Whopper Vs Dave's Single: Which Is The Healthier Classic Burger?

The Whopper and Dave's Single are two of the big three burgers of American fast food, but only one can reign supreme as the healthier choice. Along with the Big Mac, these two menu items are the flagship offerings from the three largest and most well-known American burger chains. And compared to the small patties, middle bun, and special sauce of the Big Mac, the quarter-pound Burger King Whopper and Dave's Single at Wendy's are much closer to what people look for in a traditional burger, including having almost identical toppings. So can there really be much nutritional difference? Well it depends on what you're looking for, but in general the Dave's Single is the better choice.

From a nutrition standpoint the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) says you should be watching your intake of sodium, sugar, saturated fat, and trans fat the most. On three of those four counts the Whopper is worse, using a Whopper with cheese as the most even comparison point with Dave's Single. The biggest offender is sodium. One Whopper with cheese has 1,660 milligrams, which is over 70% of your daily recommended maximum in just one sandwich. Dave's Single also has quite a bit, but a much more reasonable amount of 1,170 milligrams, which is almost 30% less than Burger King's option, despite being similar sized burgers. The Whopper also has a surprising amount of sugar at 15 grams, while Dave's Single only has 9 grams.

While we've learned that not all fat is bad, you should still be limiting your saturated fat intake, and avoiding unnecessary trans fats as much as possible. On the saturated fat front the Whopper is narrowly higher, with 16 grams to Dave's Single's 14. However the one area where the Whopper is better is trans fat. Dave's Single has 1.5 grams, while the Whopper only has 1. That may not seem like much, but there is no "safe" level of trans fat consumption, and the maximum recommended in a day is only 2.2 grams. So an extra half gram isn't nothing.

One other surprisingly big contrast is calories. While counting calories alone doesn't tell you much about nutrition or health, it can be useful to people trying to lose weight, and the Whopper has quite a bit more than Dave's Single, at 790 to 560. Since both burgers have the same amount of meat and similar toppings, that's a meaningful difference.

If you are thinking more about maxing out your protein and fiber, the Whopper with cheese is the better choice. It has a strong 37 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber, which could meaningfully contribute to the daily recommended intake, compared to 31 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber for Dave's Single. For some people that bit of extra protein may be enough to excuse the extra calories, sodium, and sugar, so the real healthiest choice is going to be up to the individual customer here.