The Burger King Dipping Sauce You Should Never Bother Ordering With Your Meal

We can probably all agree on the fact that when you're eating at a fast food joint, it's often the sauces that really make the meal. Whether it's a specific fast food chain's signature sauce, or an old reliable classic (we're talking ranch, ketchup, etc.), a good sauce can take a plain piece of chicken, or an under-seasoned fry, from mediocre to mind-blowingly delicious. But the reverse is true as well — a bad sauce can ruin a meal. And with that in mind, there's one dipping sauce at Burger King that we would advise you to never bother ordering with your meal: Marinara.

In Chowhound's ranking of every Burger King dipping sauce from worst to best, marinara took the bottom slot by a wide margin, with our taster citing a weak flavor that was actually more akin to ketchup, alongside a weirdly "sweet, vinegary taste and [a] smooth, glutinous texture." The sauce was similar to a mild, herby ketchup, so diners looking for that, rather than the traditional flavor and mouthfeel of a proper marinara sauce, may enjoy it if they know what they're getting into ahead of trying it. For everybody else, there are lots of great sauces to choose from.

Strong and savory flavors brought together the best sauces on Chowhound's list. Zesty sauce took the crown, in case you were wondering, with our taster describing it as "zippy and zingy, bold and bright, fun and fresh." In comparison, Burger King's marinara sauce is overly sweet in a fake way, overpowering and taking away from the chicken flavor rather than complementing it with that delicious umami quality you're expecting. Dynamic flavors, rather than one-note ones, also tend to make for a better dipping sauce, saving diners from the monotony of a bland experience more suited for a kids' meal or a picky eater than a satisfying, flavor-packed option for a grown adult looking to satiate their cravings.

Beyond the failures of this particular marinara sauce, even a good version of it isn't exactly the best dipping choice for chicken nuggets or strips. Instead, it's usually paired with something cheesy and garlicky that can carry the bulk of the flavor on its own, with just a hint of added spaghetti-sauce-like Italian seasonings. The one item on Burger King's menu that would maybe go well with this dipping sauce is the fast food spot's mozzarella sticks. That is, if they didn't also land at the bottom of Chowhound's ranking of chain restaurant mozzarella sticks.