Protein-Packed Fast-Food Burgers Ranked by Protein-to-Calorie Ratio

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. In general, the beef patties are usually a good protein source, but the bun and mayo-based condiments can increase the calorie count without adding too much additional protein.

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 the biggest US based burger franchises.  Here were the qualifying criteria we used.

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.

How to Read These Burger Rankings

Before we get into the rankings, here’s how to read these lists.

We’re starting with protein density because it’s the most useful metric. Protein density measures how much protein you get per calorie, which matters if you want to eat high-protein without overshooting calories. Higher protein density means more protein for every bite.

The Highest Protein Density list shows the best protein-for-calorie options. The Lowest Protein Density list shows the least efficient ones, burgers that provide relatively little protein for the calories they contain.

You’ll also see Most Total Protein and Least Total Protein. These are interesting, but incomplete on their own. Total protein ignores calories and portion size, so a burger can rank high here and still be an inefficient choice.

If you focus on one list, make it protein density. That’s where the real signal is.

Highest Protein Density (Best Protein per Calorie)

These burgers give you the most protein for the fewest calories, making them the most efficient choices if protein is your priority.

Lowest Protein Density (Worst Protein per Calorie)

These burgers deliver relatively little protein for the calories they contain, making them the least efficient protein options.

Most Total Protein (But Not Always the Best Choice)

These burgers contain the highest total grams of protein, but they may also come with a high calorie cost.

Least Total Protein (Protein Lightweights)

These burgers have the lowest total protein content overall, regardless of calories or portion size.

Beef and Protein Density

Beef patties are made from different mixes of lean meat and fat, usually written as 70/30, 80/20, or 85/15. Most fast-food chains don’t publish their exact blends, but 80/20 is most common.

The lean portion of the beef is where the protein comes from. As the fat percentage increases, more of the burger’s calories come from fat instead of protein, which lowers protein density.

Fattier beef is still popular for good reasons:

• It tastes better and stays juicier
• It’s easier to cook consistently at scale
• It’s often cheaper

Smash-style burgers are cooked thin and fast, which makes lean beef easy to dry out. Fattier beef stays juicier and browns better, so it’s commonly used for smash burgers. That tradeoff shows up in the data, with several smash-style chains ranking near the bottom for protein density.

Bread, Cheese, and Condiments: Where Protein Density Really Changes

Once the beef is set, most protein density differences come from what’s added on top. Buns, cheese, and sauces can add a lot of calories without adding much protein, which quickly shifts a burger up or down the rankings.

Below are typical calorie and protein ranges for common burger components. These are averages based on standard fast-food portions.

How to think about this

Bread/Bun: Adds a lot of calories for relatively little protein, which lowers protein density from the start.

Mayo-Based Sauces: High calories with almost no protein. One of the fastest ways to reduce protein density.

Cheese and Bacon: Add flavor and some protein. Not protein-dense, but not the worst tradeoff.

Vegetable Toppings: Very low calories. Minimal effect on protein density, with added volume and nutrients.

Ketchup and Mustard: Low-calorie ways to add flavor. Protein density barely changes.

This is why two burgers with the same patty can end up very far apart in the rankings. Protein density is often decided by what surrounds the beef, not the beef itself.

Tips for Including Burgers in a High-Protein Diet

If you’re going to eat burgers, the goal is simple: get more protein without stacking on unnecessary calories.

Go bigger on the patty.
Order a double or triple. The beef patty is the most protein-dense part of the burger, so adding patties usually beats adding toppings or sides.

Skip mayo and mayo-based sauces.
They add a lot of calories and almost no protein.

Cheese and bacon are okay if you enjoy them.
They add flavor and some protein. Not efficient, but a reasonable tradeoff.

Skip grilled onions.
They’re cooked in fat and add calories without adding protein.

Keep the vegetable toppings.
Lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onions add very few calories and help with fullness.

Ketchup and mustard are fine.
They add flavor with minimal calories compared to creamy sauces.

Avoid the fries.
Fries add a lot of calories with almost no protein. If you’re still hungry, get a double or triple, or order two burgers instead.

Watch specialty buns.
Brioche, pretzel, and buttered buns often add more calories than standard buns.

Use the avocado.app protein density rankings.
They make it easy to find the best protein-for-calorie burger options.

Burger Chains Included in This Analysis

• McDonald's - nutrition
• Wendy's - nutrition
• Burger King - nutrition
• Sonic Drive-In - nutrition
• Jack in the Box - nutrition
• Hardee's - nutrition
• Five Guys - nutrition
• Carl's Jr. - nutrition
• Whataburger - nutrition
• Culver's - nutrition
• Checkers / Rally's - nutrition
• Steak 'n Shake - nutrition
• A&W Restaurants - nutrition
• Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers - nutrition
• Shake Shack - nutrition
• In-N-Out Burger - nutrition
• The Habit Burger Grill - nutrition
• Smashburger - nutrition
• Wayback Burgers - nutrition
• BurgerFi - nutrition
• Fatburger - nutrition
• Mooyah Burgers, Fries & Shakes - nutrition
• Portillo's - nutrition

Rankings reflect standard menu items as they’re typically sold, not optimized custom orders, to keep comparisons realistic and consistent across chains.