NEW YORK -- Cheeseburgers come in a host of varieties, from beef, chicken and veggie to mushroom or halloumi.
And Americans love them. And often they don’t care about the calories. They just want to treat themselves.
To celebrate National Cheeseburger Day on Monday, Sept. 18, several chains are offering deals to mark the day. Some have specials that will be ongoing through the week.
Related story: Where you can get cheap (or free) tasty deals for National Cheeseburger Day
But which burgers have the most calories?
YorkTest, a research firm in the United Kingdom, examined 20 of the biggest fast food chains in the United States, including Burger King, Wendy’s, Shake Shack and McDonald’s, to identify cheeseburgers and hamburgers with the most and least number of calories.
The rankings were developed from data on the fast food chain’s websites. YorkTest compared the nutritional value for each. The data, which includes the buns, was collected in August 2023.
Topping the list at a whopping 1,868 calories was Fatburger’s XXXL (Triple Kingburger). Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Pub Triple ranked second at 1,500 calories for one serving.
Rounding out the Top 5 were Carl Jr’s Double Guacamole Bacon Angus Burger (1,340 calories), Smashburger’s Double Carolina BBQ Burnt Ends Burger (1,280) and Burger King’s Bacon King (1,200).
At the lower end of the caloric range were hamburgers from three chains – Wendy’s, Burger King and McDonald’s – who each rated 250 calories for their more basic hamburger sandwiches.
Whataburger’s Whataburger Jr. ranked fourth best at 310 calories. Steak n’ Shake’s Single Steakburger without cheese and Dairy Queen’s hamburger were tied at fifth with 320 calories.
You can see the full list of rankings online.
“It’s no surprise that fast food burgers often have a high number of calories, but our research shows the stark contrast between many burgers and how your choice can cover your standard daily calorie recommendations,” Kerri Ferraioli, nutritionist at YorkTest, said.
“While having a higher number of calories from time to time isn’t a bad thing, it can increase your chances of gaining weight in the long term,” Ferraioli said. “Chicken burgers often had a lower calorie count due to their reduction in saturated fat and higher amounts of omega-6 fatty acids than other animal meats, alongside being high in protein.”
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, moderately active women should consume up to 2,200 calories per day, while men should limit themselves to around 2,800, depending on their age and lifestyle.
Hamburgers have been around since the turn of the 20th century, a food with German origins that took off in the United States.
The cheeseburger didn’t come along until the Roaring ‘20s and really are an American innovation. Several restaurants in the United States claim credit for its invention. The most prevalent story is that a 16-year-old fry cook who worked at his father’s restaurant in Pasadena, California called The Rite Spot dropped the first piece of American cheese on a burger, perhaps in 1924.
Others followed. A restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, marketed a sandwich in 1934 called a cheeseburger. The following year, a restaurant in Boulder, Colorado, obtained a trademark for the word “cheeseburger.” That lapsed, though, for lack of enforcement and the word now is a generic name.
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