I Tried 16 Carl's Jr. Menu Items And Ranked Them Worst To Best

When noon rolls around and you realize you've forgotten to pack your lunch, there's often no better choice than to swing through a nearby drive-thru. If your go-to fast food option is Carl's Jr., you already know there's endless options at your disposal. Most have single (one patty), double (two patties), and even triple (three patties!) stacks to choose from. But since decision fatigue is the last thing you want to deal with when you're hungry, I figured I'd offer myself up as a sacrificial lamb by trying entirely too many of Carl's Jr.'s sandos and sides.

My body definitely isn't happy with me at the moment, but I think it was worth taking the plunge, given all the insight this taste test gave me. Spoiler alert: Some of Carl's Jr.'s offerings are absolutely not worth spending your money on, but others are. After trying a number of the chain's items, here's how the items ranked, based on how they compare to other fast food alternatives and how well they delivered on flavor.

It wasn't hard to decide which of Carl's Jr.'s menu items should take last place. The fast food spot's Fried Zucchini Star was worse than underwhelming — I couldn't even get through one bite. The worst offender? Soggy, flavorless fried zucchini bites. 

Moreover, the mushy zucchini was overly salty, and none of the other elements of the sandwich could distract from the vegetable's offense. I'm not exaggerating when I say I took a bite and spat it out immediately. I'm even a fan of zucchini. Zucchini lovers, beware — it's likely you'll be at least underwhelmed by the sandwich. At worst, you'll have wasted a few bucks, which is kind of a big deal in today's economy. Do yourself a favor and pass this sandwich by. 

The El Diablo burger at Carl's Jr. sounds pretty enticing on paper. A beef patty, bacon, jalapeño poppers, pepper jack cheese, pickled jalapeño slices, and habanero ranch make up the backbone of this bad boy, which should be a recipe for success. Unfortunately, I ultimately found that it did too much in every respect, and what could have been a hole in one quickly fell to a doomed second-to-last spot on this list. 

I can only recommend Carl's Jr.'s El Diablo burger to those who are just interested in getting a kick of spice. That's really all this burger offers — a hefty dose of one-note, jalapeño-laden spice. That may not be a bad thing for some; for me, it was entirely too much, and made for a hopelessly overwhelming burger that burns after just one bite.

To piggyback off of the previous item on this list, I'm sorry if you hoped Carl's Jr.'s version of jalapeño poppers would be better than its El Diablo burger. Unfortunately, that's just not the case. I actually found these poppers to be a pretty egregious version of their typical bar-style counterparts, and they managed to both overwhelm and underwhelm at the same time.

I always expect jalapeño poppers to be spicy, but I don't expect them to be so hot that I can hardly finish one. That was the case with these poppers. Moreover, the interior was filled with what tasted like a very cheap nacho cheese (which isn't even "real" cheese, by the way). It was melty enough, so I can give it that, but that's about the only positive thing I have to say about the small bites. Unless fried, spicy, low-tier nacho cheese sounds appealing to you, I'd recommend giving these a wide berth. 

I already had a pretty low opinion of Carl's Jr.'s Chicken Stars — they got the second-to-last spot in a 2025 fast food chicken nugget taste test I did, and they didn't fare much better here. They have a cute shape but, as is the case all too often, their actual taste and texture fail to deliver. Unless you're five years old or have otherwise underdeveloped taste buds, pass these by. 

For starters, the chicken stars aren't the least bit crispy, which is the bare minimum chicken nugget requirement, in my opinion. I could have forgiven that offense had the stars been at least a little flavorful, but they failed in that respect, too. Texturally, the inside was fairly mealy. All in all, these didn't make for a very pleasant eating experience; I can only rank them higher than the previous choices because they weren't downright unpleasant. 

I'll admit, looking at the above picture has me salivating. Carl's Jr.'s Cali XL looks like a slam dunk — how could you go wrong with two patties, melty American cheese, grilled onions, tomato, lettuce, and a classic burger sauce? 

What should have been a recipe for success was a very unfortunate disappointment. I started questioning at this point whether my bar for this taste test was too high — have I simply forgotten the limitations of fast food? No, I don't think that's it. I think this burger just didn't pull its weight. I hardly tasted any burger sauce, the patties felt pretty dry (which not even the melty cheese could make up for), and the whole thing was just bland. On the plus side, it wasn't gross, so I was at least able to rank it a little higher here.

Now we've arrived at the section of this list that I'd like to dub, "I wasn't the biggest fan of this, but someone probably likes it." The first of Carl's Jr.'s offerings to be featured in this tier is its Charbroiled BBQ Chicken Sandwich. Honestly, the sandwich itself wasn't bad, but it didn't do enough to boost it any higher in my ranking.

The only components of this sandwich are a charbroiled chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, and BBQ sauce, and it's served on the chain's sourdough sandwich bread rather than a bun. The bread is a nice idea in theory, but in practice, it gets pretty soggy after being wrapped in paper for even a little bit. The lettuce and tomato were negligible. That leaves a charbroiled chicken breast and some sweet, tangy sauce. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't satisfying, either. 

The first thing I noticed upon opening up the above box of Carl's Jr.'s chicken tenders was that they're ginormous — far bigger than the average fast food spot's chicken tenders, and closer to being a small piece of fried chicken. Now, that's not inherently a bad thing, but as a girl who likes a pretty high crunch-to-meat ratio, it did contribute to the tenders only coming in tenth place here.

Not only was the crunch-to-meat ratio off, but the exterior was hardly crispy at all, nor did it have much flavor. On the plus side, the interior was moist. I can appreciate these for what they are — hefty chicken strips that would be plenty filling, and even alluring when paired with a good sauce. Were they epitome of what a chicken tender should be? No. But if all you need is a little protein to fill you up, they wouldn't be the worst choice.

Carl's Jr.'s Single Famous Star is a plain, no-frills burger that should be recognized as such. It's better than the bad options here, but not as good as some of the more flavorful options; still it would do in a pinch. I know it's not as visually appealing as the aforementioned Cali XL, but as we've already established, looks can be deceiving.

I actually though this had more flavor than the Cali XL burger (which still isn't saying much), and it checks all the boxes you'd expect a fast-food burger to check: It's saucy enough to have tangible flavor, and the crunch of the veggies stands in nice contrast to the soft patty and bun. Is this anything special? No, and I'm not sure it entirely deserves to have the word "famous" in its name. Still, it'll get the job done when you're in a pinch. 

A little more flavor can be found in Carl's Jr.'s Western Bacon Cheeseburger, which contains a beef patty, bacon, American cheese, onion rings, and BBQ sauce. While I personally don't think Carl's Jr. has the best barbecue sauce in the world, it does add some welcome flavor to whatever it's on. It's a pleasant diversion from some of the brand's blander offerings, in fact, and helped this place in the middle of the rankings.

The onion rings that came on the burger were a nice touch, though they didn't add much to the burger texturally, as they were pretty soft by the time I tried this one. The bacon obviously only enhanced the burger. I didn't love the burger patty itself, as it was fairly dry (as were some of the aforementioned burgers). But given the other components present here, that wasn't a big enough flaw to knock this down any further.

I wouldn't call myself the biggest french fry critic in the world. I'm of the opinion that a french fry is a french fry, and though no fast food french fries are created equal, very few are downright gross. That sentiment carries over into the fry offering at Carl's Jr. Is it the first spot I'd go to when craving some fries? Nope — that award still has to go to McDonald's or Five Guys, depending on whether I need the convenience of a drive-thru.

These fries aren't bad, though. They weren't super crispy but they were salty enough to satisfy. I'd call them a little texturally chewy, but I was also being intentionally picky when tasting everything for this piece. Making the top half of this list speaks less to how good the fries are, and more to how underwhelming the previous products were. You'll definitely finish them if you're craving some fries, but these probably wouldn't be your first choice. 

If you really are craving one of Carl's Jr.'s Western Bacon Sandwiches, I'd go with the chicken variety. Its Western Bacon Chicken Sandwich has all the fixings of the aforementioned Western Bacon Cheeseburger, but it subs a piece of crispy chicken for the burger patty. The result is a far step up from its counterpart, and I could see myself ordering this again when in a chicken mood.

The obvious advantage is that the chicken was nice and juicy, a pleasant contrast to the dry burger patty of the previous. The sauce wasn't too much on this sandwich, either, because there were more additional elements to balance it out. I was similarly underwhelmed by the onion rings, which weren't crispy but did add some welcome flavor. The bacon was readily apparent as well. I can't say this was my favorite sandwich in the world (or even my favorite at Carl's Jr., as you'll notice with the higher-ranked entries). But it managed to hold its own, so it comes in sixth.

If you have to get some fries when you go to Carl's Jr., I'd highly recommend its waffle fries over the alternative. These simply offered more in every respect — more flavor, more crunch, and a bigger body. I wouldn't say I gravitate toward waffle fries over their non-waffle-alternatives, but I always appreciate a good one, and these were pretty decent (and good enough to crack the top five).

The waffle fries were pretty well-seasoned and, on the whole, lived up to what their image would suggest they are: crispy, flavorful waffle fries. There wasn't anything special about them, but they also didn't fall short for being fast food waffle fries. I don't think they're better than the ones at Chick-fil-A, though, but they hold their own well enough. There's only one side on Carl's Jr.'s menu that surpassed its waffle fries ... but we'll get there in a minute.

I'll preface this by saying that if I see any cheese-bacon-chicken sandwich on a fast food menu, I'm getting it. Wendy's Asiago Ranch Chicken Club has an unfortunate chokehold on me, so I was immediately biased toward Carl's Jr.'s Bacon Swiss Chicken Sandwich. While it wasn't my favorite sandwich option of the ones I tried, it definitely had its merits, and I'd get it again.

My biggest qualm with the sandwich was that, once again, the sandwich bread got soggy after being wrapped up for a few minutes. And again, that's not the most egregious fault. The rest of the sandwich is as expected — the veggies give a nice crunch, the bacon and Swiss are flavorful, and the chicken is juicy, though its breading wasn't as seasoned as I was like. It only ranked below the following few options because they hit harder in the flavor department, but it more than deserves the number four spot.

I was definitely shocked that I liked the Charbroiled Chicken Club Sandwich from Carl's Jr. more than its crispy counterpart. I'll pick crispy chicken over non-crispy chicken any day, but this sandwich might have me changing my tune. It was packed with flavor. And while it doesn't necessarily look more appealing than the previous sandwich, it was absolutely the more impressive offering, taking third place as a result.

I just loved the smoky appeal of the charbroiled chicken in this sandwich; it brought a whole new element that I hadn't tasted in the previous sandwiches. Compared to some of the more bland offerings above, it really helped this sandwich stand out (it was the only differentiating factor between this sandwich and the previous for me). If you, like me, tend to opt for crispy chicken, maybe this is your sign to step out of your comfort zone the next time you're at Carl's Jr. Or, if your feet are firmly planted in burger-land, you should definitely get the second-place contender.

Carl's Jr.'s Single Guacamole Bacon Burger also came as quite the surprise. Not that I don't like guac (I definitely do), but I don't typically have guacamole on a burger. I expected that it wouldn't hold up well, and honestly, I thought the result would be unappetizing at best. But I was wrong, and it was the second best item I tried from the fast food chain.

Even though this is just a basic burger with guac, it still managed to pack a punch despite my low expectations. This one slapped. The guacamole is super flavorful, but it also brought a fresh, light, and zesty element to the burger that none of the other menu items at Carl's Jr. had. Will I be adding guacamole to my burgers from now on? Maybe not every time, but it'll certainly always be a prime topping contender. As fun as this burger was, though, it couldn't beat my top choice. 

Are you surprised that an unassuming side of onion rings snagged the Carl's Jr. trophy? You won't be once you try them. Not only were these the best menu item at Carl's Jr. (in my opinion, anyway), but they also exceed other restaurant onion rings in a few respects. Honestly, when an onion ring craving hits, I'm now more likely to go to Carl's Jr.

For starters, the onion rings were light and crispy, and I appreciated that the batter wasn't as thick as some of the bar-style onion rings I've had. Second, the rings weren't the least bit lacking in the flavor department. But perhaps most importantly, these managed to avoid the worst, yet all too common, onion ring flaw. Never once did I struggle to bite through the actual onion interior (and, yes, whole onion rings were used rather than minced onions — I could clearly see the ring inside the breading). This alone sold me on the side, and the other positive points were merely bonuses.

I considered a few factors when ranking the menu items at Carl's Jr. First, I considered flavor — in order to get a higher spot on this list, an offering couldn't be bland. Worse than a bland item, though, was one where all the flavors hit the wrong marks; that's why offerings like the Fried Zucchini Star and the El Diablo ranked last.

When I had trouble differentiating between items, I took into account texture, as well, which is a big reason some of the sides ranked as low as they did. Overall, I can't call Carl's Jr. my favorite fast food restaurant (that accolade goes to Chick-fil-A), but I can vouch for its onion rings. You should try some, stat.