Did you know that Five Guys has animal style burgers, like In-N-Out?
How about the fact that they won't cost you extra? Curious to learn more about the animal
style burgers at Five Guys? Keep watching. The modern fast food experience has been
shaped largely by In-N-Out Burger's ingenuity; animal style burgers are just one of the many
tasty innovations that came along the way. The chain dates its invention to 1961 — 13
years after its flagship restaurant opened in Baldwin Park, California — but it was never an
official item offered by the business. In fact, the sauce-laden sandwich emerged by accident,
and the memorable anecdote of its making forever cemented its place in fast food history.
The story goes like this: A group of teenagers roam into an In-N-Out, likely on a beautiful sunny
California day. Having worked up an appetite from surfing or skating the afternoon away,
the rowdy beach-dwellers make a series of delicious, if messy, demands. What exactly
do they ask for? Double cheeseburgers, but with a twist: patties fried in mustard, extra pickles,
and secret sauce drizzled all over. Despite feeling annoyed by the disorderly bunch who
were given the nickname "animals," this didn't stop employees from honoring the requests.
"They were animals!"
"Exactly, and they would always order a burger like that so they named the burger animal style."
Before long, word of the savory concoction spread across Southern California. Author Stacy Perman,
who wrote an entire book about the burger empire, acknowledged the origin story's
possible embellishment to Eater. Even so, it's a good tale that lays the foundation
for In-N-Out's animal style burger recipe — and the resulting secret menu mania as we know it.
Technically, you're not going to find animal style burgers on Five Guys' menu. At least,
the particular delicacy won't be spelled out for you. That's because it resides in
that tricky limbo known as the secret menu, where hidden delights lurk on the fringes.
Unofficial menu items have circulated online in spaces like Reddit for years,
thanks to Five Guys employees and burger enthusiasts.
Their collective brainpower has produced unthinkable possibilities for building a
burger. Popular secret menu orders at Five Guys include a patty melt, nacho fries,
and the Presidential, based on Barack Obama's burger of choice. Thrillist tasked chef and
Food Network personality Justin Warner with coming up with a set of menu hacks in 2015,
and one of these winning ideas took the shape of an In-N-Out knock-off.
In today's fast food landscape, secret menus can seem unrealistic at best and overwrought at worst.
Yet Five Guys is one of the few places where they make sense. They already offer a customizable
menu that allows customers to create whatever burger they want. The ingredients are simple.
The toppings are free. Short of a few hidden add-ons, a burger will cost the
same no matter how it's styled. We can't say for sure who kicked off the In-N-Out trend,
but we do know the free-flowing options at Five Guys are ripe for inspiration and experimentation.
Animal style burgers were only a matter of time. Nothing silences hunger pangs more than a massive
cheeseburger that fills the belly and loosens the belt buckle, and the Virginia-based chain
guarantees a hefty sandwich every time. Five Guys' burger recipe features patties weighing
an approximate 3.3 ounces, which might not seem like a lot at first. But the restaurant's standard
cheeseburger features two of them, bringing the grand total to 6.6 ounces. Almost half
a pound of beef is tucked between the bun, and that's before we even talk toppings.
We know we're discussing Five Guys' animal style burger and not In-N-Out's,
but we would be remiss not to mention the stark size difference between them. For starters,
In-N-Out's patties are just 2 ounces, giving a Double-Double only 4 ounces of meat.
Even amid heaps of grilled onion and spread, they're still razor-thin next to Five Guys'.
However, the price of a Double-Double burger combo is less than that of a
Five Guys cheeseburger — and that's with a side of fries and a drink. As such,
it doesn't approach the massive heft of a Five Guys animal style burger. How generous they are
with the toppings is up for debate, but as far as the beef goes, Five Guys sells a bigger burger.
At Five Guys, your wish is the burger chain's command. Assuming you don't ask for something
absurd like enough ketchup to fill up a kiddie pool, anything you crave will be accommodated,
no questions asked. This also applies to cheese, and to build an animal style burger
at Five Guys that does the original justice, you're going to need an extra slice of it.
The default cheeseburger, which we've established is equipped with two patties, is not festooned
with double the American cheese like you'd expect. There's only one slice, and it's laid smack-dab
in the middle of the meat. This is fine but it isn't animal style, not by a long shot.
A Double-Double from In-N-Out, on the other hand, features two slices between each patty,
resulting in that melty, gooey interior a good cheeseburger calls for. When placing your order,
ask the cashier for an extra slice to blanket your burger. Not only will the price stay the same,
but you'll feel even closer to the yellow arrow. From McDonald's to Shake Shack, most burger joints
in America douse their patties in some kind of secret sauce.
"Hey what's that goo?"
"Oh, it's my sauce. I make it myself."
It's the glue that binds the whole thing together,
that magic touch you never thought you needed until taking the first delectable bite. But Five
Guys is a glaring exception. They don't offer a Thousand Island-esque spread for their burgers,
instead keeping things simple with ketchup, mustard, relish, mayo, BBQ, A1 steak sauce,
and hot sauce. That's it. Thankfully, Five Guys makes this easy because all
the ingredients you'd need are already on the menu; all you have to do is assemble them.
In-N-Out is notoriously tight-lipped about the formula for its "spread,"
which has spawned countless copycat recipes and fan theories speculating on its contents. Yet
conventional wisdom usually points to ketchup, mayo, and relish. Five Guys offers all three,
so you can request them on the side when ordering your burger and stir them together.
Then spread it on to your heart's content, and voila! Your very own animal style burger,
a la Five Guys. You can even make it at home if the ingredients are already in your fridge,
though we promise no one would give funny looks if you did it at the condiments station.
As any In-N-Out lover knows, grilling the patties in mustard is the key component
to making an animal style burger. It leaves a tasty crust and infuses the meat with a briny,
tangy essence that can't be matched by drizzling it on at the end. Just don't count on Five Guys
to do it. In exploring Five Guys' secret menu, Thrillist recounted employees turning
down requests to cook the burgers in a sizzling mustard bath when they attempted to recreate the
sandwich at the restaurant. They will only go so far in your quest for achieving the
authentic West Coast specialty, and it appears this is the line they draw at doing so. Bummer.
From Five Guys' perspective, we can understand this. Mustard is quite pungent and messy. To
slather it on a surface cooking other orders at the same time would likely trigger some complaints
from customers, on top of creating added work for the fry cooks tasked with wiping down the grills.
You could throw caution to the wind and ask anyway; just be prepared for them to say no.
One of the benefits of ordering from Five Guys is the free toppings. No matter how
wild you get with the customizations, a cheeseburger always rings up the same price.
It's as if they plugged a burger hack straight into the menu, and it's available at our disposal
all the time. As such, going animal style doesn't cost customers a penny extra, and never will.
That's because the building blocks that make up an animal style burger are all complementary here.
For starters, the lettuce, tomato, pickles, grilled onions, and condiments are free of charge,
straight up. No hidden costs will creep up the total printed on your receipt.
Then there's the cheese. You're getting one slice by default,
since a cheeseburger already comes with it. But is the second slice free? Normally we'd
put it in the same category of exclusive extras like bacon and avocado, yet that isn't the case.
Taste of Home revealed the gooey add-on is actually complimentary in this context. Since
you're paying for the cheeseburger specifically and not a plain hamburger, doubling it won't tack
on an additional charge. As long as the item itself features the ingredient, it counts as a
freebie. Something to know the next time you feel like giving your usual cheeseburger some pizazz.
"Would you like a free sample?"
"The price is right." Foodies likely gasped when In-N-Out was
kicked off its mighty burger pedestal in favor of Five Guys, not just once, but twice in The
Harris Poll of favored burger brands. The feverish devotion inspired by the California institution
is undeniable. Nevertheless, there's reason to suggest why Five Guys gives it a run for its
money. Hear us out: Whether one chain is better is entirely up for debate. But if we're talking
physical access to cheeseburgers, let alone animal style ones, Five Guys has In-N-Out squarely beat.
As of May 2022, In-N-Out operates only 378 restaurants in just seven states.
Unsurprisingly, most of them are in California. This exclusivity is part of its appeal,
an insistence to stay true to the family business' roots. It's also why many of us can't get it in
the first place. On the flip side, Five Guys has over 1,000 locations all over the country,
as well as international expansion on its side, according to Washington Business Journal.
So unless you live on the West Coast, experiencing an actual Double-Double would require either a
road trip or an incredible friend willing to bring one back for you. At that point,
it's easier to hit up Five Guys instead. They'll assemble a burger that not only hits the spot,
but also boasts a striking resemblance to the real
thing. Think of it as a loving tribute to a fast food icon.
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