Five Guys Cheeseburger Copycat Recipe: What the Chain Confirms

To make a Five Guys cheeseburger at home, griddle two plain 80/20 ground chuck patties, no salt and no spices, and cook them well-done to 160°F (71°C). Melt a slice of American cheese on each, stack them on a toasted sesame bun and dress it All The Way. Every one of those points comes from Five Guys’ own pages. The patty weight, griddle heat and cooking time don’t. The chain doesn’t publish them, so those numbers are mine. This is a homemade copy, not the chain’s recipe.

What’s in a Five Guys cheeseburger, according to Five Guys

A Five Guys Cheeseburger is two fresh 80/20 beef patties with American cheese melted between them, on a soft, toasted sesame bun. It’s 980 calories before toppings. Five Guys US describes it as “American-style cheese melted between fresh patties and placed on a soft, toasted sesame seed bun.” I checked every line below against the official pages on October 9, 2026.

• Beef: “80/20, 100 percent beef”, with no additives or fillers. It’s gluten-free and contains no breadcrumbs, flour, soy sauce or spices (Five Guys US nutrition and allergen page). Five Guys Singapore’s FAQ calls it “80/20 lean ground chuck.”
• Patties: two in the regular Cheeseburger, one in the Little Cheeseburger.
• Cheese: Kraft American cheese in the US, made without animal enzymes or animal rennet.
• Bun: a proprietary recipe, “baked fresh daily.” The US ingredients are water, salt, sugar, vegetable shortening (soy), milk, eggs, bleached flour, yeast and sesame seeds.
• Ketchup: Heinz.
• Calories: 980 Cal for the US Cheeseburger.

Kraft Singles American cheese, the brand Five Guys uses in the US. Use one slice per patty for a homemade cheeseburger (2581×1729, lazy). (Photo: Martylunsford (Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 4.0)

Is Five Guys burger meat seasoned?

No. Five Guys doesn’t season its patties. Its official FAQ says: “We believe the beef we serve is juicy and flavorful enough without seasoning.” That quote comes from the Singapore FAQ, and it matches the “no spices” line on the US allergen page. Most top-ranking US copycats add salt, pepper, garlic or onion powder. That’s the biggest gap between them and the real burger.

My take: leave the beef plain, at least the first time. My earlier Five Guys copycat on this site salted the patties. This one doesn’t, because the FAQ couldn’t be clearer. Once the burger is dressed, I don’t miss the salt: the 80/20 chuck brings the fat, the griddle brings the crust, and the cheese, pickles, ketchup and mustard bring plenty of salt. Taste a bare patty on its own and you will notice. Salt it if you want. Just know that’s your burger, not theirs.

How does Five Guys cook their burgers?

Five Guys cooks every patty well-done. The official FAQ says: “we cook all of our burger patties well done… to ensure a consistent product and meet or exceed health code standards.” Tasting Table puts that at 160°F (71°C). The Spanish site adds that the burgers are hand-formed and cooked on the griddle (“a la plancha”) to order.

Five Guys staff assembling hand-formed, griddled burgers to order at Covent Garden, London, the chain’s first restaurant outside North America (2052×1533, lazy). (Photo: Tjeerd Wiersma (via Wikimedia Commons, from Flickr 20403434959), CC BY 2.0)

Everything beyond that comes from press accounts, not from Five Guys. Chowhound and Tasting Table describe a press on the patty after the flip and about one minute per side. Neither cites an official source. I treat those details as reports, and in my kitchen I go by the thermometer, not the clock.

Confirmed by Five Guys vs reported or assumed. Confirmed: 80/20 beef, no seasoning, well-done, Kraft American (US), sesame bun, 15 free toppings. Reported or assumed: patty weight, press after the flip, 1 min per side, foil effect. Sources: fiveguys.com, fiveguys.sg FAQ, Tasting Table, Chowhound, checked Oct 9, 2026. (Table: Burger Breton, data from Five Guys official pages (fiveguys.com, fiveguys.fr, fiveguys.es, fiveguys.sg), Tasting Table and Chowhound; original work)

Five Guys original vs my copycat: confirmed and assumed

The table separates what Five Guys publishes from what I chose at home. Use it to see where your burger can drift from the original.

	Five Guys (official)	My copycat	Status
Beef	80/20 chuck, no additives, no spices	80/20 ground chuck, unseasoned	Confirmed
Patties	2 per Cheeseburger, weight not published	2 × 3.3 oz (93 g)	Weight assumed
Doneness	Well-done	160°F (71°C) at the center	Confirmed (temperature via Tasting Table)
Cheese	Kraft American (US)	2 slices American cheese	Brand confirmed, slice count assumed
Bun	Proprietary sesame bun, baked daily, toasted	Soft sesame bun, toasted	Recipe proprietary
Technique	Hand-formed, griddled to order	Cast-iron griddle, optional press after flip	Press and timing from press reports only
Toppings	15 free, All The Way = 8	All The Way	Confirmed

How many cheese slices? Five Guys doesn’t say, but the calories tell you. The Cheeseburger (980 Cal) has 140 more calories than the Hamburger (840 Cal). The Little Cheeseburger (610 Cal) has 70 more than the Little Hamburger (540 Cal). That’s about 70 calories per slice, so one slice per patty is the likely build.

Bar chart of Five Guys US burger calories: 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. Cheese adds about 70 Cal per slice. Source: Five Guys US menu, Oct 9, 2026. (Chart: Burger Breton, data from Five Guys US burgers menu; original work)

On weight, the copycat blogs use 4 oz (about 113 g) patties. I use 3.3 oz (93 g), which keeps two patties from overhanging a standard bun. Neither figure comes from Five Guys, so pick whichever fits your bun.

Five Guys cheeseburger copycat recipe: ingredients for 2

This recipe makes two double-patty cheeseburgers in about 35 minutes. Weigh the beef so all four patties cook at the same rate.

• 2 soft sesame burger buns, split. To bake your own, use my homemade burger buns recipe with weights and proofing times and add sesame seeds on top.
• 13 oz (372 g) cold 80/20 ground chuck, divided into 4 portions of 3.3 oz (93 g). No salt, no spices.
• 4 slices American cheese (Kraft American in the US original).
• 1 tsp neutral oil for the griddle.
• 1 small onion, sliced, for grilling.
• 4 oz (115 g) white mushrooms, sliced, for grilling.
• Mayo, shredded iceberg lettuce, dill pickle chips, 4 tomato slices, Heinz ketchup and mustard.
• Optional, as a home change: a pinch of fine salt for the patties.

Step by step: how to make a Five Guys cheeseburger at home

Five steps get you two well-done, unseasoned patties with cheese melted between them, on a crisp, toasted bun.

1. Grill the onions and mushrooms

Heat a skillet over medium heat with half the oil. Cook the sliced onion and mushrooms for about 8 minutes, until soft and browned, then keep them warm. Slice the tomato, shred the lettuce and keep the sauces cold.

2. Form four loose, unseasoned patties

Divide the cold beef into 4 portions of 3.3 oz (93 g). Pat each gently into a patty about 4 inches (10 cm) wide and 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) thick. Don’t season them and don’t overwork the meat. Chill for 10 minutes so they hold their shape on the heat.

3. Toast the sesame buns

Heat a cast-iron griddle over medium-high heat. Toast the buns cut-side down for 60 to 90 seconds, until golden. Set them cut-side up so the steam escapes and the crumb stays soft.

4. Griddle the patties well-done and melt the cheese

Wipe the griddle with the rest of the oil, and when it just starts to smoke, add the patties. Cook about 3 minutes, flip, and cook until the center reads 160°F (71°C), usually 2 to 3 minutes more. Press accounts describe one firm press with a spatula right after the flip. Add it if you like, but don’t smash the patty thin. For the last minute, lay a slice of American cheese on each patty and cover.

Patties on the flat-top griddle inside a Five Guys kitchen, where every burger is cooked well-done, which works out to about 160°F (3456×2304, lazy). (Photo: U.S. Embassy Canada (Flickr 9135660460, via Wikimedia Commons), CC BY 2.0)

5. Stack the patties and dress it All The Way

Stack two cheese-topped patties per burger so the cheese melts between them. Spread mayo on the bottom bun, add lettuce, pickles and tomato, then the patties. Finish with grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup and mustard, and close the bun.

What “All The Way” means at Five Guys

“All The Way” means eight of the 15 free toppings: mayo, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup and mustard. That’s the build I copy here. The 15 toppings are free in the US and included in the price in France. My advice: make it All The Way first, then change one topping at a time, so you can taste what each one does to the double cheese.

Tips for a closer Five Guys copycat

Copycats usually go wrong on seasoning and smashing, and plenty of them mix up the Hamburger and the Cheeseburger. Get those right and you’re most of the way there.

• Don’t season. Five Guys says so in writing. Salt is your call, not theirs.
• Don’t smash. These are hand-formed griddle patties cooked well-done, not lacy smash burgers. For the smash style, see my ShackBurger copycat recipe with a smashed patty and Shack sauce.
• Use a thermometer. Well-done is the official doneness, and 160°F (71°C) is the number to hit.
• Don’t mix up the names. The Hamburger has no cheese. The Cheeseburger adds cheese. Both have two patties.
• Foil wrap? Many blogs credit the foil wrap with softening the bun. Five Guys doesn’t confirm it. Wrap it if you like, as a home touch.

Why this recipe tastes like the original

This copycat matches every element Five Guys confirms: 80/20 chuck with nothing added, two patties, well-done doneness, American cheese, a toasted sesame bun and the All The Way toppings with Heinz ketchup. The rest (patty weight, griddle heat and timing) is my home estimate, and I mark it that way above. If I had to keep one detail, it would be the plain patty. It matters more than the bun recipe or the cheese brand, and it’s the detail most US copycats get wrong.

A Five Guys Cheeseburger as served, the reference point for checking the homemade version’s double patty and melted cheese (1024×768, lazy). (Photo: Mack Male (mastermaq, Flickr 3543993023), CC BY-SA 2.0)

Little Cheeseburger vs Cheeseburger

The Little Cheeseburger has one patty and the Cheeseburger has two. Same bun, same cheese, same free toppings. That’s 610 calories versus 980 in the US. For the single-patty version, follow my Five Guys Little Cheeseburger copycat recipe. For no cheese at all, there’s my Little Hamburger Five Guys copycat.

FAQ: Five Guys cheeseburger

Short answers to the questions readers ask most, checked against the official Five Guys pages.

How many patties are in a Five Guys cheeseburger?

Two. The regular Cheeseburger has two fresh patties, and the Little Cheeseburger has one.

What cheese does Five Guys use?

In the US, Kraft American cheese, made without animal enzymes or animal rennet. The French menu only says “melted cheese” and doesn’t name a brand.

Does Five Guys season its burgers?

No. Five Guys says its beef is “juicy and flavorful enough without seasoning,” and the US allergen page lists no spices in the patty.

Can you order a medium-rare burger at Five Guys?

No. Five Guys cooks all its patties well-done for consistency and to meet health code standards. That’s about 160°F (71°C).

What comes on a Five Guys burger “All The Way”?

Eight toppings: mayo, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup and mustard.

How many calories are in a Five Guys cheeseburger?

980 calories in the US, before toppings. The Little Cheeseburger is 610. Five Guys France doesn’t publish calories on its burger menu.

What ground beef should I buy to copy Five Guys?

80/20 ground chuck, with no additives. That’s the fat ratio and the cut Five Guys names in its own FAQ.

Why does Five Guys wrap burgers in foil?

Five Guys doesn’t explain it. The idea that foil softens the bun or changes the taste comes from copycat blogs, not from the company.

See a Five Guys in action at Five Guys London Covent Garden, its first restaurant outside North America, and find more chain copycats in the Burger Breton recipes section.

Sources, checked October 9, 2026: Five Guys US burgers menu, Five Guys US nutrition and allergen information, Five Guys Singapore official FAQ, Five Guys France burgers menu, Five Guys Spain menu. Toppings checked October 7, 2026: Five Guys US toppings, Five Guys France toppings. Press accounts: Tasting Table, “Five Guys Only Cooks Burgers One Way” (Luna Regina, February 4, 2026), Chowhound, “Make Identical Five Guys Burgers At Home” (Jennifer M. McNeill, February 27, 2026). Patty weight, griddle heat, cooking times and slice count are my home choices, not Five Guys data.