Wendy's Vs McDonald's: Which Chain Does Cheeseburgers The Best?

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

When the craving for a burger emerges, you want the best one you can find. Sometimes convenience comes into play, and you need to locate the best fast food cheeseburger. McDonald's and Wendy's hold two of the top spots for most well known fast food chains, and they are likely two of your options for an accessible burger when you just need to to sink your teeth into a cheeseburger. I've taste tested both in order to help you decide where to head in such a situation.

I chose three cheeseburgers from each fast food joint that were pretty similar to one another and taste tested each. After breaking the burgers down to each separate component and making note of any thoughts, I've compiled what I can only call a cheeseburger dossier. This pile of evidence points to which fast food empire crafts the better cheeseburger. From bun density to pickle thinness, here's where you should go when the hankering for a fast food cheeseburger hits.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

A burger's first impression is the bun, and it's a vital component to the burger as a whole. McDonald's and Wendy's could not differ more where their buns are concerned. First I tried McDonald's, and the bun for the Cheeseburger and McDouble were the same. They were bland and oddly resilient. The buns on these fast food burgers were seemingly resistant to moisture and manipulation, springing back to their shape even after I handled the burgers. If you were wondering, this trait earned Mickey D's some negative points.

Wendy's Jr. Cheeseburger and Double Stack shared a bun style as well, but they were a pleasant change from the sponges sandwiching the McDonald's basic burgers. The buns were what you'd expect from a cookout or homemade burger if the host shopped at any of the mainstream grocery stores and bought the affordable buns. Nostalgia was present, and while there was nothing extraordinary about the buns, there wasn't much to complain about either.

Both of the fast food chains used an elevated bun for their more premium burger choice. McDonald's used a sesame bun for its Quarter Pounder with cheese and Wendy's surprisingly offered a pretzel bun for its Dave's Single. McDonald's sesame bun was very similar to its basic bun, having the same bounce-back quality. Wendy's pretzel bun was a large step up from its basic bun, and helped separate the larger burger from the more affordable ones on the menu.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

The patty is the heart of a burger, and what many burger lovers pay attention to most when rating any burger. You may expect fast food burger patties to be similar to one another, but this is far from true when it comes to comparing McDonald's and Wendy's sandwiches. Both have thin patties in their basic burgers and a bit thicker patties in their more elevated burgers, but the comparison ends there.

The patties in a Wendy's burger have a signature look, as they are square. McDonald's opts for a more typical round patty. When I taste tested the three McDonald's cheeseburgers, I was met with a dry patty that was overall very bland. The dryness of the patty translated to an overall dry burger, and the taste of the patty did practically nothing for the flavor of the burger as a whole. This makes sense, because as far as beef quality in fast food goes, Wendy's doesn't rank too bad.

The three burgers from Wendy's were different beasts entirely. While the texture was similar to that of McDonald's, the patties were not dry and held a decent amount of flavor. I would not say the meat patties were impressive, but following the McDonald's burgers helped them raise my opinion of fast food burgers. From the smaller burger all the way to the chains' more premium burger, these opinions remained pretty much constant.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

Besides special sauces, condiments can be pretty universal. Despite this, what a burger does with condiments and which are placed on it can make all the difference. When it comes to the tasting I did of Wendy's and McDonald's, there was a very clear distinction of how condiments were used on the cheeseburgers.

Mustard and ketchup were utilized on all three McDonald's burgers. Typically, condiments would help give moisture to a dry burger, but that was not the case here. McDonald's did not put very much ketchup on their burgers, and even less mustard. Between the dry patty, almost rubbery bun, and everything else on the burgers, the condiments were barely noticeable. A very simple upgrade to the Mickey D's burgers would be to use a reasonable amount of condiments, but they were sadly lacking.

I had a different experience when trying the Wendy's burgers. Ketchup was present on all three of the burgers, though mayo is included in a lot of chain locations. The Dave's Single cheeseburger did come with mayo. Where McDonald's was lacking in condiments, Wendy's more than compensated. Actually, Wendy's very nearly put too much ketchup and, in the premium burger's case, mayo on its cheeseburgers. This made the burgers sloppy, but not unpleasant to taste.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

Cheese is the very topping that separates a burger from a cheeseburger, thus it is vital in the making of the very best burgers. Overall, the cheese of a McDonald's burger and a Wendy's burger is pretty similar. Both burgers utilize American cheese slices, and most of the six burgers I tasted have a single slice of cheese, with the exception of the Quarter Pounder with cheese having two slices.

The cheeseburgers from McDonald's had cheese that melted in chunks. The texture of the cheese chunks were somewhat rubbery, but tasted as you would expect American cheese to taste. The biggest downside of the cheese on the McDonald's burgers is that the slices seemed to melt off of the burger patty themselves and harden into chunks on the side of the burger. This meant that the heart of the burgers didn't have much cheese at all. The result was a good amount of cheese on a few outer bites, with very little in the majority of the bites.

The cheese found on Wendy's burgers tasted similar, but seemed to be more evenly placed throughout the burger. Though the cheese was melted, it did not leave the burger patties in chunks. This added a bit of moisture and flavor to the burger, and earned Wendy's a couple of extra positive points.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

Pickles are just one small component of a cheeseburger, but they pack quite the punch. Actually, I consider pickles to be the very best of burger toppings, so they're quite a serious matter to me. With that being said, I enjoyed both McDonald's and Wendy's pickles and thought they both had great flavor. Even with both fast food restaurants having my approval where the pickles were concerned, there were some major differences between the two spots.

For all the negative points already dolled out for its cheeseburgers, McDonald's pickles are superior. There's major flavor packed into the thinly sliced sour pickles. Somehow, they keep a crispness and powerful flavor even though they're some of the thinnest pickles I've experienced. The only drawback to these fast food pickles is that McDonald's only places two pickle chips per sandwich, which is a travesty easily remedied by ordering extra.

Wendy's cheeseburgers boasted crinkle cut pickles. These pickles were thicker, more substantial, and more plentiful at three pickles chips per cheeseburger. On paper, Wendy's is superior in its pickle department. However, McDonald's seems to work some magic where pickles are concerned, because the flavor of Mickey D's pickles beat out Wendy's seemingly higher quality ones.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

Of everything that comes on a standard burger, onions are probably the most divisive. The pungent topping is a love for many, while others opt to avoid them all together. I hold the middle ground, so I was curious what my opinion would be between the two fast food joint burgers. There was a huge difference in how McDonald's and Wendy's approached onions, neither of which were bad.

McDonald's actually offers two different types of onions for its burgers. On the basic cheeseburger and the McDouble, crispy minced onions can be found. These tiny diced onions are actually dehydrated, but not unpleasant. The Quarter Pounder with cheese comes with sliced raw onion, which I found to have a noticeable different flavor and texture. I preferred the sliced onion, but I don't have anything negative to say about either of McDonald's onion strategies.

Wendy's seems to be more consistent in its onion offerings. The restaurant uses raw sliced onions, which had pretty much the same flavor as McDonald's Quarter Pounder with cheese. I did note that the Wendy's burgers had more onions throughout the burgers, and a more even flavor from bite to bite. I also believe the onion slices were more uniform in size on the Wendy's burgers than that of the McDonald's Quarter Pounder.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

We've talked about all the different components of the burgers from McDonald's and Wendy's, and each of the toppings combined with the bun and patty work together to create an overall mouthfeel. This includes the texture of the burger as a whole and how the ingredients work together to create flavor. While some ingredients of the two restaurants' burgers were easily comparable, others were vastly different. The result of these warring components are two sets of burgers that could not be more unalike in mouthfeel.

First, the ratio of toppings and components in the McDonald's burgers were deplorable. Very little condiments on any burger, sparse toppings, and a bun that overwhelmed two out of three of the burgers created a bland and poorly textured sandwich. As far as mouthfeel goes, the burgers were unsatisfying and didn't feel much like a burger meal at all.

Wendy's did much better with the ratios. While they went a little hard with the condiments, every other aspect of the burgers seemed reasonable, and even ideally, ratioed. The mouthfeel of the burger was decent enough to feel like I both ordered and received an actual burger. The toppings, and even the patty itself, added moisture to the burger. There were enough onions and pickles working together on the burgers to add a crunch and the buns were bready enough to add a softer chew. Between the moisture, crunch, and chew, the Wendy's burgers had a complex texture and mouthfeel.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

I matched the Quarter Pounder with cheese and the Dave's Single together because of how similar the two burgers are on paper. They both claim to contain a quarter pound of beef (before cooking) and they both are their respective restaurant's first step up into premium burger territory. Besides the fact that Wendy's Dave's Single comes with lettuce, tomato, and mayo, the two burgers have the same topping arrangement. The only other distinction on paper is the bun, which are both elevated from the basic burger bun. The Dave's Single has a pretzel bun while the Quarter Pounder is sandwiched with a sesame bun.

Between the two, Wendy's came out on top, and the race wasn't even close. McDonald's Quarter Pounder with cheese was overall lacking in the topping department and the patty, though larger than its basic sisters, was dry and flavorless. The only thing I could really say was wrong with the Dave's Single was that it was a messy eat. However, the mess stemmed from a healthy supply of condiments and a moist burger patty.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

The competition between McDonald's McDouble and Wendy's Double Stack was probably the closest of three burger comparisons. Both burgers are essentially a double cheeseburger, with two patties, and one slice of American cheese. Each burger had essentially the same toppings, so it was the bun and patty that made all the difference.

The Double Stack came out ahead here, and it's all thanks to the bun to burger ratio and the flavor of the meat patties. There was a bit too much bun to the McDouble, which was only accentuated by the odd spongelike texture. The bland patty of the McDouble did not live up to Wendy's Double Stack patty. As both burgers were small, these two factors were strong focuses when taste testing.

I want to note that Double Stack was my least liked burger out of the three I tried from Wendy's. This burger had less condiments and toppings than the other two from Wendy's, but the toppings still had more of a presence here than the McDonald's McDouble. If it had aligned with the other two Wendy's burgers in terms of toppings, I do not think there would have been as close a competition between the McDouble and the Double Stack.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

If you're looking for a solid burger, you're likely not going to opt for the smallest, most basic burger on either of these restaurants' menus. McDonald's Cheeseburger and Wendy's Jr. Cheeseburger both consist of a thin single patty, a bun, and a few basic toppings. The burgers are both small and unsatisfying, but are perfect to compare the two fast food giants.

Wendy's, once again, was the clear winner. McDonald's biggest blunder here was the overwhelming amount of bread compared to everything else in the burger. The cheeseburger was basically all bun, and the bun wasn't even good. Wendy's Jr. Cheeseburger did have a bit more of a bun to burger ratio than desired, but it was not nearly as noticeable as the McDonald's burger. This was helped by the added flavor of the Wendy's burger and more substantial toppings.

The sliced onions on the Wendy's burger added a punch of flavor that the McDonald's burger's sparsely spread rehydrated onions just couldn't compete with. Another point for the Wendy's burger was the extra pickle, which went a long way on such a small burger.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

I can say with complete confidence that Wendy's has the superior cheeseburger. While I am not a certified burger expert or anything, I do not believe anyone with a working taste bud would put the McDonald's burgers above the Wendy's burgers I had the chance to taste test. From the bun and patty to the taste and ratio of toppings, Wendy's has a solid strategy that translates into a decent fast food burger. The only category that I feel the need to give McDonald's props in is the pickle topping, and even there Wendy's has some solid footing. This makes sense, as Wendy's is above Mickey D's in our worst to best fast food cheeseburgers rankings.

Truth be told, I am glad I taste tested McDonald's cheeseburgers first. Tasting these burgers a day before allowed me to still experience McDonald's as a burger place. After comparing them to Wendy's, the Quarter Pounder feels like a pretender. A Wendy's cheeseburger feels and tastes like eating an actual burger, maybe even one you'd make for yourself at home. I don't think I could recreate a McDonald's cheeseburger on my worst day in the kitchen.

Mashed / Carlie Hoke

The first step in testing out the cheeseburgers from McDonald's and Wendy's was to explore the menus and decide which burgers to compare. After scouring the menus, it became clear that each fast food chain offered burgers that were both basic and similar enough to fairly compare them to one another. McDonald's Cheeseburger, McDouble, and Quarter Pounder matched well with Wendy's Jr. Cheeseburger, Double Stack, and Dave's Single, respectively. To keep things fair, I taste tested the three burgers from each fast food chain on separate days. This way, I had a blank slate for each tasting.

After deciding to break down the test and compare each element of the burgers as well as test them against each other, I cut each burger in half in order to taste each from the center. While dissecting and tasting, I noted my thoughts on each as I went through the tastings. This way, my first impressions were fresh and unobstructed from other burger experiences.

It's important to note that I kept each burger as it was meant to be experienced on the menu, not modifying my order. It's also worth noting that I rarely eat at fast food restaurants, so there was very little bias behind my tasting opinions.