Elevate Your Five Guys Burger With These 5 Ordering Tips

Five Guys is a fast-casual burger restaurant that’s within the top five chains that customers feel are overpriced. However, it is committed to providing customers with a quality product, and despite critiques, Five Guys still has locations in all 49 of 50 states (sorry, Alaska). Unlike many fast food chains, though, the menu here is pretty streamlined. You do have your choice of up to 15 complimentary toppings you can add onto a sandwich, but it can be difficult to come up with off-the-wall creations. Ordering online will further limit you, but if you speak to an employee in person, you may be able to convince them to go the extra mile and see your wildest burger dreams come true.

Keep in mind that fast food restaurants have menus for a reason, and requesting excessive modifications can come off as poor etiquette while also holding up the work flow. Some older menu hacks, like ordering your fries extra crispy, are no longer allowed at many locations for this reason. One Redditor, who self-identified as a Five Guys employee, offered a litany of staff-made creations but cautioned that they “aren’t really allowed to do most of it, especially for customers.” They advised that you should know an employee well before making off-menu requests but that “it’s definitely worth the try.” Below are five ordering tips that will elevate your Five Guys burger from the simplest request to one that may get you a raised eyebrow or a side. Just remember to tip well if the staff agrees to make any of these.

Five Guys makes all its burgers fresh to order, which means that you can specify how you’d like your burger cooked. With that in mind, you can order your burger extra crispy. Because Five Guys uses 80/20 ground chuck, the fat content will actually keep the burger fairly moist, while the extra time on the grill will add extra caramelization to the beef, which translates to extra flavor and a crispy texture that contrasts many of the fresh veggie toppings. A little bit of steak sauce complements the bolder flavors of a well-done burger, so ask if your location carries A1.

Five Guys does not season its burgers, standing behind the idea that its beef is flavorful enough on its own. That doesn’t mean you can’t get a little extra flavor on your hamburger, though — just borrow the Cajun season from the french fry section of the menu. Ask an employee to go heavy on this seasoning while they’re grilling your patty. Add hot sauce, onions, and green peppers to take it to the next level of Louisiana-inspired flavor.

In-N-Out is a California-based fast food burger chain that has a cult status on the West Coast and is famous for its animal-style burger, which is a not-so-secret menu option. If you’re curious to try the chain’s signature flavor, or you miss this iconic burger and don’t have an In-N-Out anywhere nearby, you can get something close to it by ordering a burger with grilled onions, lettuce, tomatoes, mustard, and pickles.

To recreate the chain’s signature sauce, add mayo, ketchup, and relish, but make sure the condiments are all together, so that they can mix and give you a similar In-N-Out flavor. You can also do the same thing to make a riff on a Big Mac — just remove the tomato and pickles.

Beef Stroganoff is a Franco-Russian dish that was created for a member of the noble Stroganov family and includes beef, onions, mushrooms, and sour cream. While many American versions accompany this dish with noodles, it’s traditionally served with matchstick potatoes. You can get a similar flavor profile in a Five Guys burger by ordering a regular hamburger and topping it with grilled onions, mushrooms, and extra mayonnaise. For the matchstick potatoes, simply request that your burger cook add a fistful of fries between the bread, or you can just order a side of fries and do it yourself.

This may be a little niche, but if you’re the creative type and like to experiment with flavor combinations, this tip may open a whole new world of opportunities for you. You have quite a lot of options for mix-ins at Five Guys when ordering a milkshake, and some of them can give your burger a sweet element to complement some of its more savory toppings. You can create a sort of sweet onion jam by combining caramelized onions and a smidge of salted caramel, or order a beefy Elvis-inspired creation by adding bacon, peanut butter, and banana to a hamburger. And if that’s too mundane for you, you can take inspiration from a limited-time McDonald’s menu item in China and add Oreo crumbles and extra mayo to your sandwich.