4 Ordering Tips To Get The Best Culver's Burger

Serving up burgers and frozen custard since 1984, Culver's does comfort food right. Fans of the chain love its stick-to-your-ribs items, whether they're enjoying a Concrete Mixer (i.e., frozen custard with mix-ins like candy and fruit), Wisconsin Cheese Curds, or the North Atlantic Cod sandwich. Culver's may be most famous for its ButterBurgers, so named for their lightly buttered top bun, and you can't go wrong when ordering one right off the menu.

While there are quite a few Culver's hacks relating to other menu items that will change the way you order forever, our focus today is on the restaurant's ButterBurgers and how to turn them up a notch. Asking for a different bun or requesting your burger with "The Works" can make for a tastier meal. You can also turn one of Culver's sides into a delicious burger topping, or build your own barbecue burger with a few specific additions. Just keep in mind that these last two tips are DIY, meaning you'll have to assemble the new burger yourself. And if the Culver's staffer is unable fulfill your bun swap or other special request, always accept defeat graciously.

Putting the butter in ButterBurger, Culver's standard bread option is a buttered and toasted Kaiser roll. However, patrons can also request a gluten-free bun, as well as a toasted, buttered brioche bun. Sitting somewhere between pastry and bread, brioche is rich and slightly sweet thanks to inclusions like eggs and butter. This sweetness can create a tasty contrast for the burger's savory flavors. Brioche is also a hearty bread, so it pairs nicely with burgers that feature lots of toppings.

Along with its official bun swaps, Culver's also offers other bread choices. The restaurant's melts come with sourdough and rye toast, respectively, and it may be possible to combine these breads with other menu items. For our money, the flavors of the Mushroom & Swiss burger would work quite well with the stronger, earthier taste of sourdough and rye toast. Just remember that fast food staff despise some menu hacks, so don't forget your manners when making special requests.

Culver's offers a decent selection of side dishes, many of which you can use as toppings to elevate your burger. If you miss the chain's CurderBurger, a limited-time offering with a topping of fried cheese curds, Culver's cheese curd burger hack is a superb alternative. Select the Wisconsin Cheese Curds as your side when ordering a Value Basket meal and simply drop a few of them onto the patty.

Culver's menu also features chili, which makes for a tasty (if rather messy) burger enhancement. George's Chili is a basic recipe (meat, beans, tomatoes, and other vegetables), while George's Chili Supreme includes crackers, shredded cheese, sour cream, and raw onions. Pairing the chili with bacon, which you can find among the ButterBurger add-ons, can further boost the meatiness of your DIY chili burger. Culver's coleslaw is another great option, as it can lend your burger a Southern-style flavor profile.

While Culver's doesn't have an official secret menu, the chain is usually pretty accommodating about customization. However, you're fully responsible for this next ordering tip. The restaurant's menu has all the makings of a meaty barbecue burger, but it's up to you to find and assemble them. Like any artist, you'll need to gather your tools first. For your canvas, we recommend ordering a ButterBurger with American cheese and bacon, but no other additions. We're aiming for a specific flavor profile, and other toppings may create an unpleasant flavor clash.

Next, you'll need a cup of Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce to serve as your condiment. If you'd like to give your burger a bit of a kick, Buffalo sauce could also work. In this case, leave out the American cheese and add buttermilk ranch to replicate the wing shop experience. As for your side, select onion rings and reserve two or three (or four) to top your burger. Remove the bun, situate the onion rings, drizzle the sauce, and enjoy your culinary creation.

Ordering a Deluxe ButterBurger or requesting "The Works" aren't necessarily hacks. Both options appear on the Culver's website, with The Works listed in the toppings drop-down menu. However, these orders don't seem widely known, or perhaps they're not an official option at all locations. On Reddit, one patron wrote, "I don't know if it's different from location to location, but our local Culver's doesn't have anything posted that explains what's on The Works or The Deluxe." As such, we wanted to shed some light on these topping-packed options.

Asking for your burger with The Works means it comes with pickles, ketchup, mustard, and raw onions. You can also request The Works, No Onion (self-explanatory). The Deluxe, on the other hand, features American cheese, pickles, mayonnaise, raw onions, lettuce, and tomato. Culver's also offers a Bacon Deluxe, which placed second in our ranking of fast food bacon burgers from worst to first.

As we learned from Reddit, these terms may not be consistent at all locations. And as one commenter wrote, "Personally, [Culver's] back of house gets mad if an order gets rung up that could have been done with short hand such as the works or deluxe." Accordingly, we recommending ordering these options by name, unless you want a personalized version. In that case, it may be best to state your preferred toppings individually.