9 Shake Shack Secret Menu Items You Won't Want To Miss

While McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's have reigned in the fast-food game, some newer entrants on the scene have been gaining traction. We think, of all the fast and easy burger joints, Shake Shack — a relative newbie, having been founded in 2004 — is one of the best. The items on the menu are unique, the ingredients are never soggy or sloppy, and the vibes are immaculate.

Why mess with perfection? We're not, we're just such big Shake Shack fans that sometimes the original menu needs to be expanded upon so we can still go to our favorite burger place while mixing it up a bit. If you're a regular, you're no stranger to a secret menu. In fact, any customizations at any eatery could be considered a "secret menu item," but these selections from the unofficial Shake Shack menu are tried and true. We wanted to test the limits of what Shake Shack can do with the current menu items, and decided to try a bunch of the options to see how they stack up to their regular fare. Were they worth the momentary social anxiety of ordering something that's not on the menu? Let's see.

It's wild to think that the staple grilled cheese used to be a secret menu item at Shake Shack. The higher-ups there listened to the calls of the people and decided to add it to the standard menu. Good call. Now that the grilled cheese isn't so secret anymore, it's time to level it up. Introducing: the grilled cheese with bacon and Shack Sauce.

Grilled cheese with bacon is an ideal meal combo, as the bacon adds the perfect crunch to complement the gooey cheese and crispy-soft bread. Shake Shack's applewood-smoked bacon never disappoints; we think it's some of the best in the burger game. To really elevate this sandwich into the stratosphere, order a side of Shack Sauce with it. Instead of dipping your sandwich in ketchup, take it to the next level and dip it in Shack Sauce. You'll leave the eatery Googling how to make the sauce at home so you can recreate that delicious meal.

We hesitate to call this iteration a traditional Shack-Cago hot dog as seen on many Shake Shack secret menu sites because it doesn't have exactly the same toppings. This is because when Shake Shack takes an item off of the main menu, rotates out a seasonal item, or just removes an ingredient from something, the locations no longer carry that ingredient. This is partly the case for the famed Shack-Cago hot dog.

Traditionally, it would include your standard hot dog topped with cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, relish, peppers, and seasonings. Shake Shack currently doesn't stock cucumbers or relish, but we think those items don't make or break the hot dog. We ordered this new version of the Shack-Cago hot dog by ordering a hot dog topped with onions, tomatoes, cherry peppers, and pickles, and thought it was incredible. You're really only missing the relish here, and if you want it that bad, we suppose you could take this item to-go and add some relish on top from home. But if you're just looking to enhance your standard hot dog, wow does this secret menu item do the trick. The veggies added nice pops of crunch and color, and the pickles and cherry peppers worked well together to bring dimension to the flavor palate.

Cheese on fries? Obviously delicious, and already a menu item at Shake Shack. But ordering cheesy fries and putting Shack Sauce on top? Now that's a secret menu winner, notes @ShakeShackUK on TikTok. Sadly, it's difficult to order cheesy fries with the Shack Sauce already on top, so make everyone's lives less complicated by ordering the standard cheesy fries with a side of the Shack Sauce. We'd actually recommend ordering two containers of the Shack Sauce on the side in case you love it that much.

We'd wager that putting the Shack Sauce on just about anything at Shake Shack would enhance that item. If you really want to go all out with this particular secret menu item, though, we recommend ordering both the cheese and the Shack Sauce on the side and then portioning them out onto the fries at your leisure. This way, you get the perfect ratios of everything, and you can mix it all together better. It's fast-food royalty.

If you're a super fan of the classic Shake Shack SmokeShack sandwich, you may be wondering one of two things. One, why would anyone change anything about the perfect SmokeShack burger? Or two, yes the original is perfect, but how would the chicken change the dynamic of the sandwich? When coming up with the idea for this original secret menu item, we were in the latter camp. How could we keep the integrity of the beloved SmokeShack burger while still switching it up?

The SmokeShack chicken sandwich was our creation and our answer. SmokeShack purists don't come for us, but we think the chicken actually may work better than the beef. We're sorry! To order this, ask for a SmokeShack sandwich with chicken instead of beef. We thought the cherry peppers contrasted nicely with the chicken while the cheese and sauce added a nice creamy element to balance it all out. But what brought it together was the bacon; bacon on chicken in this context for this sandwich works perfectly, adding some nice smokiness and salt to the experience. We would absolutely recommend this secret menu item.

Shake Shack's BLT was nothing short of amazing. We had fairly low expectations for this sandwich as the ingredients are very simple and there's not much to it. However, the quality of each piece of bacon, the toasted buns, and the fresh tomato and lettuce blew us away. What really stole the show was the Shack Sauce added in there: It's not an ingredient we explicitly asked for, but we're glad it was included. The Shack Sauce really brought the whole experience together and left us wondering why this isn't a staple item on the menu.

If you're not wanting a heavy, hearty sandwich like a burger or a chicken sandwich (though they're amazing), try out the BLT. It's a very easy secret menu item to order, as well, as it's a common sandwich; you can just straight up ask for it and the employees will know what you mean. If you want to make double-sure that Shack Sauce is going to be on there, just order a BLT with Shack Sauce on it.

As with many secret menu items, we can't figure out why this isn't already a staple item at Shake Shack. The brand already offers chocolate shakes (and absolutely kills it with the execution, they rock), and strawberry shakes are offered as well. We put our thinking caps on and decided to come up with our own original secret menu item inspired by an iconic dessert.

We had a hunch a chocolate-covered strawberry in milkshake form at Shake Shack would be delicious, and we were spot on. We just asked for a half-chocolate, half-strawberry milkshake when ordering. No problem; the cashier simply said, "Okay, you got it." The result was amazing; you get all the chocolatey goodness of the chocolate shake, but that fruity pop of strawberry cuts in at the end to balance out all the rich intensity. Shake Shack, we wouldn't be mad if you added this to your regular menu. Just give us credit, okay?

We think adding just about any savory topping onto fries is bound to be a winner. We put that theory to the test with the cheesy fries topped with cherry peppers. Another creation we found on TikTok (you really can find tips for everything there), this side blew us away. We already loved cherry peppers inside the Shake Shack SmokeShack sandwich, but you can never be sure how an individual item would play outside of its original context. Turns out, cherry peppers are a winner on fries. Fair enough.

We think any dipping sauce would work well with this combination, like ketchup, and the cheese does already provide plenty of flavors to go with the fries and cherry peppers, but we think you could turn this into a deconstructed, reduced-gluten SmokeShack sandwich and dip the fries in Shack Sauce. Now there's an idea. Just be sure to eat these with a fork, otherwise it's a little tricky to keep the cherry peppers balanced on the fries.

A hack for those of you intrigued about trying a secret menu item but afraid of the confrontation it may bring with the cashier: Say you're ordering the item for your friend. When you can blame the potentially strange order on someone else, it greatly lessens the stress. Luckily, though, with Shake Shack, we found these items to be very easy to order with no confusion from the cashier.

To our shock, saying, "Can we have a bacon cheeseburger but with four patties on it," elicited no confusion from the employee. The quad burger was what we ordered, and it was a beast. The quad burger is unnecessary, could feed four people, can't fit in your mouth, and made us want to become vegetarian. Yet, there is a lot of novelty to it. It's like a car crash; you want to look away because it's off-putting and impolite to stare, yet you keep looking. We think this is a great protein-bulking item for the gym lover looking to gain muscle, an awesome gag order to throw off your friends when you sit down to eat, and overall maybe something you try once in your life. It's the quad burger. Fun fact: Our Shake Shack put the fourth patty in a separate box because they couldn't fit them all in the actual sandwich in the box.

The pièce de résistance of uncomfortable secret menu item ordering: the ice cream sandwich. Your typical, non-Shake Shack secret menu item ice cream sandwich is usually vanilla ice cream sandwiched in between two chocolate chip cookies. It's a delicious feat of culinary engineering that never fails to satisfy a sweet tooth, especially when you can't decide between cookies or ice cream for dessert.

The Shake Shack secret menu ice cream sandwich is the opposite of that. Not in a bad way. This ice cream sandwich consists of a scoop of ice cream in the flavor of your choice (we went with chocolate) on a burger bun, which you can have toasted if you fancy. Sounds weird, right? Not so. This dessert, in the best way possible, was giving the same energy as when you dip your fries in a milkshake: the perfect balance of sweet and savory.

Seriously, we were shocked to discover we enjoyed this item. We wouldn't necessarily call it a dessert, but rather a palate cleanser. When we ordered this item, the cashier had to ask the manager in the back if they could make it. When the manager came up to the front to talk to us about it, they said, "I thought this was a joke. You want this?" Yes, we do want it. To make the workers' lives easier, order a cup of ice cream and a separate bun, then put it together yourself.