Hardee's Big Cheeseburger Copycat Recipe

To make a Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger at home, char a 4 oz (113 g) patty of 80/20 Angus beef on a very hot grill or grill pan until it reads 160 °F (71 °C) inside. Top it with 1 slice of American cheese, 3 or 4 dill pickle chips, 1 tablespoon of ketchup and 1 to 2 teaspoons of yellow mustard, then set it on a toasted brioche-style bun. This is my homemade reproduction, not Hardee’s recipe. The chain publishes the components, but not its gram weights, seasoning or suppliers.

I built this copycat from Hardee’s official US menu page, checked on October 16, 2026, and tested it at home for 2 burgers. Hardee’s names the parts. The quantities are mine. Where a detail is official, I say so; where it is my guess, I say that too.

What is in a Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger?

A Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger is a quarter-pound charbroiled Black Angus patty with melted American cheese, dill pickles, ketchup and mustard on a toasted brioche-style bun. Hardee’s describes it on its US menu as a “Quarter Pound 100% Black Angus beef patty topped with melted American cheese, dill pickles, ketchup and mustard all on a perfectly toasted Brioche style bun” (Hardee’s, checked October 16, 2026).

It is listed under Charbroiled Burgers, so the patty is cooked over flame. You can also order it as a Big Cheeseburger Combo (Hardee’s). No onions on the current listing.

Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger calories by version: 540 for the March 2020 launch with onions and a seeded bun, 520 for today’s Black Angus burger on brioche, 790 for the Double Big Cheeseburger. Sources: The Fast Food Post (2020), hardees.com (checked October 16, 2026) (Chart: Burger Breton, data from The Fast Food Post (2020-03-25) and hardees.com (checked 2026-10-16), rendered with QuickChart. Download as src/assets/charts/hardees-big-cheeseburger-calories-by-version.png (1600x900); lazy, async. FLAG: labels are in English; render es/fr variants)

Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger copycat ingredients (2 burgers)

The shopping list is short: 8 oz of ground beef, 2 slices of American cheese, 2 brioche buns and 4 pantry staples. Only the quarter-pound patty weight comes from Hardee’s. The rest is my estimate of what gets the same taste and bite.

• 8 oz (227 g) ground beef, 80/20, Angus if you can find it, shaped into 2 4 oz (113 g) patties
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 slices American cheese
• 2 brioche-style burger buns
• 6 to 8 dill pickle chips (3 or 4 per burger)
• 2 tablespoons ketchup (1 per burger)
• 2 to 4 teaspoons yellow mustard (1 to 2 per burger)
• Optional: finely diced white onion, for the 2020 version

Buy ground chuck labelled 80/20, not lean beef. The fat is what flares on the grill and gives a charbroiled burger its smoky edge. The bun matters too. It should squash slightly under the patty, not fight it.

How to make a Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger, step by step

Shape 2 4 oz patties, char them hard on a very hot grill to 160 °F (71 °C), melt the cheese on top, then build on a toasted brioche bun. Count about 15 minutes of prep and 10 minutes of cooking.

1. Shape the patties

Divide the beef into 2 4 oz (113 g) portions and press each into a patty about 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) wider than your bun. Press a shallow dimple into the center with your thumb so it stays flat as it shrinks. Keep the patties cold until the grill is ready.

2. Heat the grill or grill pan

Get a charcoal or gas grill, or a ridged cast-iron grill pan, as hot as it will go. You want dark grill marks and a slight char: that is what separates a Hardee’s charbroiled burger from a flat-top smash burger. On a grill pan, open a window. The fat will smoke.

3. Season and grill the beef

Salt and pepper both sides just before cooking. Grill without pressing until the underside is well marked, flip once, and cook until an instant-read thermometer reads 160 °F (71 °C) in the center. My colleague’s burger patty internal temperature guide explains why that number is the safe one for ground beef.

Seasoned raw beef patties set over hot charcoal on a kettle grill, the first step toward a charbroiled cheeseburger. Flip once and cook to 160 °F in the center. (Photo: borman818, CC BY 2.0, https://www.flickr.com/photos/7270284@N02/5846960845. 1024x685; lazy, async. FLAG: the 6-frame step grid (shaping, grill pan, thermometer, cheese melt, bun toast, assembly) still needs original photos)

4. Melt the American cheese

Lay one slice of American cheese on each patty right after the flip. Cover the grill, or set a metal bowl over the patty in the pan, for the last minute so the cheese drapes over the edges.

5. Toast the brioche-style buns

Toast the cut sides of the buns on the cooler part of the grill or in a dry skillet until golden. Stay close: brioche has sugar and butter, so it burns much faster than a plain bun.

6. Assemble the burger

Spread 1 tablespoon of ketchup and 1 to 2 teaspoons of yellow mustard on the top bun. Set the cheesy patty on the bottom bun, add 3 or 4 pickle chips, and close. Eat it right away, while the cheese is still soft.

How to get a charbroiled flavor without a grill

Use a ridged cast-iron grill pan heated until it smokes, and 80/20 beef so the fat sizzles on the ridges. The ridges give you real grill marks, and the rendered fat brings the smoky, slightly bitter edge of flame-grilled beef. A flat skillet browns the meat well, but the result tastes like a diner burger. Good, just not Hardee’s.

Hardee’s does not publish how its grills work: no temperature, no timing, no equipment. So I aimed for the result rather than the process, a firm, marked crust around a juicy center.

Official vs homemade: how close is this copycat?

The components match the official menu one for one. The weights, seasoning and brands are mine, because Hardee’s does not publish them.

Why this recipe tastes like the original

It gets close because it keeps the 4 things that define the Big Cheeseburger: a quarter-pound patty, a real char, the ketchup-mustard-pickle trio and a soft, slightly sweet bun. Change 1 and you have a different burger.

• The weight. At 4 oz, the beef-to-bun ratio matches the official quarter pound.
• The char. Flame or ridges, not a flat griddle, give the smoky crust the menu promises.
• The sauce trio. Ketchup, yellow mustard and dill pickles: sweet, sharp and sour. No mayo, no lettuce, no tomato.
• The bun. A brioche-style bun adds a touch of sweetness that rounds off the mustard.

My advice: start with 1 teaspoon of mustard. At 2 it pushes the beef into the background, and the beef is the point of this burger. My one reservation is the bun. The supermarket brioche I used is richer than I would expect from a chain’s “brioche-style” bun, so if yours is very buttery, toast it a little darker.

The closest published copycat I found, the Top Secret Recipes 1/4-Pound Hamburger, is a different sandwich built with lettuce, tomato and mayo, so it did not help here. For another Hardee’s build from my kitchen, try my Hardee’s Monster Thickburger copycat recipe.

Double Big Cheeseburger at home

For a Double Big Cheeseburger, grill 2 4 oz patties per burger and keep the same toppings. Hardee’s lists its Double Big Cheeseburger with “Two Quarter Pound 100% Angus beef patties”, American cheese, dill pickles, ketchup, mustard and a toasted brioche-style bun, at 790 calories (Hardee’s).

For 2 doubles, buy 1 lb (454 g) of beef. 1 detail in Hardee’s wording: “Black Angus” for the single, plain “Angus” for the double. I would not assume the beef is identical.

A double cheeseburger with 2 patties, melted American-style cheese, ketchup, diced onion and dill pickles. Illustrative photo, not a Hardee’s Double Big Cheeseburger. (Photo: Manu Ros, Unsplash License, https://unsplash.com/photos/a-cheeseburger-on-a-bun-with-a-pickle-on-the-side-NTJoAKxyxc0. 1600x1067; lazy, async)

The 2020 version: onions and a seeded bun

The first Big Cheeseburger, from March 2020, came with diced onions on a seeded bun. Hardee’s launched it as a limited-time item in its Charbroiled Stars menu, alongside the Big Hardee and the Super Star with Cheese (The Fast Food Post, March 25, 2020).

Make the 2020 version. Swap the brioche for a sesame seed bun and add a spoonful of finely diced white onion on top of the pickles. Hardee’s listed it at 540 calories, 23 g fat, 11 g saturated fat, 1,240 mg sodium, 56 g carbs, 13 g sugars and 28 g protein. I could not find a primary source dating the switch to Black Angus and a brioche-style bun.

A Hardee’s meal in May 2008: a wrapped sesame-bun burger with fries and ketchup in a basket, next to a Hardee’s cup. The burger shown is not the Big Cheeseburger, which launched in 2020. (Photo: Bradley Gordon (bradleygee), CC BY 2.0, https://www.flickr.com/photos/13951072@N00/2509034828. 1024x768; lazy, async)

A short history of Hardee’s charbroiled burgers

Hardee’s has sold charbroiled burgers since its first restaurant opened in Greenville, North Carolina, in 1960. Wilber Hardee opened it as a drive-in serving “charco-broiled” hamburgers (North Carolina History; WFMY News 2).

A roadside Hardee’s sign reading “Charbroiled Burgers” in January 2008. Flame-grilling has defined the chain since its first restaurant opened in 1960. (Photo: Bradley Gordon (bradleygee), CC BY 2.0, https://www.flickr.com/photos/13951072@N00/2185000257. 1024x768; lazy, async)

CKE Restaurants Holdings, which also owns Carl’s Jr., bought Hardee’s in 1997. The chain is strongest in the US South and Midwest, with franchises in the Middle East and Pakistan (Wikipedia). For the bigger picture, read our history of the hamburger.

A Hardee’s restaurant in Franklin, North Carolina, in August 2025. The chain is strongest in the US South and Midwest, where you can order the Big Cheeseburger. (Photo: Harrison Keely, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hardee%27s\_fast-food\_restaurant\_in\_Franklin,\_North\_Carolina.jpg. 3980x2446 (serve a resized WebP with matching width/height); lazy, async)

More fast-food cheeseburger copycat recipes

Next, try the West Coast sister burger in my Carl’s Jr. Famous Star copycat recipe. Then compare with other chain cheeseburgers our recipes team has rebuilt at home:

• Burger King cheeseburger copycat recipe
• Dairy Queen Original Cheeseburger copycat
• Whataburger with Cheese copycat recipe
• Five Guys cheeseburger recipe
• Every tested burger in the Recipes section

Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger FAQ

What are the ingredients in a Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger?

A quarter-pound 100% Black Angus beef patty, melted American cheese, dill pickles, ketchup and mustard on a toasted brioche-style bun. That is the official US description on hardees.com, checked October 16, 2026.

How many calories are in a Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger?

520 calories, according to Hardee’s official US menu page. The 540 calories you may still see quoted belong to the March 2020 launch version, with onions and a seeded bun.

How much beef is in a Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger?

A quarter pound, or about 4 oz (113 g), per Hardee’s menu. That is raw weight, so my homemade patties start at 4 oz each.

Does the Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger have onions?

No, not according to the official US listing checked October 16, 2026. The original March 2020 version had diced onions, so add them if you miss that bite.

What is the difference between the Big Cheeseburger, the Famous Star and the Big Hardee?

The Big Cheeseburger is a single-patty cheeseburger with ketchup, mustard and pickles. The Big Hardee, created in fall 1995, has 3 patties, 2 slices of American cheese, lettuce and Big Twin Sauce (Wikipedia). The Famous Star is a Carl’s Jr. burger: see my Famous Star copycat.

Are Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. the same company?

They share an owner. CKE Restaurants Holdings owns both chains and bought Hardee’s in 1997, but they remain separate brands with separate menus. If you travel to Mexico, our guide to Carl’s Jr. in Cancún lists its restaurants there.

Where can I eat a Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger?

At Hardee’s restaurants in the US, mostly in the South and Midwest. Hardee’s also has franchises in the Middle East and Pakistan, but I could not confirm that the Big Cheeseburger is sold there or under that name.

How much does a Hardee’s Big Cheeseburger cost?

Hardee’s does not post 1 national price, and prices vary from 1 restaurant to the next. The unofficial menu sites I checked gave conflicting numbers, so check the Hardee’s app or your local restaurant.