Western Bacon Cheeseburger Copycat (Carl's Jr.)

To make a Carl’s Jr. Western Bacon Cheeseburger copycat at home, grill a 100–115 g (about 1/4 lb) beef patty to 71 °C (160 °F) inside, melt a slice of American cheese on it, and stack it on a toasted sesame seed bun spread with smoky BBQ sauce, over 2 crisp onion rings and under 2 crossed strips of bacon. This Western Bacon Cheeseburger copycat recipe makes 2 burgers in about 1 hour, 30 minutes of which is the patties chilling in the freezer. It follows the current US Single, not the old half-pound Six Dollar version that many older recipes still copy.

Homemade reproduction, not the official recipe. Carl’s Jr. publishes a description of the Western Bacon Cheeseburger and its calories, but not its patty weight, its number of onion rings or its BBQ sauce formula. I built this recipe from the official US description, the Top Secret Recipes copycat by Todd Wilbur, the 2012 version published by The Daily Meal and my own choices, and the table below shows which is which. Reference market: United States, menu checked on carlsjr.com on October 25, 2026, with notes on Mexico and France.

What’s on a Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carl’s Jr.?

A Carl’s Jr. Western Bacon Cheeseburger is 1 charbroiled beef patty topped with 2 strips of Cherrywood bacon, melted American cheese, crispy onion rings and BBQ sauce on a seeded bun. The official US description reads: “A charbroiled all-beef patty cooked fresh to order topped with 2 strips of Cherrywood bacon, melted American cheese, crispy onion rings and tangy BBQ Sauce on a seeded bun” (Carl’s Jr.). There is no lettuce, no tomato and no mayo. The onion rings and the sauce do all the work.

The table separates what Carl’s Jr. says, what the copycat sources estimate and what I chose.

Western Bacon Cheeseburger components side by side: Carl’s Jr. official US description (2026), Top Secret Recipes and The Daily Meal 2012 copycats, and our homemade choice (bun, 3.5–4 oz patty, 2 strips of bacon, 1 slice of American cheese, 2 onion rings, 2 tbsp BBQ sauce). (Table: Burger Breton, data from Carl’s Jr. (carlsjr.com), Top Secret Recipes and The Daily Meal, checked 2026-10-25)

How much does the Western Bacon patty weigh?

Carl’s Jr. does not publish the weight of the Western Bacon Cheeseburger patty: the product page only says “all-beef patty” (Carl’s Jr.). The quarter pound (about 113 g) comes from Top Secret Recipes, and the half pound comes from the old Six Dollar version. Neither is an official figure for today’s Single. I use 100–115 g of raw beef per burger, the same as in my Carl’s Jr. Famous Star copycat recipe, so both burgers come out of your kitchen the same size.

Why the old half-pound recipe is not today’s Western Bacon

The half-pound recipe that still circulates is the Six Dollar Western Bacon, not the current Single. The Daily Meal published it on August 31, 2012, attributed to Carl’s Jr.: a 1/2 lb patty of 100% Black Angus beef, 1 oz of BBQ sauce, 3 breaded onion rings, 3 slices of bacon and 2 slices of American cheese (The Daily Meal). Today’s US Single is a different burger: 2 strips of bacon, a 248 g serving and 770 calories on the official nutrition guide. If you want that bigger build, see the Double below.

Single, Double and Triple Western Bacon Cheeseburger

The current US menu sells the Western Bacon Cheeseburger as a Single, a Double and a Triple, at 770, 1,020 and 1,280 calories (Single, Double, Triple). The official nutrition guide gives serving weights of 248 g, 331 g and 413 g (Carl’s Jr. nutrition PDF). This recipe is the Single. There is also a Spicy Western Bacon Cheeseburger with jalapeño slices and pepper jack instead of American cheese (The National Provisioner).

Bar chart of Carl’s Jr. Western Bacon Cheeseburger calories in the US: Single 770, Double 1,020, Triple 1,280, with serving weights of 248 g (8.7 oz), 331 g (11.7 oz) and 413 g (14.6 oz). Source: carlsjr.com menu and nutrition guide, checked October 25, 2026. (Chart: Burger Breton, data from Carl’s Jr. official menu and nutrition guide (carlsjr.com), checked 2026-10-25)

Single, Double and Triple Western Bacon Cheeseburger compared: US calories (770 / 1,020 / 1,280) and serving weight (248 g / 331 g / 413 g), per Carl’s Jr., checked October 25, 2026. (Table: Burger Breton, data from Carl’s Jr. (carlsjr.com), checked 2026-10-25)

Ingredients for 2 Western Bacon Cheeseburgers

For 2 Western Bacon copycats you need 200–230 g of ground beef, 4 strips of bacon, 2 slices of American cheese, 4 onion rings, 4 tbsp of smoky BBQ sauce and 2 sesame seed buns. The weights are mine, not Carl’s Jr.’s.

• 200–230 g (7–8 oz) ground beef, split into 2 portions of 100–115 g
• Fine salt
• 4 strips bacon, cherrywood-smoked if you can find it
• 2 slices American cheese
• 4 frozen onion rings (or homemade, see below)
• 4 tbsp (60 ml) smoky BBQ sauce, such as Bull’s-Eye Hickory Smoke (or homemade, see below)
• 2 sesame seed hamburger buns

Equipment: a barbecue or a ridged cast-iron grill pan, a skillet, parchment paper, a thin spatula and an instant-read thermometer. Want to bake the buns yourself? My colleague Clara’s homemade sesame burger buns recipe gives you the seeded bun this burger needs.

Smoky homemade BBQ sauce for the Western Bacon

Any thick, smoky, sweet-and-tangy BBQ sauce works, because Carl’s Jr. has never published its own. Bull’s-Eye Hickory Smoke is the Top Secret Recipes pick, not the chain’s ingredient. If you prefer to make it, this is my quick version, not a Carl’s Jr. formula: simmer 6 tbsp ketchup, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp cider vinegar, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce and 1/2 tsp smoked paprika for 5 minutes, then let it cool. You get about twice the 4 tbsp you need. The rest keeps a week in the fridge.

Keep the sauce thick. A runny sauce soaks the bun and slides off the onion rings, and the whole point of this burger is crunch against sticky sweetness.

Frozen or homemade onion rings?

Frozen onion rings are what the best-known copycat uses, and they give the most reliable crunch. Top Secret Recipes calls for 2 frozen rings per burger, baked according to the package. Pick thin, breaded rings about the width of the patty. Thick beer-battered rings look great in the bag and then tip the whole burger over.

Homemade rings are my optional upgrade. Cut 1 large onion into 1 cm (3/8 in) slices and keep the 4 rings closest to the bun’s width. Dust them in flour, dip them in a batter of 100 g (3/4 cup) flour, 120 ml (1/2 cup) cold sparkling water and a pinch of salt, and fry at 175 °C (350 °F) for 2–3 minutes, until golden. Drain on a rack, not on paper, so the bottom stays crisp.

Homemade batter-fried onion rings draining on a wire rack over paper towels. Draining on a rack, not on paper, keeps the bottoms crisp for the Western Bacon copycat. (Photo: Adam S from Orlando, FL, USA, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Onion\_rings\_(2200314686).jpg)

Step by step: the Western Bacon Cheeseburger copycat recipe

Chill the patties, cook the rings and bacon while they firm up, then grill the beef and build the burger from the onion rings up. Count about 1 hour in total, 30 minutes of it in the freezer.

1. Shape and chill the patties

Divide the beef into 2 portions of 100–115 g and press each between parchment into a round the width of the bun, about 1 cm (3/8 in) thick. Freeze for 30 minutes. Top Secret Recipes recommends this step: a cold patty holds together on the grill and stays juicy while the outside chars.

2. Cook the onion rings

Bake the frozen onion rings according to the package while the patties chill, or fry homemade rings as described above. Keep them warm in a low oven on a rack. You need 2 rings per burger.

3. Toast the buns

Toast the cut sides of the buns in a dry skillet over medium heat for about 1 minute, until lightly golden. Don’t skip this. A toasted face is the only thing standing between 2 tablespoons of BBQ sauce and a soggy bun.

4. Cook the bacon

Cook 4 strips of bacon in the same skillet over medium heat until crisp, turning them as needed, then drain them on paper towels. Crisp bacon matters here: it sits on top of the cheese and must not go limp.

5. Grill the patties

Heat a barbecue to medium or a cast-iron grill pan for at least 5 minutes, salt the cold patties on both sides and grill them 3–4 minutes per side, flipping once. They are done when the center reads 71 °C (160 °F), the USDA safe temperature for ground beef quoted by The Daily Meal.

6. Melt the cheese

Lay 1 slice of American cheese on each patty right after the flip so it melts during the last 3–4 minutes. On a grill pan, cover for 20 seconds if the corners stay stiff.

7. Assemble the burger

Spread 1 tbsp of BBQ sauce on each half of both buns. Build from the bottom up: 2 onion rings, the cheesy patty, then 2 strips of bacon crossed over the cheese, and close with the top bun. This is the Top Secret Recipes build order, with the rings under the patty so the sauce glues them in place.

Why this recipe tastes like the Carl’s Jr. original

This copycat tastes like a Western Bacon because it keeps the 3 things the official description insists on: charbroiled beef, crispy onion rings and BBQ sauce, with no fresh vegetables to dilute them. Chowhound ranked the Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger first of 11 Carl’s Jr. items in April 2025 and praised exactly that balance between crunchy rings and sweet-tangy sauce (Chowhound).

• Grilled, not griddled. Carl’s Jr. sells it in its Charbroiled Burgers line, so a barbecue or a ridged grill pan gets you closer than a flat pan.
• Sauce on both halves. 1 tablespoon top and bottom puts BBQ in every bite, as in the Top Secret Recipes method.
• Rings under the beef. They stay crunchy against the sauce instead of sliding off the top.
• American cheese. It melts flat over the patty and ties the bacon to it, which is what the official build uses.

My take: at home, make the Single. Chowhound prefers the Double, and I understand why at the counter, but a second homemade patty pushes the beef to the front and the rings turn into a garnish. With 1 patty, the crunch and the sauce still lead, and that contrast is the reason to cook this burger rather than a plain bacon cheeseburger.

Western Bacon in Mexico and France

The Western Bacon is sold outside the US, but not always with the same recipe. In Mexico, Carl’s Jr. describes it with 100% Black Angus beef, bacon strips (“tocino”), American cheese, breaded onion rings and BBQ sauce, at a usual price of 125 to 154 Mexican pesos depending on the state in February 2024 (Publimetro). On Rappi, the Reforma 87 branch in Mexico City listed it at 173 MXN on its own and 279 MXN as a combo on October 24, 2026, delivery prices. My colleague Carmen’s guides to Carl’s Jr. in Mexico City and Carl’s Jr. in Cancún list the branches.

In France, the official menu files a “Western Bacon” under its Big Angus range, with no description, ingredients or price online (Carl’s Jr. France). I could not confirm its build, so do not assume it matches the US Western Bacon Cheeseburger this recipe copies.

A short history of the Western Bacon Cheeseburger

The Western Bacon Cheeseburger dates from the early 1980s, but sources disagree on the exact year. Top Secret Recipes gives 1983, QSR Magazine 1981, and Wikipedia only places it in the 1980s, alongside Carl’s Jr.’s breakfast menu and grilled chicken line (Wikipedia). Chowhound dates the Double to 1988, a single source I could not cross-check.

It became one of the chain’s signature burgers. The Daily Meal reported in 2012 that about 32 million had been sold the previous year, a figure from that article that I could not verify independently. Unlike many fast food favorites, it never left the menu. For the ones that did and are returning, read Maria’s piece on fast food items coming back in 2026. For the full story of the chain, see our Carl’s Jr. brand profile.

More Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s copycat recipes

The Western Bacon is the second Carl’s Jr. burger in my copycat series, after the Famous Star. The Famous Star copycat recipe uses the same patty and the same grill method, with lettuce, tomato, special sauce and mayo instead of rings and BBQ. Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr.’s sister brand, has its own classics: the Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger copycat recipe and the Monster Thickburger copycat recipe. All our burger recipes are in the recipes hub.

Western Bacon Cheeseburger FAQ

Is this the official Carl’s Jr. recipe?

No. This is a homemade reproduction. Carl’s Jr. publishes the description and calories of the Western Bacon Cheeseburger, but not its patty weight, onion ring count or BBQ sauce formula, so those parts of the recipe are estimates and my own choices.

How many calories are in a Western Bacon Cheeseburger?

The US Single Western Bacon Cheeseburger has 770 calories, the Double 1,020 and the Triple 1,280, according to Carl’s Jr.’s official menu checked on October 25, 2026. I have not calculated nutrition for this homemade version.

What BBQ sauce should I use for a Western Bacon copycat?

Use a thick, smoky, sweet-and-tangy sauce. Top Secret Recipes recommends Bull’s-Eye Hickory Smoke, but that is a copycat suggestion, not the chain’s ingredient. My homemade version above works too.

Can I use cheddar instead of American cheese?

Yes, but it changes the burger. The official US build uses American cheese, which melts smooth and flat over the patty. Mild cheddar tastes sharper and melts less evenly.

Can I cook the Western Bacon in a skillet instead of on a grill?

Yes. A ridged cast-iron grill pan heated for at least 5 minutes gives you grill marks and some charred flavor. A flat skillet works, but you lose the charbroiled taste that defines Carl’s Jr.’s burgers.

How do I make a Double Western Bacon at home?

Add a second 100–115 g patty and a second slice of American cheese per burger, as Top Secret Recipes does. Keep the same bacon, onion rings and sauce. For a Junior, Top Secret Recipes uses 1/8 lb of beef, 1 strip of bacon broken in half, 1 onion ring and a smaller bun.