Give Your Culver's Burger Better Flavor With 2 Simple Words

A lot of fast food burger chains might say they have the best burger. But when it comes down to reality, some of the most consistently best-rated fast food burgers come down to spots like Shake Shack, In-N-Out, Five Guys, and Culver's. For Culver's, it's all about those ButterBurgers — made fresh to order, never frozen, seared on the flattop like a smashburger, and placed inside a toasted Kaiser bun. The ButterBurger truly is one of the standouts at fast food chains.

While some customers might like their ButterBurger straight up and simple — maybe with a slice of American cheese and a dollop of ketchup — others might want a few more toppings. If you'd like a little extra boost of flavor to your Culver's burger, we'd suggest ordering it with "the works." It's just a simple combination of pickles, ketchup, mustard, and raw onions. That's it. Nothing over-the-top or super adventurous. Just a small mix of classic burger toppings that add a touch of sweetness from the ketchup, savoriness from the pickles, and a little bite from the mustard and raw onions.

Though Culver's might not have the extensive list of toppings like Five Guys, the burger chain doesn't charge customers for these add-ons (the exception being a slice of tomato costs 40 cents extra, mushrooms cost 50 cents, and bacon is $1.50). Outside of the works, you can also add lettuce, mayonnaise, and grilled onions for no additional charge. And if American cheese isn't your thing, you can substitute cheddar or Swiss. A single ButterBurger with cheese costs just a little more than $5 — not bad by today's fast food pricing standards. And you can make it a double for $7.79. Even if you're not interested in "the works" or any of these extra toppings, you still have other ways to make your ButterBurger even better.

Culver's ButterBurger is good enough to enjoy on its own, either with the works or just one simple slice of cheese. But if you've had the standard option and are interested in upgrading your burger beyond just a few classic toppings, Culver's has options. The first possibility is to turn your standard burger into a patty melt. Order the standard $4 grilled cheese and ask to add a burger patty (an additional cost). Add grilled onions — as well as a slice of cheddar — and you've got a cheesy, next-level patty melt. For this hack, you'll probably need to go to the restaurant itself, as this doesn't appear to be an option through online ordering. 

Thanks to Culver's long list of available sauces, you can really get creative in making your basic ButterBurger with cheese pop even more. Order a side of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce — the best-selling barbecue sauce in retail history, by the way — add some grilled onions to go with cheddar cheese, and you have a delicious BBQ cheeseburger. What about bacon and blue cheese? For this, order a ButterBurger with bacon and ask for a side of Ken's Blue Cheese to make a bacon and blue ButterBurger. You can also choose from ranch, Wisconsin cheddar cheese sauce, marinara, and even a boom boom sauce — which might work better with Culver's chicken sandwiches, but who knows?

You get the point. One of the great things about Culver's is that all the toppings and sauces really let you create your own take on the ButterBurger. While the plain ButterBurger with cheese is one of the best out there, if you're ever in the mood for something a little different, give "the works" a try or simply get adventurous with one (or more) of those many sauces.