Burger King Vs McDonald's: Which Serves A Healthier Classic Cheeseburger?

Perhaps especially among the burger joints, there are very few truly healthy options at most fast food chains. Not that we would shame anyone for treating themselves to fast food, as we often champion fast food restaurants and dishes. That said, in the faceoff between the standard cheeseburgers from longtime rivals Burger King and McDonald's, those hoping to make healthy fast food choices should take note that the McDonald's classic cheeseburger slightly overtakes the Burger King classic cheeseburger in terms of nutritional content.

We recently put the classic cheeseburgers from both McDonald's and Burger King on our list of the healthiest fast food orders that don't sacrifice on flavor. Indeed, both sandwiches scratch that fast food burger itch adequately enough without the added fat, calories, and sodium of each chains' bigger and more elaborate sandwich offerings. Speaking of which, McDonald's classic cheeseburger has BK's beat in fat and especially sodium, while they are equal in terms of calories. Burger King does eke out individual wins in a few categories, but it's ultimately not enough to give it the overall nutritional edge between the two.

To keep things simple, we focused on the following categories: calories, fat, sodium, sugar, carbs, and protein. These numbers come from the respective chains' websites and presume the default configuration with no additions or substitutions. With all that in mind, the standard McDonald's cheeseburger contains 300 calories, 13 grams of fat, 31 grams of carbs, 6 grams of sugar, 720mg of sodium, and 15 grams of protein. By comparison, the basic Burger King cheeseburger boasts 300 calories, 14 grams of fat, 30 grams of carbs, 7 grams of sugar, 810mg of sodium, and 16 grams of protein.

So, McDonald's cheeseburger comes in below BK's cheeseburger in fat, sodium, and sugar, though their respective calorie counts are the exact same. That leaves just protein and carbs as the only categories BK takes the edge in. So, it's not exactly a landslide victory, but the numbers for the McDonald's cheeseburger are inarguably better (especially regarding sodium), making it the healthier choice, if only by a little bit.

Curious about fries? A medium McDonald's fry adds 320 calories, 15 grams of fat, 43 grams of carbs, and 260mg of sodium; while BK's contain 370 calories, 17 grams of fat, 50 grams of carbs, and 330mg of sodium. So, adding a side of fries only serves to widen McDonald's nutritional victory. Just to cover all of our bases, we would be remiss if we didn't also point out that the healthiest fast food burger you can buy right now isn't either of these — it's actually the Wendy's Jr. Hamburger.