9 Shake Shack Secret Menu Options You Should Know About

Underground menu items are an interesting phenomenon in fast food culture. They're not the result of careful, corporate curation by a board of executives, but rather fan-curated creations born of endless trial and error by faithful fans looking for something off the beaten path to satisfy their cravings. Not only do these secret menu items vary upon ingredient availability and location, but they don't have an official "secret menu" listing to consult from, leaving only the veteran customers to order from this exclusive menu.

Shake Shack's own secret menu is constantly evolving, having been in rotation since the 2010s, when the chain was constantly phasing in and out new items for customers to try. The main menu was difficult to improve on; after all, how can you one-up the chain's delicious potato-bun burgers, the titular hand-spun milkshakes, and the famous lemonades? As it turns out, there are plenty of ways to refine these dishes, most of which have remained as underground staples in the community.

Eventually, fans pared down their choices to a few tried and true options, the best of which we've rounded up for your own elite perusal. From casual customization orders that put a varied twist on some main menu staples to exclusive offerings you'll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else, these Shake Shack secret menu options are a must-know for both casual and frequent customers.

As its name suggests, the Smoke Shack Quad Burger is not for the faint of heart. Like its name suggests, this secret menu item will get four times the angus beef in your Smoke Shack burger, maxing out your protein intake for the day. To order this dish from the Shake Shack counter, simply ask for four burger patties on your burger instead of just one, or just order it by name. While this secret menu item packs about 2,000 calories in one burger, the Quad Burger is an explosion of smoky flavor and heartiness, making it worth the occasional indulgence.

On its own, the original Smoke Shack Burger is already pretty hardy, consisting of American cheese, sweetly-smoked bacon, chopped pimentos, and generous helpings of ShackSauce smothering a juicy beef patty grilled to smoky tenderness. All of that is served atop Shake Shack's signature fluffy potato bun, a pillowy contrast to the otherwise tough or crispy fillings of the burger.

With three extra beef patties crammed in between all the dripping sauce, cherry peppers, and melted cheese, it can get a little overwhelming, so personally, we like to order some extra veggies to freshen up this otherwise heavy dish. Adding some crisp lettuce or acidic pickles can not only accentuate the touch of spice from the pimentos, but also soften the caloric blow from the sheer amount of beef in this burger by providing some extra nutritional balance.

There are few things more American than a grilled cheese sandwich, and one of them includes delicious, high-quality bacon. The first is pure comfort food, and the latter indulgence, so you can hardly go wrong if you combine the two to maximize both flavor and texture. This customization option is a subtly ingenious combo that does not feature on Shake Shack's official menu, but you can request for this menu item by name or ask for the staff to add crispy bacon to your original grilled cheese.

Because the original Grilled Cheese sandwich from Shake Shack is quite simple, consisting of just melted American cheese and the chain's iconic potato buns, fans have come up with a variety of ways to customize this simple sandwich to their satisfaction. Adding bacon helps add additional flavor and substance, and other customers have even shared how adding a side of peanut butter dipping sauce can enhance the overall experience, as well. Similar to how classic American diners would serve warm and acidic tomato soup to help cut through the grilled cheese's thickness, the savory flavor of peanut butter can also complement the bacon's smoky flavor and the innate texture of the potato buns and melted cheese. For those with allergy restrictions, ordering a side of the chain's Shack Sauce can be a good alternative to pair with this delicious secret menu item. Don't be afraid to customize this dish thoroughly to your liking.

Shake Shack is a little pressed for vegetarian options. While some of the sides and desserts are vegetarian, such as the fries and chocolate shake, the only main menu items that don't contain some sort of meat product would be the savory 'Shroom Burger made with Portobello mushrooms and the Veggie Shack burger. The Veggie Shack can be made vegan upon request, but the 'Shroom Burger's patty is made with egg to form the outer (albeit still delicious) layer and is additionally filled with cheese, so vegans are quite limited in their options when consulting the main menu. However, the chain's secret menu has got them covered; the Garden Dog is not only vegan, but it's refreshing, flavorful, and a great lunch for a hot summer day.

When making your order at the counter, you can request this secret menu item by asking for the original Shake Shack hot dog with a pickle in place of the usual sausage. The staff will include additional toppings such as chopped and salted tomatoes,  sliced cucumbers, and cubed white onions. Of course, it's not a hot dog until the red and yellow swirls of ketchup and mustard coat the top of the chain's famous potato buns. While additional toppings vary upon location, curious customers are encouraged to play around with any extra available condiments and ingredients; we personally like adding breaded onion rings instead of regular cubed white onions to my Garden Dog. These can add texture to this crispy dish.

It's a challenge to improve on the original Shackburger. Made-to-order, this titular burger features all the classic trimmings of a hearty American burger: an angus beef patty covered with American cheese, fresh lettuce, and juicy tomato slices. The chain adds its own unique touch by spreading titular ShackSauce, a condiment that tastes like a slightly brinier play on a Thousand Island dressing, across the soft potato buns that the chain is known for. While this original burger is already quite good, its secret menu variant ups the ante by adding sliced onions and pickles to the burger, rounding out some of the missing pieces of a classic, American burger by adding a kick of sweet and sour flavor.

To order this secret menu item, simply ask for sliced onions and pickles to be added to your original Shackburger order. Speaking from both personal experience and preference, onions are a must on any burger, especially cheese burgers featuring heavier sauce and meat. Because the potato buns are a little soft for our liking, the crunch of the onions and the acidity from the pickles really helps cut through the otherwise dense burger. If you're not a pickle fan, you can just ask for onions as the extra item topping for an Onion Shackburger, and vice versa for a Pickled Shackburger. Whatever your personal preference, either ingredients serve as a refreshing contrast to the original hearty cheeseburger.

Going off the name alone, this secret menu item can conjure up some lackluster images of a hodgepodge of various burger ingredients heaped awkwardly in a cardboard sleeve, but fear not. The Bunless Shack Burger uses a crispy lettuce wrap that replaces the usual fluffy potato buns that otherwise feature on the majority of Shake Shack's burger offerings; don't worry, customers will still receive the primary ingredients of their burger of choice. While the chewy texture of the Martin's rolls used for most of Shake Shack's burgers is one of the chain's big draw points, this lettuce wrap can be a great vegetarian and vegan substitution. Just ask for your burger to be "bunless" when making your order, or ask the staff for a lettuce wrap on your burger, instead.

The Bunless Shack Burger is perfect for both vegetarians looking for something off the beaten path of the chain's usual menu and for customers with dietary restrictions such as celiac disease or gluten or dairy allergies. The Bunless Shack Burger works especially well with burgers with plenty of savory ingredients, such as the Avocado Bacon Burger or the Shake Stack. We recently were able to try the limited Smoky Classic BBQ Chicken Burger as a bunless secret menu option, and the result was fantastic. The breaded chicken was a perfect match for the lettuce, the pickles and onions added additional flavor, and the barbecue sauce topped it all off for a resulting taste perfect for the summer.

Longtime fans of Shake Shack would recognize this secret menu item from a limited edition run of burgers and fries that featured on the chain's main menu in 2015: the Shack-cago series. It began with the Shack-cago Dog, a flat-top hot dog piled high with relish, mustard, sport peppers, celery salt, and other vegetables on a black-sesame bun, and used the same series of ingredients with the Shack-cago Burger and the Sports Pepper Cheese Fries. While every Shake Shack, except the flagship store in South Beach Miami, has taken the Shack-cago series off the main menus in 2020, the Sport Pepper Cheese Fries is still available to try from most locations' secret menus. To order this item, just ask for chopped sport peppers to be added to your order of Cheese Fries.

Sport peppers, similar in both taste and texture to pepperoncinis, may be small in size, but they're mighty in flavor. If you've been able to try the original Shack-cago series when it was still available, you would be able to recognize the familiar spicy kick that the peppers gave to the overall dish. We're not a particular fan of Cheese Fries on their own, but the extra pop of heat that these peppers have instantly cut through all the ooey-gooey cheese and provides some variety while you work through the fries. Never underestimate the addition of a single ingredient to elevate an average side to a great.

The Fifty Fifty drink from Shake Shack is one of the chain's most popular beverages, since it, as the name suggests, consists of 50% of one of the signature lemonade and 50% of the organic iced tea. It's a refreshing drink with room for customization, but if you're hoping for a little more of an adult kick, the Shandy from the secret menu has got you covered. Instead of featuring the original iced tea half, your lemonade half will now be paired with your choice of available beers. Just request this menu item by name, or ask for your beer to be filled halfway up with lemonade.

Shake Shack offers some well-rounded beer options, but the signature Shackmeister Ale is the brand you're most likely to encounter at your closest Shake Shack. Because every location's beer offerings are bound to be different, as it sources the beers from local breweries, it's best if you familiarize yourself with your Shack's beer selections before ordering this secret menu item. After all, the foundation of the Shandy's enjoyment hinges on the quality of the beer half. If you get a good quality beer, you're in for a treat with this secret drink. The Shandy goes down smoothly on a hot day, and it's a great accompanying beverage for your burger of choice. We recommend choosing a tart lemonade to pair with your beer, such as the Cherry Limeade or the Strawberry Lemonade for extra fruity notes.

Very few customers can pass on the titular frozen custard treats from Shake Shack; the hand-spun milkshakes use both milk and eggs to maximize body and sweetness, and they're a refreshing close to a hearty meal, or just as an icy dessert on its own. However, there's a secret menu item that takes the best of both of Shake Shack's worlds — its delicious burger buns and famous ice cream — and puts them together in a nostalgic American dessert. The Shake Shack Style Ice Cream Sandwich is worth trying during your next visit; just ask for the chain's iconic toasted potato buns on either side of your ice cream of choice, and you have a special twist on the classic American ice cream sandwich.

While most ice cream sandwiches feature cookie or biscuit sides to the ice cream interior, this hack utilizes the soft, springy potato buns to startling deliciousness. The mild umami from the toasted buns complement the ice cream perfectly; whether you ordered the vanilla custard or the chocolate, the starchiness from the buns helps cut through the sheer indulgence of sweetness from the ice cream in a refreshing contrast of flavors. This is the perfect order for customers who prefer their sweets desserts on the milder side. Just be aware that not all locations will be readily accommodating with making this special menu item.

There's no better fond childhood memory than that of swirling together dark, tangy root beer and creamy vanilla ice cream together to make a delicious root beer float, especially during the summer. As children matured into adults, beer floats became the next best thing to soothe a thirsty throat after a long day out in the sun, and this secret order from Shake Shack is just the thing to round out this list of underground menu items. When ordering your beer of choice from the front counter, just ask for a scoop of vanilla ice cream to be added to your drink, and you'll have your very own beer float in hand.

The Beer Float is a tried and true classic from the chain, with fans insisting that their Shake Shack meals are not complete without it. The beer, as we've established earlier to be locally sourced from breweries nearby, varies upon location, but more often than not, it's smooth and just a tad foamy, making it the perfect accompaniment to the chain's vanilla custard. You can't go wrong with the vanilla custard cream either; the combination of milk, eggs, and vanilla is pure heaven on the tongue, though those with allergic restrictions should be aware that there could be cross-contamination in the kitchens due to limited-time offers featuring the nutty Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Shake at certain locations, so indulge with caution.