Double Big Jack Recipe: Hungry Jack's Copycat

This Double Big Jack recipe rebuilds Hungry Jack’s four-patty burger at home: eight thin 60 g beef patties flame-grilled at 260°C / 500°F, melted cheese, a tangy Big Jack-style sauce, shredded lettuce, pickles and diced onion on a toasted sesame bun. It makes 2 burgers in about an hour. This is an unofficial copycat, not Hungry Jack’s own recipe. I built it from the official Australian product page, checked on 16 October 2026, and every quantity the chain does not publish is marked as my estimate.

What is the Hungry Jack’s Double Big Jack?

The Double Big Jack is Hungry Jack’s Big Jack with four beef patties instead of two. The chain describes it as “four flame-grilled 100% Aussie beef patties, topped with melted cheese, special sauce, fresh lettuce, pickles and onions on a toasted sesame seed bun” (Hungry Jack’s, Double Big Jack, checked 16 October 2026).

Hungry Jack’s is Burger King’s master franchisee in Australia, founded by Jack Cowin. The first restaurant opened on 18 April 1971 in Innaloo, Perth, the city covered in our guide to the best burgers in Perth. The Burger King name was already registered locally, so the chain borrowed the name of a Pillsbury pancake mix (Wikipedia).

Map of Innaloo in Perth’s northern suburbs, about 10 km north-west of the CBD, where the first Hungry Jack’s opened in 1971. The marker shows where the 2021 photo of the restaurant was taken. Alt: map of the Hungry Jack’s restaurant in Innaloo, Perth, Western Australia (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)

The Big Jack itself launched on 28 July 2020 in around 400 Australian restaurants, as a limited offer alongside the Mega Jack. At launch its patties measured about 10 cm across and it cost about AUD 7 (Beef Central, EFTM). Both burgers returned for a limited time on 7 May 2024 after customer demand (B&T). The Double Big Jack is harder to pin down. I could not confirm when it launched or whether it is permanent, only that it was on the Australian menu when I checked on 16 October 2026.

Big Jack vs Double Big Jack vs Big Jack Angus

All three Big Jacks share the same cheese, sauce, lettuce, pickles, onion and sesame bun; only the beef changes. The current Hungry Jack’s Australia “Whopper & Beef” menu lists all three (Hungry Jack’s menu).

Sources: official Hungry Jack’s pages for the Big Jack, Double Big Jack and Big Jack Angus, checked 16 October 2026. Calories converted at 1 kcal = 4.184 kJ.

Big Jack vs Double Big Jack vs Big Jack Angus: the same cheese, sauce, lettuce, pickles, onion and sesame bun on all three; only the beef changes. Energy: 2334 kJ (about 558 kcal), 3441 kJ (about 822 kcal) and 4286 kJ (about 1024 kcal). Protein: 25.6 g, 44.5 g and 65.8 g. Official Australian pages, checked 16 October 2026. Alt: nutrition comparison table of the Big Jack, Double Big Jack and Big Jack Angus (Table: Burger Breton, data from Hungry Jack’s Australia official product pages (checked 16 October 2026))

Read the table across and the Double turns out to be the simplest of the three: two more patties, nothing else. That makes it the easiest to copy faithfully. The Angus version swaps in thick patties and needs a different method, which I cover in my Big Jack Angus copycat recipe.

Hungry Jack’s also sells the “Double Big Jack Hunger Tamers” meal: a Double Big Jack, a BBQ Cheeseburger, medium thick-cut chips, three nuggets and a medium Coke, for 7576 kJ in total (Hungry Jack’s).

A Hungry Jack’s BBQ Cheeseburger, bought on William Street in Perth in April 2026. It is the second burger in the Double Big Jack Hunger Tamers meal (7576 kJ in total). Alt: Hungry Jack’s BBQ Cheeseburger in Perth, part of the Double Big Jack Hunger Tamers meal (Photo: Bahnfrend, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BBQ\_Cheeseburger,\_Hungry\_Jack%27s\_William\_Street,\_2026\_(01).jpg)

How big are the Double Big Jack patties? An estimate

Hungry Jack’s does not publish the patty weight, so I worked it out from the nutrition data. The Double Big Jack has 1107 kJ, 18.9 g protein and 21.0 g fat more than the Big Jack, but only 0.4 g more carbs. So the bun and sauce are practically identical. Each extra patty is worth about 553 kJ (about 132 kcal), 9.5 g protein and 10.5 g fat.

Two extra patties add 18.9 g protein and 21.0 g fat but only 0.4 g carbs, so the bun and sauce stay the same. That gap is how we estimate each patty at about 60 g raw. Alt: bar chart comparing Big Jack and Double Big Jack protein, fat, saturated fat, carbs and sugars (Chart: Burger Breton, data from Hungry Jack’s Australia official product pages (checked 16 October 2026), rendered with QuickChart)

That points to a patty of roughly 45 to 50 g cooked, or 55 to 65 g raw. This is my estimate, not the official specification. I settled on 60 g (2.1 oz) of raw beef per patty, eight for two burgers. On my grill, that weight chars on the outside before the middle dries out.

Double Big Jack recipe: ingredients for 2 burgers

You need 480 g of beef mince, two sesame buns, four cheese slices, the classic Big Jack toppings and a homemade special sauce.

For the burgers

• 480 g (17 oz) beef mince, about 20% fat, cold
• 2 sesame seed burger buns
• 4 slices processed cheddar (American-style cheese slices)
• 40 g (1.4 oz) iceberg lettuce, finely shredded
• 8 dill pickle slices
• 30 g (1 oz) white onion, finely diced
• Fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Big Jack-style special sauce

• 60 g (2 oz) mayonnaise
• 15 g (½ oz) sweet pickle relish
• 5 g (1 tsp) yellow mustard
• 2 g (¾ tsp) onion powder
• 1 g (⅓ tsp) garlic powder
• 1 g (⅓ tsp) sweet paprika
• 5 ml (1 tsp) white vinegar

Times: 20 minutes prep, 30 minutes resting for the sauce, 12 minutes cooking, about 1 hour in total.

Big Jack sauce: a homemade special sauce

Hungry Jack’s has never published the Big Jack sauce recipe, so mine is a reconstruction. The only official word came at launch from Scott Baird of Hungry Jack’s, who said the sauce was designed to “enhance the flavour of the flame grilling” (EFTM).

My starting point is the homemade Big Mac sauce that McDonald’s executive chef Dan Coudreaut demonstrated in 2012: mayonnaise, relish, mustard, onion and garlic powder, paprika and white vinegar (Bonial). The Big Jack was built to compete with that burger, so the sauce family makes sense. It is still not Hungry Jack’s formula, and the Big Jack sauce is not the Big Mac sauce. One tip from my tests: taste it after the 30-minute rest, not before. Straight out of the whisk the vinegar is harsh. Half an hour later it has mellowed into the tangy, slightly sweet sauce you want against charred beef.

Illustrative photo, not Big Jack sauce: a bottle of Heinz Thousand Island dressing at a McDonald’s in Moscow. Our homemade Big Jack-style special sauce comes from the same family of mayonnaise, relish and paprika sauces. Alt: Thousand Island dressing, the sauce family behind the homemade Big Jack special sauce (Photo: Stolbovsky, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heinz\_Thousand\_Island\_Dressing.jpg)

Double Big Jack recipe step by step

Grill eight thin patties hot and fast, melt cheese on four of them, then stack everything on a toasted sesame bun.

1. Make the special sauce

Whisk the mayonnaise, relish, mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika and vinegar in a bowl until smooth. Cover and chill for 30 minutes so the dried onion and garlic soften and the flavours blend.

2. Shape eight thin patties

Divide the cold mince into eight 60 g (2.1 oz) balls. Press each one between two sheets of baking paper into a disc about 11 cm wide and 6 mm thick. It shrinks on the grill to roughly the 10 cm reported for the Big Jack’s patties. Keep them in the fridge until the grill is ready.

3. Preheat the grill to 260°C / 500°F

Heat a gas or charcoal grill to 260°C / 500°F with the lid closed, the same setting as our Ultimate Double Whopper copycat. Hungry Jack’s says it adds nothing to its beef except the smoky barbecue taste of flame grilling, so the grill matters more than any seasoning (Beef Central).

Beef patties over an open-flame grill. Fat dripping onto the flame gives the smoky taste Hungry Jack’s credits to its grill, so heat yours to 260°C / 500°F with the lid closed. Illustrative photo, not taken at Hungry Jack’s. Alt: flame-grilling burger patties on a hot grill for the homemade Double Big Jack (Photo: Don LaVange (wickenden), CC BY-SA 2.0, https://www.flickr.com/photos/26667277@N00/3619509795)

4. Toast the buns

Split the buns and toast the cut sides on the edge of the grill for 30 to 45 seconds, until golden. Set them aside cut side up.

5. Flame-grill the patties

Grill the patties over the hottest part of the grill for 2 minutes, flip, then cook 1 to 1½ minutes more. Thin patties cook through fast, so check one against our burger patty internal temperature guide. Lay a cheese slice on four of the patties right after flipping and close the lid so it melts. My grill only fits four patties over the hottest zone, so I cook them in two batches. Crowd it and the heat drops, and the patties steam instead of charring.

6. Season after cooking

Season every patty with a pinch of salt and pepper as soon as it comes off the grill. Salting raw mince early draws out moisture, and thin patties have little to spare.

7. Assemble the Double Big Jack

Spread a spoonful of sauce on the bottom bun, then stack a cheese patty, a plain patty, another cheese patty and a plain patty. Top with pickles, onion, lettuce and a second spoonful of sauce, then close with the top bun. Press the stack down gently with your palm before serving. Without that, four patties on one bun slide apart at the first bite, as mine did the first time.

Illustrative photo, not a Double Big Jack: an In-N-Out four-patty cheeseburger in Temecula, California, with four patties and four cheese slices. It shows how tall a stack of four thin patties gets. Alt: four-patty burger with cheese, showing the height of four thin stacked beef patties (Photo: Joelinho10, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:In-N-Out\_Burger\_four-patty\_cheeseburger.jpg)

Should you use a three-part club bun?

No. The current Double Big Jack page only says “toasted sesame seed bun”, so I stack all four patties on a regular two-part bun. The original Big Jack did launch in 2020 with a three-part sesame bun, top, middle and bottom (Beef Central). If you want that look, add a middle slice between two pairs of patties. I cannot confirm how Hungry Jack’s splits four patties across the layers.

Official vs homemade Double Big Jack

This table sets what Hungry Jack’s publishes against the choices I made where it publishes nothing.

Official vs homemade Double Big Jack: four 100% Aussie beef patties (weight not published) become eight 60 g raw patties for 2 burgers. The secret special sauce is rebuilt from mayonnaise, relish, mustard, onion and garlic powder, paprika and vinegar, and the flame grill becomes a barbecue at 260°C / 500°F. Alt: comparison table of the official Hungry Jack’s Double Big Jack and the homemade copycat recipe (Table: Burger Breton, data from Hungry Jack’s Australia Double Big Jack page (checked 16 October 2026))

How close does this copycat get to the original?

Close on the beef and the build, less certain on the sauce. The recipe uses every component Hungry Jack’s names and keeps plain beef with a flame-grilled taste. The nutrition data shows the extra patties add 1107 kJ while carbs barely move, and four thin patties on one bun reproduce that beef-heavy ratio. The sauce is the weak link because its formula is secret. Treat mine as a close relative, not a clone.

My honest opinion: four patties on a standard bun is a lot of beef for very little bread, and that is the whole point of this burger. For an everyday dinner I would make the two-patty Big Jack with the same sauce. The Double is for when you are properly hungry.

If you like flame-grilled stacks, my Triple Whopper with Cheese copycat uses the same grill method, and the Burger King version is in our Double Whopper copycat recipe. Every other copycat lives on the Burger Breton recipes hub.

Big Jack vs Big Mac: the court case

An Australian court ruled in November 2023 that the Big Jack name does not infringe the Big Mac trade mark. In McD Asia Pacific LLC v Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd [2023] FCA 1412, Justice Burley of the Federal Court of Australia found that BIG JACK and MEGA JACK were not deceptively similar to BIG MAC and MEGA MAC (judgment, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer).

The court did find one ad misleading: “25% more Aussie beef than the Big Mac”. The claim held on raw weight, but the ad suggested cooked weight, and cooked, the gap was only 12 to 15% (Mondaq). Australian diners have weighed in too. In a Canstar Blue survey of 3008 Australians in March 2021, the Big Jack scored 7.96/10 for overall satisfaction against 7.7/10 for the Big Mac (Canstar Blue). For what McDonald’s is putting on its own menu now, read our roundup of new McDonald’s burgers in 2026 and our story on fast food items coming back in 2026.

Big Jack vs Big Mac: in a Canstar Blue survey of 3008 Australians in March 2021, the Big Jack scored 7.96/10 for overall satisfaction and the Big Mac 7.7/10. Alt: bar chart of Big Jack vs Big Mac customer satisfaction scores in Australia (Chart: Burger Breton, data from Canstar Blue (https://www.canstarblue.com.au/stores-services/big-mac-vs-big-jack/), rendered with QuickChart)

Double Big Jack FAQ

How many patties are in a Double Big Jack?

Four. Hungry Jack’s describes it as four flame-grilled 100% Aussie beef patties with melted cheese, special sauce, lettuce, pickles and onions on a toasted sesame seed bun.

How many calories are in a Double Big Jack?

The official Australian figure is 3441 kJ, about 822 kcal, with 44.5 g protein, 56.0 g fat (22.2 g saturated), 35.9 g carbs (8.7 g sugars) and 1041 mg sodium (checked 16 October 2026). My homemade version has not been lab-tested, so I give no nutrition values for it.

What is in Big Jack sauce?

Hungry Jack’s has never published it. My homemade sauce uses mayonnaise, sweet relish, mustard, onion and garlic powder, paprika and white vinegar, the base of Thousand Island and Big Mac-style sauces.

How much does a Double Big Jack cost?

I could not verify a current price on an official source. It varies by restaurant in Australia.

Can I buy a Double Big Jack outside Australia?

The Big Jack range is a Hungry Jack’s product in Australia, and I found no confirmed availability anywhere else. Outside Australia, cooking it at home is the realistic way to try it.

Why is Burger King called Hungry Jack’s in Australia?

When founder Jack Cowin opened the first restaurant in Perth in 1971, the Burger King name was already registered locally, so he used the name of a Pillsbury pancake mix.

How do I get a flame-grilled taste without a barbecue?

Use a smoking-hot cast-iron grill pan. It gives char marks and a good crust on thin patties. It will not fully match fat dripping onto open flame, which is the taste Hungry Jack’s credits to its grill.