Review: Bacon & Cheddar BK Toppers Burger from Burger King

Posted January 7th, 2012 | 5:54pm by Chefprotoss

After the Chef’s Choice Burger from Burger King, I felt pretty certain I was done with fast food monarchs for a while. Then BK decided to give away free fries. I had already tried the new fries and wasn’t a fan, but I’m not one to ever turn down free food. Who is? Since fries alone do not make a meal, I figured I’d grab a burger too. After reading positve reviews about the TOPPERS (I guess BK is shouting at us), I settled on the Deluxe version.

While the new fries and the Chef’s Choice were about as enjoyable as cutting your hair with gasoline and a match, the Deluxe burger was pretty good. The meat was the best I have had from BK, and other than a lack of tomato, the toppings were all the standards that make me a happy camper. For the price, it was a good deal as well. Fast forward a couple weeks, and sure enough BK releases a new burger; The Bacon & Cheddar BK TOPPERS Burger. After being impressed by the Deluxe, I was exited to try this new one.

The $1.99 Bacon & Cheddar BK Toppers Burger is described like this:

3.2 ounces of fire-grilled beef, topped with melted cheddar cheese, thick-cut hardwood smoked bacon, mayonnaise, ketchup, and crispy pickles all on a warm, toasted bun.

I open the wrapper and… hmm… uhh… where’s the beef? A lot of the time when taking food photos, I will move a piece of bacon or onion jutting out of the side of a sandwich back inside to make for a better picture. There was no hope with this though. I tried every angle and all I got were pictures of a cheese sandwich. After opening the burger I saw the problem; it was perfectly portioned. The pickles and bacon don’t really add any mass either. I also thought they maybe gave me a regular tiny hamburger patty, but after cuting it in half, sure enough, it was a TOPPERS patty.

It seemed like the minimalist toppings and well placed patty were an attempt to fool me. Well played Burger King. Was it any good? Actually, yes it was. I never understood why BK made the Whopper and regular patties so thin. Because of having so much surface area and so little interior mass and the fact that they are cooked in frickin’ fire, they always tasted way too smokey to me. Double or triple the burger and it is an onslaught of burnt smoke flavor. With the new thicker patties, I don’t feel as overwhelmed by the char. The meat in the Chef’s Choice was ground so fine they may as well have stuffed it in a casing and called it a hot dog. The TOPPERS have a medium grind and are thicker than the old patties that works well with their caveman-ish cooking method. BK should stick to this format for future burgers. The cheddar was pretty mild. I like a super sharp cheddar on my burger and would have prefered that. Not bad, and not great.

Burger King must have changed their bacon because this wasn’t the awful ultra-thin limp bacon strips that I am used to. This was thick, crispy and delicious bacon. One slice cut in half might not seem like much, but it gets the job done. The pickles were super sour, and the acidity did a great job of cutting through all the fat and adding balance. Ketchup and mayo are my bag, so in my opinion, you can’t go wrong there. I do think this really needed onion and tomato, but other than that this was a solid sandwich. With the TOPPERS line up, there is now a burger for everyone. With four different burgers, I don’t want to hear any complaining from anyone about how mayo sucks, or BBQ sauce is for ribs. There are more than enough options to make all of us happy. Wishful thinking?