For many years, McDonald’s had their Double Cheeseburger on the Dollar Menu. Changing economic times and rising ingredient prices forced the Golden Arches to make some cuts here and there and with that came the introduction of the McDouble. You take away a slice of American cheese from the McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger and you’re left with the McDouble. The McDouble now occupies the Dollar Menu spot and the Double Cheeseburger is priced at $1.19. It’s funny how much one slice of cheese makes a difference…in price and the overall package. Recently, there have been rumblings of Burger King introducing a $1.00 Double Cheeseburger to cut in to the sales at McD’s. This change hasn’t reached nationwide as of writing this but it’s been advertised as a promo price $1.00 with direct attention focused towards the competition with McDonald’s.
So who knows how all of this will come out. It would obviously be great for the consumer to have a Value Menu Double Cheeseburger on both the BK and McD’s menus. I decided to put both burgers against one another head to head to see which came out victorious regardless of what the final price may be. I had a coupon to get a BK Double Cheeseburger for $1.00 so why not right? I spent $1.19 on a McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger and took it to a nice cozy corner of my local Burger King and bought the BK version using the coupon. Felt weird bringing in McDonald’s into a Burger King restaurant but whatever. The Burger King Double Cheeseburger was actually priced at a crazy $3.19 so that coupon was great. I’d probably never pay $3.19 for it…especially because a Rodeo Cheeseburger is just $1.49. Anyways, let’s put these burgers to the test.
- Burger King Double Cheeseburger: Described by BK like this, “The good ol’ BURGER KING® Double Cheeseburger. Crunchy pickles, red ketchup, yellow mustard, and fittingly, cheese – all on a sesame seed bun. You can’t go wrong when you HAVE IT YOUR WAY®.” Well it’s a good thing you can “Have it your way” because the way it is just distracts my tastebuds. The BK Double Cheeseburger “as is” unfortunately suffers from an overwhelming taste of mustard and pickles. Two dominating sour flavors that ruin it for me. Hold the mustard/pickles and we’ve got something here. I like the flame-broiled taste of the BK beef patty but I long for some onions in this burger. I think a $1.00 Whopper Jr. has many advantages over the Double Cheeseburger. Better BK options make the Double Cheeseburger a tough buy, even for a buck.
- McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger: The McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger gives you two 1.6-ounce beef patties, two slices of American cheese, pickles, diced onions, mustard and ketchup. I can do without the pickles as I’ve never been a fan of McD’s pickles. The diced onions really make this burger. While the BK version overwhelms me with pickle and mustard taste, McDonald’s has more of an onion/beef/cheese taste going on. I’ll take the latter any day. The McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger is really a guilty pleasure. The two slices of cheese melting the entire handheld beefy package together is really tough to complain about when it’s quick, tasty and cheap. Paying an additional 19¢ for a slice of cheese isn’t much, especially when you consider how much that extra cheese is missed from the McDouble.
- Head to Head: 510 calories and 29 grams of fat for the BK version vs 440 calories and 23 grams of fat for the McD’s. The real battle is if both were priced evenly, which one would I go for? Surprisingly, McDonald’s wins this. When we are just going with Double Cheeseburger comparisons, I can’t turn my back on McD’s. Don’t feel bad Burger King, you still have the Rodeo Cheeseburger for $1.49 and the Whopper Jr. for $1.00 that I would choose over both Double Cheeseburgers any day. As I mentioned before, the regular price of the BK Double Cheeseburger was $3.19. I just don’t understand how they sell any at that price. Moving it into Value Menu territory would be pretty crucial.
- Burger King Double Cheeseburger, GrubGrade: 6.50/10 (Average)
- McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger, GrubGrade: 7.50/10 (Good)
Left: Burger King, Right: McDonald's
