Burger King Retired These 9 Menu Items And We Still Miss Them

For some, Burger King is merely McDonald's flame-broiled younger brother. To many more, though, BK is a one-of-a-kind treasure that offers everything the Golden Arches have been lacking over the past couple of decades. This is in especially a sense of experimentation — maybe being a global juggernaut is slightly less important than delivering consistent quality; it could even be worth taking a big gamble or two.

Of course, when you're willing to experiment with your menu to the point that Burger King does — constantly attempting new breakfasts, new burgers, new chicken options and new sweets — you're bound to come up with some ideas that don't quite stick in the way you'd hoped. Burger King's graveyard of retired items is a veritable fast food museum, covering the cultural shifts of the 20th and 21st centuries like so many murals of civilization at a Natural History Museum. These nine particular items are ones that we hold a special place for in our hearts: consider them the featured exhibits of this museum.

While Burger King occasionally brings back the King Box deal in different forms and across different markets, the original iteration of the King Box was a $6.00 deal that is likely lost to the mists of time (Thanks again, inflation). Before we resign it to the $5.00-Footlong era of our history, let's take a moment to appreciate the fast food lunch value to end all fast food lunch values. Guests could choose between a WHOPPER® sandwich, Crispy Chicken Sandwich, the Spicy Chicken Sandwich and 3-piece Chicken Tenders while also receiving a small order of fries, a small drink, and two chocolate chip cookies.

"We are excited to launch a brand new offering that allows our guests to treat themselves with our $6 King Box," said Chris Finazzo, president of North American Operations in 2018 when the box was launched. "The new $6 King Box features our most iconic entrees and offers our guests craveable and delicious premium options that outsize the competition." This not-so-subtle swipe at "outsizing" their presumably "Super-Sized" competition was a well-aimed one for sure; but alas, nothing gold can stay, and the King Box was retired after its original limited run.

First introduced in 2019, Burger King's French Toast sandwiches were a no-brainer: take the iconic French Toast sticks, leave the bread slices intact, and use the same fillings as the equally iconic Croissan-wich, namely cheese, egg and a choice of bacon, sausage or ham. Along the same lines of McDonald's McGriddles, they came without the branded stamp, but with the distinct maple flavor. The sandwiches were quickly retired, but were brought back for a second limited run in 2021. It's not inconceivable we might get a chance to enjoy these treats again.

With the Croissan-wich being a staple on the BK menu and a buttery, flaky fan favorite, the French toast sandwiches had an uphill climb ahead from the start and were unlikely to unseat the champion. They were, however, a delightful second option.

It wasn't for everyone (one reviewer even had the gall to call French toast the third best breakfast carb after waffles and pancakes). However, the idea of using French toast as a bun was popular enough to make internet waves when it was reintroduced.

As Tex-Mex conquered the fast food scene in the 2010s, Burger King attacked that market with a typical experimental spirit. What does BK have that no other chain can boast of? 100% Flame Grilled Beef, of course. Rather than overthinking its foray South of the Border in 2016, BK decided to burrito-fy the Whopper, King of the King's burgers. Chopping up the ingredients, adding queso sauce and wrapping the works in a tortilla rather than between two buns, the Whopperito was unabashedly BK, accusations of cultural appropriation be damned.

While the Whopperito went the way of the dodo not long after being introduced, it did certainly fill a niche. As anyone who's ever been in a relationship or tried to order food with friends knows, the "burgers or burritos" question can be a frustrating one. The good news is that you can still (sort of) order a Whopperito by replacing the bun on your whopper with a tortilla and adding queso (if it's available at your local BK). Is it exactly the same? Not precisely, no — but it'll certainly get on top of your cravings.

How do we explain the bacon boom of the late aughts and early 2010s? Have you ever looked at an item on the menu of a local bar and grill and said to yourself: "Look, I love bacon as much as the next person, but who on earth thought to put it on this"? That item is probably a vestigial limb left over from a truly bizarre moment in our shared cultural experience. Remember "Epic Meal Time" on YouTube? For a while the whole culinary landscape of the U.S. was built on streaky, cured pork belly.

No other item represents the sheer excess with which we as a country approached our cheat meals 15-20 years ago than the absolute monstrosity that is the BK Quad Stacker. It consisted of four beef patties, eight slices of bacon, four slices of cheese, special sauce and a seeded bun. A simple recipe, but one to make medical professionals cringe. BK also offered a (reasonable) double stacker featuring just two patties and a (not reasonable under any circumstances except when the alternative is a quad stacker) triple. As much as we'd like to see the double make a comeback, maybe it's better that the quad is left for history.

Burger King's love-it-or-hate-it hot ham and cheese sandwich, the Yumbo, started its life as a novelty. Like McDonald's McDLT, it was specifically packaged to retain heat, which gave it a commercial anchor above both the normal burger joint offerings and the normal deli offerings. A hot ham sandwich on BK's classic surfboard-shaped bun, it was a cult classic in 1974 when first offered, and was a disappointment when they brought it back in 2014.

The sandwich's first iteration was a welcome experiment in the mid '70s, when the average fast food experience was limited to Cheeseburger, Fries, Coke (or Milkshake). When it came back into our lives in 2014, it seemed more like a Lunchable than a fast food treat. To paraphrase the great B.B. King, the thrill was gone. The 2014 comeback was, however, an important experiment. A nascent generation of influencers found a new favorite. How much of this had to do with the Yumbo's 1970s-themed ubiquitous ad campaign? We'd rather have the sandwich on the menu than ponder media studies. It's a ham and cheese; what could be a simpler addition to the menu?

How can another chain one-up the famous McDonald's Apple Pie? It can't. Burger King was able to acknowledge this reality and use it to carve its own slice of fast food dessert history. Rather than try to re-revolutionize dessert, BK went completely traditional. In fact, the only way their much missed Dutch Apple Pie could have been more traditionally inspired would have been a dollop of Amish sour cream from Lancaster. Rather than a hand pie perfect for the drive-thru, Burger King's Dutch Apple Pie was a traditional piece of pie: triangular, fillings exposed, fork necessary.

It was precisely this lack of portability that made BK discontinue the pie during the COVID-19 pandemic, however. When the option of sitting down and enjoying a meal the old fashioned way was temporarily unavailable, Burger King stopped moving apple pies. For this reason, we're (kind of) hopeful that there might be a comeback, but for now, BK's classic dessert is a sweet memory.

In what must have seemed like a safe gamble then and is now remembered as a true fast food gem, Burger King turned its famous flame broiler to poultry and created the Chicken Broiler. In the diet-conscious 1990s, a fast food lunch option — free of red meat and not deep fried — was a welcome change, and by all accounts, BK knocked it out of the park. A 100% white meat flame broiled chicken breast, fresh grilled and with fresh veggies, as well as a light dill ranch sauce, the broiler was a simple choice in an era famous for excess.

For fans of the BK Broiler, however, 2024 offered some potentially hopeful news. In select markets, BK tested a whole range of flame-grilled chicken options: in the Huntsville and Omaha markets, guests had the option of swapping in a flame-grilled boneless chicken breast in Classic, Fiery and Bacon Swiss Royal Crispy chicken sandwiches. A half flame-grilled chicken breast can be substituted in the chain's Flame-Grilled Royal Crispy Wraps, available in a variety of flavor profiles: Classic, Fiery, Honey Mustard, Philly, Fiery Bacon and Bacon and Cheddar.

By 2012, bacon madness was winding down, and Burger King's Bacon Sundae might as well have been the Fonz water skiing over the shark. "Brilliant, or Tragic?" asked NPR. It was a question that wasn't just about this one dessert: it was about an entire trend toward treating Ron Swanson-style hyper carnivorism as somehow beneficial. All of that having been said, the bacon sundae was delicious.

In the intervening years, we've learned to appreciate salty/sweet snacks in a much more subtle and fulfilling way. In 2012, though, the idea of bacon in one's ice cream was still a little too much for many to get over. It's probably just a coincidence that around the same time, Burger King temporarily changed its famous "Have it Your Way" slogan to "Taste is King." Before long, the bacon sundae was gone before its time — another "failed" experiment with fans all over the country.

The slider's invention is credited to Walter Anderson, the founder of beloved (and reviled) burger joint, White Castle. In some parts of the country, the term "slider" is inextricably connected with Harold and Kumar's fast food muse. Maybe that's why Burger King decided to name its slider offering "Burger Shots," so as not to be seen as storming the historic Castle. In fact, it tried two different iterations of its pseudo-slider: in the 1980s, it experimented with "Burger Buddies," which soon fell flat. In 2008, Burger Shots seemed to play on the frat-pack humor that defined the aughts and made light of the slider concept by comparing it to a shot of liquor.

These sliders, too, were doomed to fail, not helped by a truly bizarre ad campaign featuring the BK King. Even worse, apparently the tiny burgers had a nasty habit of falling through the grill of BK's famous broiler. Another historic king hoisted on his own petard.