What To Order At Five Guys If You Don't Want A Burger

Five Guys burst into the mainstream thanks to its delicious, high-quality burgers, large portions of generously-seasoned French fries, and seemingly endless customization options for its burgers, sandwiches, and milkshakes. That's a lot of very good reasons to become successful, and the business is thriving because of it.

The star of the show is undeniably the burgers. In 2026, Five Guys was hailed as the fast food restaurant with the best-tasting burgers, based on the results of a YouGov survey polling 44,300 respondents nationwide. It beat other major burger chains like Burger King, In-N-Out Burger, and McDonald's. The chain's high standards for quality and insistence on preparing its food in-store have clearly paid off. The burger patties are never frozen; they are formed by hand and always cooked to order. The buns are baked fresh and delivered to every Five Guys location daily, while the vegetable toppings are washed and sliced in-store. However, there's much more to the menu than beef.

Even when a burger is cooked expertly and assembled with premium ingredients, there are some days when you want to look at other options instead. Not because the burger doesn't taste good, but because you just want something different, or you don't eat meat. It is for those days that we've put together this list of what to order at Five Guys when you don't want any of its famous burgers.

On days when you're just a little bit tired of getting your usual cheeseburger at Five Guys, maybe a veggie alternative will do the trick. Five Guys' veggie sandwich switches out the prime beef patty for nicely grilled fresh vegetables. It has caramelized grilled onions, mushrooms, and green peppers sandwiched between the chain's soft, sesame seed buns. Based on customers' feedback, adding cheese and pickles to the veggie sandwich makes it even better.

A sandwich filled with vegetables may not sound as appetizing as a cheesy burger, but don't dismiss it before you try it. Many reviewers online have been pleasantly surprised by how good it tastes. While it's customizable like the burger, a standard veggie sandwich is loaded with grilled mushrooms, which technically serve the same purpose as a beef patty. They are packed with flavor and are a mouthful to bite, so eating this sandwich is nothing like biting into a boring bed of lettuce, which most veggie sandwiches tend to be.

Customers are impressed by the size of the sandwich. However, it bears mentioning that the veggie sandwich isn't completely meat-free. According to a Five Guys employee on Reddit, the onions and mushrooms are grilled on the same griddle as the patties. Employees keep the cooking surfaces clean, but the grease inevitably makes it into the veggies. While that may be fine for more casual vegetarians, those with a total aversion to meat may want to give this one a miss.

The burger bowl is just another way of enjoying a Five Guys hamburger. Only this time, it's without the bread. Found under the sandwich section of the menu, the burger bowl has all the components of a typical burger. It's got lettuce, tomatoes, and melty cheese all over the grilled patties. It's a nice, lighter alternative if you're craving a burger but want to cut down on carbs.

Customers can ask for additional toppings, like veggies, condiments, any of the Five Guys sauces, even extra patties and bacon. That's why the burger bowl is a great alternative to the usual burger: aside from sesame buns, you can order more of the components you want to eat and less of what you don't feel like eating that day.

One great advantage of ordering a burger bowl is that you can actually get more food than if you order a burger. The burger bowl is also more convenient when eating in the car. Eating a burger can get messy with sauce and oil dripping down your fingers whenever you take a bite, but with a burger bowl, you're eating with a fork. You can also chop up the ingredients so that each forkful has a bit of everything. It's simpler and cleaner, and you can even add fries into the bowl without making a huge mess in the front seat.

If the reason you don't want a burger is that you'd rather have dessert instead, Five Guys' milkshake is the best thing to order. Rich and creamy, the vanilla base for all the flavors is already a treat by itself. The vanilla isn't overpowering, but it is noticeable enough that the base tastes delicious on its own.

But what sets a Five Guys milkshake apart from the others is that it's handspun. Unlike convenience-store shakes that use flavored syrup mixed into soft-serve ice cream or slush machines, employees blend toppings — the "mix-ins" — into the vanilla base, taking this versatile flavor in different directions. With 10 mix-ins to combine and choose from, there are over 1,000 flavor combinations to try. The best part? There's no limit on the number of mix-ins you can add to your milkshake.

You can choose one mix-in and enjoy old-school favorites like a strawberry and Oreo milkshake. But there are also other toppings that can make really interesting flavor combinations, such as a bacon milkshake. A meaty drink may seem highly unusual, but many end up loving it because the salty bacon balances out the sweetness of other components like caramel and chocolate. If you're feeling adventurous, you can ask for all the toppings and find out if this so-called Five Guys Mega Shake is to your liking.

French fries are the perfect side for burgers. When they're as well-seasoned as Five Guys' Cajun fries, they can easily be the mains as well. According to AJ Hussey, a former Five Guys restaurant manager who now hosts The Food-Dee channel on YouTube, the fast food chain uses russet potatoes from Idaho and Washington for its fries. This specific variety produces a crispy exterior while staying soft and fluffy inside. The potatoes are also cleaned and cut in-store. In fact, Five Guys traditionally piles its potato deliveries in plain view of the customers, so anyone can see that the fries are always made fresh.

Compared to the regular fries that are just seasoned with salt, Five Guys' Cajun fries are tossed in a blend that includes the likes of paprika, oregano, red pepper, and celery, depending on the supplier. Not only are they super crispy and flavorful, but the chain famously gives huge portions, filling the bottom of their takeout bags with abundant fries so you can literally eat your fill.

There's also something you can try with Five Guys' Cajun fries: dip them in ketchup with malt vinegar. Many people stand by this condiment combo. The tangy vinegar cuts through the saltiness and bold, savory spices, and the fries stay crispy enough even after they're dipped in the sauce. This is one order that offers as much, if not more flavor, than the unseasoned Five Guys burgers.

If you're in the mood for simple, old-fashioned fries, the Five Guys' regular fries are the way to go. They're flavorful and crunchy, especially when fresh off the fryer. They're satisfying on their own, but in this writer's humble opinion, they are best paired with a milkshake. The regular fries have just the right amount of salt, which gives a nice balance to the sweetness of the vanilla shake.

But there's another way to enjoy Five Guys' regular fries, a popular menu hack that takes them to another level. It's the Five Guys loaded fries, which are basically an order of the regular fries topped with chopped burger patties, bacon, and melted cheese. A customer on TikTok recommends ordering a bun-less Little Bacon Cheeseburger, a Little Fry, and your choice of toppings on the side (the grilled onions and tomatoes are great for this). Mix everything into a bowl, and you have your loaded fries. 

A more complex version of this menu hack draws inspiration from In-N-Out's Animal Style fries. Get extra sides of mayo, ketchup, mustard, and A1 sauce, and mix them in a bowl. This mimics the tangy dressing on In-N-Out's Animal Style fries. Pour the sauce over the fries and chopped patties, mix, and enjoy. Bonus tip: if you're not in the mood for beef at all, you can simply order regular fries with melted cheese. It's one of the secret menu items you can get from Five Guys. Fun fact: Five Guys restaurants in the U.K. officially have loaded fries on the menu.

Eating at Five Guys is so fun. You can order a burger without the bun (burger bowl) or a burger without the patty (veggie sandwich). And if one day you want a cheeseburger that isn't technically a burger, you can have that too.

A couple of years ago, an order hack grew popular among Five Guys fans: a grilled cheese sandwich with a burger patty as a side, which you then slide between the buns. This may sound odd at first since anyone could just order a cheeseburger without the lettuce and tomatoes. However, while Five Guys uses the same buns for the burgers and sandwiches, the staff toasts the bread first for the grilled cheese sandwich. The buns are flipped inside-out during assembly, so the toasted is the first thing you taste. Thanks to this simple change, each bite feels and tastes different than the average burger.

Five Guys acknowledged the popularity of the grilled cheese sandwich with patty, and it was formally added to the menu in 2024. Today, you can simply order a patty melt, and the staff will give you a grilled cheese with a burger patty (veggies and condiments are optional).

This next menu item isn't available at all Five Guys locations, but it's worth mentioning because it is a nice alternative on days when a burger feels too heavy and greasy for your stomach. We're talking about breakfast sandwiches, of course.

Five Guys doesn't have a dedicated breakfast menu on its website in the U.S., with only select Five Guys locations in the U.K. offering a breakfast menu by name. However, anyone can see that the sandwiches category offers options with egg. There's a simple egg sandwich, and other options that include bacon and cheese.

So, where can you buy these Five Guys breakfast sandwiches? The replies in an old Reddit thread claimed that they were largely available in restaurants inside U.S. airports, which still seems to be the case as of late. Perhaps it is up to the franchisees to decide whether to serve them, which would explain why a couple of guys on TikTok appeared so surprised to find a Five Guys in New York advertising an all-day bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich.

An egg breakfast sandwich may not always be available at Five Guys, but thankfully, a BLT is. The crispy bacon, fresh tomatoes, and iceberg lettuce sandwich is a classic and never gets old. Adding your choice of toppings and condiments lets you pack more flavors into the sandwich (you can't go wrong with grilled onions and mayo, but if you want it tangy, the pickles and mustard should do it for you).

What sets the Five Guys BLT apart is the bacon. The chain uses Applewood smoked bacon, fried to crispy perfection. According to the chain's website, it buys the bacon from one of the last legitimate smokehouses in the country. The best part is the chain doesn't skimp on the bacon. Customers claim that employees pile up those strips, so you're getting great value for your money. The hefty meat also ensures that, even if the sandwich gets squished, it doesn't end up totally flat and sad-looking. Finally, Five Guys is big on using fresh ingredients, so you can look forward to fresh, firm lettuce and tomatoes in your sandwich.

Here's another secret menu hack that you can try if you're craving something a bit fancier than the usual burger. You can try recreating steak frites using Five Guys burger patties, fries, and the chain's signature A1 Original Steak Sauce.

Originating from France and Belgium, steak frites is basically just a steak seasoned with salt and pepper, and served with crispy French fries and a side of sauce. For the Five Guys version, the juicy, freshly-made hamburger patties stand in for the steak. Order as many patties as you like, then choose between Cajun or regular fries for the side. Steak frites are traditionally served with a creamy béarnaise sauce, which is made with herbs, white vinegar, and egg yolks. This menu hack, however, uses the tomato-based A1 sauce, which pairs very well with the burger steak.

What makes steak frites different from the animal-style fries? The burger patties are not chopped; they're eaten with a fork and knife, just like steak. The fries are plated on the side and not smothered with sauce or cheese. To complete the dish, sprinkle a bit more black pepper. If you eat it at home, you can even have some red wine with the meal. Now that's fancy.

Here's yet another Five Guys menu item that you can order instead of a burger: a lettuce wrap. It has all the usual ingredients of a hamburger — beef patties, grilled onions, tomatoes, and other choice toppings — but this time, everything is encased in lettuce leaves instead of sandwiched between two buns.

The lettuce wrap is technically another bun-less burger, only you don't eat it from a bowl. It is still wrapped in foil like a regular hamburger, so you can also eat it like one. Five Guys lets you convert any burger into a lettuce wrap, which cuts the calorie and the sodium content of your meal. And if you add more veggie condiments, you'll pack it with more flavor and nutrients.

This bread-less sandwich is one of, if not the healthiest items on the Five Guys menu. It may not be as filling as a burger, because lettuce is lighter on the stomach than bread, but it is the friendlier option for people with Celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. Unless you're avoiding meat in general, the lettuce wrap is the best alternative to a Five Guys burger.

Rounding out this list of what to order when you don't want a burger at Five Guys is the bacon cheese dog. It's easy to overlook the hot dog menu since the burgers are so good, but when you do need a break from the patties, the hot dogs provide a nice alternative. 

Five Guys uses classic all-beef hot dogs and the same Applewood smoked bacon found in its burgers. The toppings are free to add, as always, so you can add the likes of tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms to make up for all the salt and grease. Speaking of which, the bacon, with its crispy edges, provides a nice contrast to the soft bun and veggies. Finally, the cheese brings all these flavors together.

One thing Five Guys does differently from other fast food chains is slice its hot dogs in half before they are grilled. This ensures they cook evenly. It also shortens the cooking time, so customers can get their hot dogs as quickly as possible. But even sliced, the hot dog still has a good snap, which we know many people consider key for the perfect hot dog bite.

All the menu items included in this list are primarily based on customer feedback online. We searched for Five Guys reviews across social media platforms, especially Facebook, Reddit, and TikTok. Although we found some contradictory reviews, we're still able to get a general idea of what customers think about certain menu items. We noted the common comments customers had about the food, and those with mostly positive feedback were included here.

This article is not a ranking, but a recommendation of what customers can order at Five Guys besides their famous burgers. Since there can be many reasons for this, we included options for some of the more common factors, such as health restrictions and nutritional goals. Of course, we also included alternatives for people who simply want something different, like a dessert or an entirely different food.