These 5 Easy Tweaks Make Wendy's Baconator Taste More Premium

Wendy's Baconator has found its place in the pantheon of legendary fast food burgers alongside the Big Mac and the Whopper. Created in 2007, this burger was a Hail Mary move by the chain when the company was facing some serious setbacks. It paid off big time: Wendy's sold around 68 million Baconators in the burger's first year.

Riding a wave of baconmania, the Baconator became a hit and remains popular today. The company refers to the Baconator (alongside the Frosty and chicken nuggets) as a fan favorite in its investor relations reports. You can find hundreds of Baconator copycat recipes online, speaking to that popularity and how much people want to recreate those flavors on their own. You can even find forums where fans debate whether the Big Mac or Whopper is better, and someone answers by proclaiming Baconator as the best.

However, there's no burger so tasty it can't be improved. When we ranked Wendy's burgers, for example, the Baconator fell in the middle of the pack due to some inconsistencies and over-reliance on mayo, and many negative reviews point out that it lacks balance. With this in mind, we have some ways to take a Baconator to the next level for a more premium burger experience.

The Baconator has been so successful at Wendy's that it spawned more than one spin-off. You can get the Son of Baconator if you don't want as big a burger as the original; the Breakfast Baconator with sausage and egg instead of beef patties; and the Baconator fries if you want the same flavor profile as a side dish. Like Wendy's famous cheese fries, the Baconator fries are made with cheese sauce and shredded cheese, but they have crumbled bacon added to them.

TikToker Hellthyjunkfood created a Baconator and Baconator fries mashup she called the Baconatorerer. The name may never catch on, but it doubles down on cheese and bacon by putting the side right on top of the burger. Fries may not seem like a usual choice for a sandwich topping, but don't sleep on the idea of a British chip butty or even a hash brown on a breakfast sandwich — crispy potatoes belong on everything. This combo takes the traditional Baconator up a notch with more cheese and more bacon, making it more extravagant and filling with every bite.

One reasonable criticism of the Baconator is that it offers a lot of rich, fatty ingredients without much contrast. Beef patties, smoked bacon, cheese slices, and mayo make for an indulgent sandwich, but it's also a little one note. The ketchup is the only thing that adds any sweetness or acidity, and there's not enough of it to make much difference, plus the texture gets lost in the mayo and melted cheese.

You can make a Baconator feel more like a high-end burger by dressing it up like one. Fresh tomato slices, crisp lettuce, and pickles or onion are all you need to add. That brightness helps cut through all the fat, plus you get some contrasting textures, lighter flavors, and acidity to balance it out. Wendy's fans on Reddit often mention this kind of customization. Most suggest lettuce and pickles, but tomato is also mentioned as an ingredient people wish were standard. Even mustard has been suggested to make the sauce a little sharper.

The Baconator is served on a potato bun. Anthony Bourdain famously recommended potato buns instead of brioche for burgers; they're soft, tasty, and work well, but a potato bun can fade into the background when paired with big flavors. When a burger is as robust as the Baconator — with a lot of greasy, salty, umami-packed ingredients — a stronger bun can add a little contrast. That's why a pretzel bun is a great idea.

Wendy's offered a pretzel bun version of the Baconator for a time, and it worked well. Pretzel buns have a stronger flavor than most breads, but it complements beef. It can also withstand a lot of messy ingredients without falling apart, including mayo, ketchup, melted cheese, and grease — hallmarks of a Baconator. Fans approved of the pretzel version: One Redditor said, "It's just a Baconator on a pretzel bun. I love it, and yes, you should get it."

If you like foods with a little spice, you probably already add hot sauce or jalapeños to your burgers. Wendy's had this same idea when they debuted the Spicy Baconator in 2008, which was made with pepper Jack cheese, jalapeños, and a chipotle ranch sauce. In 2022, Wendy's Canada introduced the Blazin' Baconator, which included jalapeños and "sweet-heat-seasoned mayo." Both spicy options were only available for a limited time, but you can customize your Baconator to get a similar experience.

Add jalapeños to your Baconator, and request a side of spicy dipping sauce. Wendy's offers plenty of dipping sauce flavors; even though they change from time to time, Wendy's almost always has one or two spicy options. Because everything on a Baconator is so rich, the acidity and spice from jalapeños or a sauce with some kick (or both) helps cut through the fat. It's also nice to have a contrast to the creaminess of cheese and mayo. Spice tips the scales back in the other direction to give your Baconator more balance.

Most of these tweaks have tried to take an indulgent, cheesy, fatty burger and rein it in, but there's nothing preventing you from taking the exact opposite approach. Instead of looking for balance, add Asiago and shredded cheese on top of the cheddar, then top it off with a healthy dollop of cheddar cheese sauce. Now you're leaning into the ultimate cheesy decadence, like an over-the-top mac and cheese during the holidays.

It isn't a burger you want to eat every day, but you match that bacon energy with a colossal cheese infusion unmatched by any other burger. The end result is a messy feast, so grab a few extra napkins. If you're a true cheese lover, it's more than worth it. The Asiago stand outs among the cheddar slices and sauce with a little sharpness that lets you know something else is there. It makes your extra cheesy Baconator truly memorable.