's the "healthiest" fast-food burger in America on a technicality, but you're going to need two or three of them. How healthy could that be?
Hungry for more stories about the healthiness (or unhealthiness) of various fast-food menu items?
