Five Guys Bacon Burger Copycat Recipe (No Cheese)

The Five Guys Bacon Burger is two fresh beef patties with strips of crispy applewood-smoked bacon on a toasted sesame seed bun, and no cheese. The official US menu lists it at 920 calories before toppings. At home, I press four 3.5 oz (100 g) balls of plain 80/20 beef thin, cook them well done to 160°F (71°C) on a dry griddle and finish with bacon crisped in its own pan. Two burgers, about 35 minutes. This is my home reproduction, not the official recipe: Five Guys doesn’t publish one.

The Bacon Burger is easy to mix up with its neighbors on the menu. It has two patties, unlike my Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger copycat, which has one. It has bacon and no cheese, unlike the Five Guys cheeseburger recipe. Most copycats online treat every Five Guys burger as the same burger. I don’t. This one is the double bacon build, and I tell you for every detail whether Five Guys confirmed it, the press reported it, or I chose it.

What’s in a Five Guys Bacon Burger

A Five Guys Bacon Burger is two beef patties, crispy applewood-smoked bacon and a toasted sesame seed bun, plus any of the free toppings you ask for. The US menu describes it as “Fresh patties hot off the grill, layered with strips of crispy Applewood smoked bacon and placed on a soft, toasted sesame seed bun” (Five Guys US burger menu, checked October 17, 2026).

• The patties: “80/20, 100 percent beef that has no additives or fillers”, with no breadcrumbs, flour, soy sauce or spices, according to the Five Guys nutrition and allergen page.
• The bacon: “strips of crispy Applewood smoked bacon from one of America’s last smokehouses” (Five Guys US sandwich menu, checked October 12, 2026).
• The bun: water, salt, sugar, vegetable shortening (contains soy), milk, eggs, bleached bread flour, yeast and sesame seeds (same allergen page).
• The toppings: 15 free choices, from mayo and pickles to grilled onions and A1 Sauce (official toppings list). Bacon is not on that list: it comes built into this burger.

Five Guys doesn’t publish the patty weight, the number of bacon strips or where the bacon sits. The menu only says the patties are “layered with” bacon “strips”. The quantities and the build below are my choices, and I say so at each step.

Five Guys Bacon Burger vs Bacon Cheeseburger and the rest of the menu

The Bacon Burger is the regular two-patty burger with bacon and without cheese. The US menu has four regular burgers (Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Bacon Burger, Bacon Cheeseburger) and four “Little” versions with one patty. Bacon adds 80 calories every time, on the regular and the Little burgers alike.

Data: Five Guys official US burger menu, checked October 17, 2026. Table: Burger Breton.

Five Guys burger calories before toppings, US menu checked October 17, 2026 (bar chart, Bacon Burger highlighted): Hamburger 840, Cheeseburger 980, Bacon Burger 920, Bacon Cheeseburger 1,060, Little Hamburger 540, Little Cheeseburger 610, Little Bacon Burger 620, Little Bacon Cheeseburger 690 (Chart: Burger Breton, original work; data: Five Guys official US burger menu, https://www.fiveguys.com/menu/burgers/ (checked 2026-10-21))

Why order the Bacon Burger over the Bacon Cheeseburger? Because the cheese gets in the way. With nothing melting over them, you taste the seared crust of two thin patties and then the smoke of the bacon, one after the other. If I’m eating a double with bacon, this is the one I pick. For one patty instead of two, follow my Five Guys Little Hamburger copycat and add bacon.

What bacon does Five Guys use?

In the US, Five Guys uses applewood-smoked bacon from a smokehouse it doesn’t name. Its menu calls it “crispy Applewood smoked bacon from one of America’s last smokehouses”, so I can’t point you to a brand.

The bacon is not the same everywhere. The Five Guys Belgium ingredient guide (version V030925, September 2025) lists pork, sodium lactate, salt, sugar, triphosphates, sodium isoascorbate and sodium nitrite, with no mention of applewood (Belgium ingredient list, checked October 12, 2026). The French menu just says “crispy bacon”. For a US-style copycat, look for “applewood smoked” on the package and buy a regular cut. I tried thick-cut once: it stayed chewy in the middle and made the burger tall and hard to bite.

Five Guys Bacon Burger copycat recipe for 2

This recipe makes two double-patty bacon burgers in about 35 minutes: 10 minutes of prep and 25 of cooking. Weigh the beef. Four equal balls press into four equal patties that finish cooking at the same time.

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 25 minutes
• Total time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 2 burgers

Ingredients

• 14 oz (400 g) cold 80/20 ground beef
• 4 strips applewood-smoked bacon, regular cut
• 2 soft sesame seed hamburger buns
• Toppings to taste, for example: 2 tbsp mayo, 2 lettuce leaves, 6 dill pickle slices, 2 tomato slices, ½ small onion thinly sliced for grilling, ketchup and yellow mustard

Equipment

• Large cast-iron skillet or flat griddle, plus a second skillet for the bacon
• Sturdy flat metal spatula
• Parchment paper cut into eight 5-inch (12 cm) squares
• Two 12-inch (30 cm) sheets of aluminum foil
• Paper towels
• Instant-read thermometer
• Kitchen scale

How to make a Five Guys Bacon Burger at home, step by step

To make a Five Guys-style Bacon Burger at home, crisp the bacon first, then press four unseasoned beef balls between parchment and cook them on a dry griddle to 160°F (71°C). Stack two patties per bun, lay the bacon on top and wrap each burger in foil for a minute.

1. Weigh and shape the beef

Divide 14 oz (400 g) of cold 80/20 beef into four 3.5 oz (100 g) balls. Don’t salt or season the meat. Keep the balls in the fridge until the griddle is hot.

2. Press the patties on parchment

Set each ball between two parchment squares and flatten it with your palm. Then press it with the bottom of a heavy pan into a disc about 4.5 inches (11 cm) wide and ⅓ inch (8 mm) thick. Leave the parchment on until the patty goes into the pan.

3. Crisp the bacon

Lay the 4 bacon strips in a cold skillet, set it over medium heat and cook for 8–10 minutes, turning them every couple of minutes, until crisp and brittle. Drain them on paper towels. Five Guys doesn’t say how it cooks its bacon, so this cold-pan start is my choice: the fat renders slowly and the strips crisp evenly instead of curling.

4. Heat the griddle dry

Heat the cast iron over medium-high for 5 minutes without oil, aiming for about 400°F (205°C) on the surface. Keep the bacon fat out of this pan: Chowhound reports that Five Guys cooks on a dry flat top. For grilled onions, cook the sliced onion at one edge for 3–4 minutes, then push it aside.

5. Toast the buns

Toast the buns cut side down on the dry griddle for 45–60 seconds, until golden. Set each bottom bun on a foil sheet. Five Guys only says its bun is “toasted”; toasting it dry, with no butter, is my choice.

6. Sear, flip and press

Peel off the parchment and lay the patties in the pan, two at a time if all four don’t fit with space around them. Cook for about 90 seconds, until the edges turn gray, then flip and press firmly with the spatula for 10 seconds. Keep flipping about every minute, for roughly 5 minutes per batch.

7. Cook to 160°F (71°C)

Check that the center of each patty reads 160°F (71°C), starting at the 4-minute mark. Five Guys cooks every patty well done, and 160°F is the target. Thin 80/20 patties stay juicy at that temperature; mine got there in just under 5 minutes. Keep the first batch warm on the bottom buns, wrapped loosely in their foil, while the second batch cooks.

8. Stack, add bacon, wrap in foil

Stack two patties on each bottom bun and lay two bacon strips on the top patty. Add your toppings and close with the top bun. Wrap each burger tightly in foil and let it rest for 60 seconds before serving.

A Five Guys double burger on its opened foil, with two thin patties, lettuce and tomato on a toasted sesame bun. This one is a cheeseburger, not the Bacon Burger, but it shows the foil wrap this copycat copies (Photo: Neil Conway, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Five\_Guys\_(5898660193).jpg)

I put the bacon on top rather than between the patties. The menu only says “layered with”, so either way is a guess. My first test went the other way, with the bacon tucked between the two patties. By the time I opened the foil, the strips had steamed limp. On top, they still snap.

Why this copycat tastes like the original Five Guys Bacon Burger

This recipe copies what Five Guys and the food press have documented: beef with nothing added, a patty pressed twice, a well-done cook on a dry grill, a toasted sesame bun, crisp applewood-smoked bacon and a foil wrap. The table shows which details come from Five Guys, which from the press and which are mine.

Data: Five Guys US menus and allergen page, Five Guys Singapore FAQ, Food Republic (Eli Cohen, June 5, 2025), Mashed (Jake Vigliotti, updated November 3, 2023), Chowhound (Jennifer M. McNeill, February 27, 2026), Tasting Table (Luna Regina, February 4, 2026). Table: Burger Breton.

My version differs from most copycats online mainly in what I leave out. Many add salt, pepper, garlic, Worcestershire sauce or butter, use thick-cut bacon and slow-caramelize onions for 25–30 minutes. Five Guys says it uses no spices at all, and its menu lists grilled onions, not caramelized ones. With two patties and bacon on the bun, plain beef is enough. Seasoning the meat only fights the smoke.

Five Guys Bacon Burger original vs homemade copycat: patties 2 (confirmed) at 3.5 oz / 100 g each (home choice, the press reports 3.3–3.7 oz), crispy applewood-smoked bacon (confirmed, US) with 2 strips on top (home choice), toasted sesame bun (confirmed, US), well done to 160°F / 71°C (Five Guys Singapore FAQ), foil wrap (press) (Table: Burger Breton, original work; sources: Five Guys US menus and allergen page, Five Guys Singapore FAQ, Food Republic, Mashed, Chowhound, Tasting Table)

To compare other bacon builds, see our Wendy’s Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger copycat, our Son of Baconator copycat recipe and our Bacon King copycat recipe.

Five Guys Bacon Burger calories

A Five Guys Bacon Burger has 920 calories on the official US menu, before toppings. That is 80 more than the Hamburger (840) and 60 fewer than the Cheeseburger (980). Bacon adds 80 calories, while the cheese on a two-patty Cheeseburger adds 140.

Five Guys France doesn’t publish calories for its burgers, so the 920 figure is a US number, checked October 17, 2026. Toppings add calories on top of that: mayo and BBQ sauce add more than lettuce, tomato or pickles.

What toppings to put on a Five Guys Bacon Burger

Any of the 15 free Five Guys toppings works on the Bacon Burger: mayo, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, grilled onions, raw onions, grilled mushrooms, jalapeño peppers, green peppers, ketchup, mustard, relish, BBQ sauce, hot sauce and A1 Sauce (official toppings list).

My pick with bacon and no cheese: grilled onions, pickles, lettuce and a thin swipe of mayo. The mayo stands in for the creaminess the cheese would bring. The pickles cut through two patties’ worth of fat. I skip BBQ sauce, which buries the smoke of the bacon.

Five Guys Bacon Burger FAQ

What is the difference between the Bacon Burger and the Bacon Cheeseburger at Five Guys?

The Bacon Burger has two patties and bacon with no cheese. The Bacon Cheeseburger adds cheese, which brings it to 1,060 calories on the US menu, against 920 for the Bacon Burger.

How many patties are in a Five Guys Bacon Burger?

Two. Both the US and French menus describe it with two patties. The Little Bacon Burger is the one-patty version, at 620 calories on the US menu.

How many calories are in a Five Guys Bacon Burger?

The official US menu lists 920 calories before toppings (checked October 17, 2026). Five Guys France doesn’t publish calories for its burgers.

What bacon does Five Guys use, and is it the same outside the US?

In the US, it’s applewood-smoked bacon from a smokehouse Five Guys doesn’t name. The Belgian ingredient guide lists cured pork with no applewood smoking, and the French menu only says “crispy bacon”, so the bacon can differ by country.

Does Five Guys season its patties?

No. Five Guys says its beef has no spices, and its FAQ states: “We believe the beef we serve is juicy and flavorful enough without seasoning.”

Can I order a Five Guys burger medium-rare?

No. Five Guys cooks every patty well done, to 160°F (71°C), according to its Singapore FAQ and Tasting Table. Our burger patty internal temp guide explains the temperatures.

How many slices of bacon are on a Five Guys Bacon Burger?

Five Guys doesn’t say. Its menu only mentions “strips”. I use two strips per burger at home, but that number is my choice, not a confirmed spec.

Can you get extra bacon for free at Five Guys?

In the US, you can get extra bacon for free by asking at the counter, but not when you order online or through delivery, according to Chowhound (Eugenia Lazaris, February 24, 2026).

Is Five Guys bacon pork, and is there a halal version?

Yes, it’s pork: the Belgian ingredient guide lists pork first. Halal policy depends on the country and the restaurant. In Leeds, for example, only Five Guys Trinity serves halal beef, and pork bacon is still on its menu, cooked on a separate grill (our Five Guys Leeds guide). Elsewhere, ask the restaurant you plan to visit.

Is the Five Guys Bacon Burger gluten-free?

No, because of the bun. Five Guys US says the buns are among the few items with gluten, so the patties and the bacon are gluten-free on its US list. Order it without the bun, or use a gluten-free bun at home.

Why does Five Guys wrap its burgers in foil?

Chowhound reports the foil wrap as part of the Five Guys method. Five Guys doesn’t explain it. At home, a 60-second rest in foil softens the bun and holds the heat while the bacon stays on top, away from the steam at the bottom.

What ground beef should I buy for a Five Guys copycat?

Buy 80/20 ground beef, meaning 20% fat. That’s the ratio Five Guys gives for its own patties. Leaner beef dries out at 160°F (71°C).

Is this the official Five Guys recipe?

No. This is a home reproduction built from what Five Guys publishes and what the food press has reported. The chain doesn’t publish its recipe.

Where to try the original Five Guys Bacon Burger

Eat the original once before you cook the copycat, so you know what you’re aiming for. Our restaurant guides cover Five Guys London Covent Garden, Five Guys in Leeds and Five Guys in Pittsburgh. Five Guys publishes no national price for the Bacon Burger, so check the menu board at your branch.

To bake the bun as well, follow our homemade burger buns recipe and sprinkle sesame seeds on top before baking.

Sources and method

I checked the Five Guys US burger menu, allergen page, toppings list and French menu on October 17, 2026. The US bacon description and the Belgian ingredient guide were checked on October 12, 2026, and the Singapore FAQ on October 9, 2026. Where the brand doesn’t publish a detail, I name the press source and label my own choices as mine.

• Five Guys US burger menu
• Five Guys nutrition and allergen information
• Five Guys official toppings
• Five Guys US sandwich menu (bacon description)
• Five Guys France burger menu
• Five Guys Singapore FAQ
• Five Guys Belgium ingredient list (V030925, September 2025)
• Tasting Table, why Five Guys burgers are well done (Luna Regina, February 4, 2026)
• Chowhound, the Five Guys cooking method at home (Jennifer M. McNeill, February 27, 2026)
• Chowhound, free extra bacon at Five Guys (Eugenia Lazaris, February 24, 2026)
• Food Republic, how Five Guys shapes its patties (Eli Cohen, June 5, 2025)
• Mashed, how to make a perfect Five Guys burger (Jake Vigliotti, updated November 3, 2023)

For more chain copycats and techniques, browse all our burger recipes.