Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger Copycat Recipe (Makes 2)
Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger at home: one pressed patty, American cheese and crisp applewood-smoked bacon. Copycat recipe for 2 in 30 minutes.
The Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger is one fresh beef patty with American-style cheese and strips of crispy applewood-smoked bacon on a sesame bun, listed at 690 calories on the US menu. At home, I press a 3.5 oz (100 g) ball of plain 80/20 beef flat and cook it well done to 160°F (71°C) on a dry griddle. Then I melt a slice of American cheese on top and finish with bacon crisped in its own pan. Two burgers, about 30 minutes. This is my home version, not the official recipe: Five Guys doesn’t publish one.
Tasting Table ranked the Little Bacon Cheeseburger the best fast-food bacon cheeseburger out of 8 chains, praising bacon that was “perfectly crispy and crackly” (Julia Holland, Tasting Table, December 2, 2025). Most copycat recipes online cover the generic double Five Guys burger. This one is built for the single patty with bacon, from the brand’s own menus and ingredient lists.
What’s in a Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger
A Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger is one beef patty, American-style cheese and crispy applewood-smoked bacon on a sesame bun, plus any free toppings you choose. The official US menu describes it as “a fresh patty hot off the grill with American-style cheese and strips of crispy Applewood smoked bacon on top” (Five Guys US burger menu, checked October 12, 2026).
- The patty: ground beef and nothing else. The Five Guys Belgium ingredient guide (version V030925, September 2025) lists the patty as “ground beef” alone (ingredient list).
- The cheese: a processed cheese made from cheddar. The same guide lists cheddar, water, butter, milk proteins, whey powder and an emulsifying salt, colored with beta-carotene and paprika extract.
- The bacon: pork cured with salt, sugar and sodium nitrite, plus sodium lactate, triphosphates and sodium isoascorbate (same guide).
- The bun: wheat flour, water, sugar, vegetable fat, milk, dried yeast, eggs, sesame seeds, salt and soy flour (same guide).
- 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 or the number of bacon strips. Delivery-platform menus say two slices, but Five Guys itself only says “strips”, so treat that number as unconfirmed. I use two strips per burger.
What type of bacon does Five Guys use?
In the US, Five Guys uses applewood-smoked bacon, which it describes as “strips of crispy Applewood smoked bacon from one of America’s last smokehouses” (Five Guys US sandwich menu, checked October 12, 2026). The chain doesn’t name that smokehouse, so I can’t tell you which brand to buy.
The bacon can differ by country. The Belgian ingredient list mentions no applewood smoking at all, only pork, salt, sugar, curing agents and sodium nitrite. So the applewood smoke is a US detail. For an American copycat, I look for “applewood smoked” on the package and pick a regular cut, not thick-cut, so the strips crisp all the way through.
Little Bacon Cheeseburger vs Little Cheeseburger and the other Littles
The four Little burgers at Five Guys all have one patty; they differ only by cheese and bacon. The bacon adds 80 calories to the Little Cheeseburger, according to the official US menu. The regular Bacon Cheeseburger, without “Little”, has two patties.
| Burger | Patties | Cheese | Bacon | Calories (US, before toppings) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Hamburger | 1 | No | No | 540 |
| Little Cheeseburger | 1 | Yes | No | 610 |
| Little Bacon Burger | 1 | No | Yes | Not verified |
| Little Bacon Cheeseburger | 1 | Yes | Yes | 690 |
Data: Five Guys official US burger menu, checked October 7 and 12, 2026. Calorie figures for the Little Bacon Burger circulate only on third-party sites, so I left them out. Table: Burger Breton.
If you’d rather skip the bacon, my Five Guys Little Cheeseburger copycat uses the exact same patty, and my Five Guys Little Hamburger copycat drops the cheese too. For two patties, see my Five Guys cheeseburger copycat recipe.
Which Little do I order? This one. A single thin patty leaves room for the bacon to matter, and the smoky, salty crunch is exactly what the plain Little Cheeseburger lacks.
A Five Guys Little Cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and ketchup in Petaluma, California: one patty and no bacon. Add crisp bacon and you have the Little Bacon Cheeseburger, which is 80 calories more on the US menu. (Photo: Sarah Stierch, CC0 1.0 (Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Five\_Guys\_-\_November\_2024\_-\_Sarah\_Stierch\_04.jpg), 3155×2366)
Five Guys bacon cheeseburger copycat recipe for 2
This recipe makes two single-patty bacon cheeseburgers in about 30 minutes: 10 minutes of prep and 20 of cooking. Weigh the beef. A few grams either way change how thin the patty presses.
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Cook time: 20 minutes
- Total time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 burgers
Ingredients
- 7 oz (200 g) cold 80/20 ground beef
- 4 strips applewood-smoked bacon, regular cut
- 2 soft sesame seed hamburger buns
- 2 slices American cheese
- 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
- Cast-iron skillet or flat griddle, plus a second skillet for the bacon
- Sturdy flat metal spatula
- Parchment paper cut into four 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 cheeseburger at home, step by step
To make a Five Guys-style bacon cheeseburger at home, crisp the bacon first, then press the beef between parchment and cook it on a dry griddle to 160°F (71°C). Melt the cheese on the patty, lay the bacon on top and wrap the burger in foil for a minute.
1. Weigh and shape the beef
Divide 7 oz (200 g) of cold 80/20 beef into two 3.5 oz (100 g) balls. Don’t salt or season the meat. Keep the balls in the fridge until the griddle is hot.
Weigh the ground beef: 7 oz (200 g) of cold 80/20 beef makes two 3.5 oz (100 g) balls for the Five Guys-style copycat patties. (Photo: Kalle Georgiev, Unsplash License (https://unsplash.com/photos/ground-meat-on-a-scale-next-to-sausages-BgWPiTz8Bxs))
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 they are crisp and brittle. Drain them on paper towels. Five Guys doesn’t say how it cooks its bacon, so this cold-pan method is my own choice: the fat renders slowly and the strips crisp evenly instead of curling and burning.
Regular-cut applewood-smoked bacon strips crisping in a skillet. Starting them in a cold pan lets the fat render slowly so the strips crisp evenly for the burger. (Photo: Lucas (steinman_photography), Unsplash License (https://unsplash.com/photos/7oBtznwaP6o))
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: the dry griddle is part of the Five Guys method reported by Chowhound. For grilled onions, cook the sliced onion at one edge for 3–4 minutes, then push it aside.
5. Toast the buns without butter
Toast the buns cut side down on the dry griddle for 45–60 seconds, until golden. Set each bottom bun on a foil sheet.
6. Sear, flip and press
Peel off the parchment and lay the patties in the pan. 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 in total.
Thin pressed patties after the first flip on a hot griddle, with a browned crust from edge to edge. Pressing the patty again after flipping gives the Five Guys-style crust; cook it to 160°F (71°C). (Photo: Kamil (Ugryz), CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turned\_smashburgers.jpg), 3000×1286)
7. Cook to 160°F (71°C), add cheese, then bacon
Check that the center of each patty reads 160°F (71°C), starting at the 4-minute mark. Lay one slice of American cheese on each patty, then set two bacon strips on the cheese and leave it all for about 30 seconds, until the cheese slumps. Five Guys only says the cheese and bacon go “on top” of the patty, without giving an order. I put the cheese first so it melts straight onto the hot beef and the bacon stays crisp above it.
8. Build and wrap in foil
Slide each patty onto a bottom bun, add your toppings and close with the top bun. Wrap it tightly in foil and let it rest for 60 seconds before serving.
A pressed burger opened on its aluminum foil wrap. Wrapping the burger in foil for 60 seconds, as Five Guys does, steams the bun soft without turning the bacon limp. (Photo: George Pagan III, Unsplash License (https://unsplash.com/photos/lPIeSuWyv\_E))
Seasoning note: Mashed reports that Five Guys uses no salt or pepper, and the ingredient guide lists the patty as ground beef only. With bacon on top, I don’t miss the salt. Leave the beef plain for a strict copycat.
Why this copycat tastes like the original Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger
This recipe copies what has been documented about the Five Guys burger: beef with nothing added, a patty pressed twice, a well-done cook, a dry-toasted sesame bun, a foil wrap and crisp applewood-smoked bacon. The table gives the source for each detail.
| Element | Five Guys (reported) | My home version |
|---|---|---|
| Beef | Ground beef only (Belgium ingredient guide) | 80/20 ground beef, unseasoned |
| Patty weight | 3.3 oz / 94 g (Mashed) to 3.5–3.7 oz / 99–105 g (Business Insider via Food Republic) | 3.5 oz (100 g) |
| Shaping | Pressed between paper, then pressed again on the grill (Food Republic) | Palm and heavy pan, then spatula press after the first flip |
| Cooking | Dry grill (Chowhound), well done at 160°F (Tasting Table) | Dry cast iron, 160°F (71°C) |
| Cheese | American-style cheese (US menu) | Sliced American cheese |
| Bacon | Crispy applewood-smoked strips, US (Five Guys menu) | 2 regular-cut applewood-smoked strips, cold-pan crisped |
| Bun | Sesame bun, toasted without butter, about 60 s (Mashed) | Sesame bun, dry-toasted |
| Finish | Wrapped in foil (Chowhound) | Foil, 60 s |
Data: Five Guys US menus and Belgium ingredient guide, 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.
The press and the bacon matter most. Most generic Five Guys copycats call for butter or oil on the griddle, garlic and pepper, and thick patties that never get pressed. The reporting points the other way. A thin, pressed patty browns from edge to edge and lets the bacon be the loudest flavor, which is what Tasting Table singled out.
Cooking the bacon in its own pan keeps the patty from frying in bacon fat. I tried both. The patty cooked in bacon grease tasted heavier and smoky all the way through; the dry-griddle patty tasted like seared beef, with the smoke left to the bacon on top. To compare other bacon builds, see my Wendy’s Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger copycat, my Son of Baconator copycat recipe and my Bacon King copycat recipe.
Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger calories
A Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger has 690 calories on the official US menu, before toppings. That is 80 more than the Little Cheeseburger (610) and 150 more than the Little Hamburger (540).
Bar chart of Five Guys Little burger calories before toppings on the US menu: Little Hamburger 540, Little Cheeseburger 610 and Little Bacon Cheeseburger 690. The bacon adds 80 calories. Source: Five Guys official US menu, checked Oct. 12, 2026. (Chart: Burger Breton, data from Five Guys official US burger menu)
Fat and sodium figures for this burger circulate online, but I couldn’t match them to an official Five Guys document, so I’ve left them out. Five Guys doesn’t publish a national price for the Little Bacon Cheeseburger either. Our report on the 2026 burger value wars covers how chain burger prices moved this year.
What toppings to add to a Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger
Any of the 15 free Five Guys toppings works on the Little Bacon Cheeseburger: 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 is grilled onions, pickles and a little mustard. The pickles cut the fat, and the onions add sweetness against the salty bacon. I skip BBQ sauce here, because it buries the smoke of the bacon.
Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger FAQ
What is the difference between the Little Bacon Cheeseburger and the Bacon Cheeseburger at Five Guys?
The Little Bacon Cheeseburger has one patty, and the Bacon Cheeseburger has two. Both come with American-style cheese and applewood-smoked bacon on a sesame bun on the US menu.
How many calories are in a Five Guys Little Bacon Cheeseburger?
The official US menu lists 690 calories before toppings. That is 80 more than the Little Cheeseburger, at 610.
What bacon does Five Guys use?
In the US, Five Guys uses applewood-smoked bacon “from one of America’s last smokehouses”, according to its menu. The chain doesn’t name the smokehouse. In Belgium, the ingredient list shows cured pork with no mention of applewood smoking, so the bacon can differ by country.
How many slices of bacon are on a Little Bacon Cheeseburger?
Five Guys doesn’t say. Its menu only mentions “strips” of bacon. Delivery-platform menus list two slices, which is what I use at home, but Five Guys hasn’t confirmed it.
Does the cheese go under or over the bacon at Five Guys?
The US menu only says cheese and bacon go “on top” of the patty, with no order. At home, I melt the cheese directly on the patty and lay the bacon on the cheese so it stays crisp.
How do you get crispy bacon for a burger?
Start regular-cut bacon in a cold skillet over medium heat and cook it for 8–10 minutes, turning it often, until brittle. Drain it on paper towels. Thick-cut bacon stays chewy in the middle, so I avoid it here.
Crisp, brittle bacon strips, drained and ready. Regular-cut bacon cooked until it snaps stays crunchy on top of the melted cheese. (Photo: Mikey Frost, Unsplash License (https://unsplash.com/photos/LbiHW4DEjF8))
Can you get extra bacon for free at Five Guys?
In the US, you can get extra bacon (or cheese) 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 is pork: the Belgium ingredient guide lists pork as its first ingredient. 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. My Five Guys Leeds guide has the details; elsewhere, check with the restaurant.
Can I order a Five Guys burger medium-rare?
No. Five Guys cooks every patty well done, to 160°F (71°C), according to Tasting Table. My burger patty internal temp guide explains why that threshold matters.
What bun should I use?
Use a soft sesame seed bun, toasted without butter. To bake your own, follow my homemade burger buns recipe and sprinkle sesame seeds on top before baking.
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 Little Bacon Cheeseburger
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.
Sources and method
I checked every Five Guys fact in this article on October 12, 2026, except the Little Hamburger and Little Cheeseburger calories, which I checked on October 7, 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 US sandwich menu (bacon description)
- Five Guys official toppings
- Five Guys Belgium ingredient list (V030925, September 2025)
- Five Guys nutrition and allergen information
- Tasting Table, best fast-food bacon cheeseburger (Julia Holland, December 2, 2025)
- Tasting Table, why Five Guys burgers are well done (Luna Regina, February 4, 2026)
- Chowhound, free extra bacon at Five Guys (Eugenia Lazaris, February 24, 2026)
- Chowhound, the Five Guys cooking method at home (Jennifer M. McNeill, February 27, 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.
