5 Ordering Tips To Get The Best Culver's Wisconsin Swiss Melt

Culver's became successful on the strength of its ButterBurgers and frozen custard, the two signature items the chain has focused on since the first restaurant opened its doors in Sauk City, Wisconsin, in 1984. There are seven ButterBurgers in all (excluding limited-time ones) featuring its fresh, never frozen beef patties pressed smashburger-style, but two are different from the others. The Wisconsin Swiss Melt and the Sourdough Melt use bread instead of buns, making them more like patty melts.

The Wisconsin Swiss Melt tops the beef patties with Swiss cheese and grilled red onions on lightly buttered grilled rye bread. Those components create a delicious burger, but Culver's also offers many opportunities to customize and make it even better according to the ingredients, flavors, and textures you like. Swapping out the Swiss cheese and rye bread, or combining them with other options, is one way to create new flavors. With nearly a dozen standard toppings to choose from, there are endless ways to bring them together. Putting cheese curds on top copies a seasonal Culver's burger that began as a joke, and there are plenty of sauces to dive into on the menu to amp up your meal. Keep in mind that swapping and adding components can incur an extra cost.

Following the format of all Culver's ButterBurgers, the Wisconsin Swiss Melt comes with one slice of Swiss per beef patty, whether you order a single, double, or triple. If you're someone who thinks more cheese is never a bad thing, go ahead and ask for an extra slice. Even though its name specifies Swiss, you could still swap it for the American or cheddar that are available, which creates a more familiar cheeseburger taste.

Another way to change things up for more flavor is mixing and matching the cheese. If you're getting a double, ask for one slice each of Swiss and either cheddar or American to blend the former's nutty character with the aged cheddar's sharpness or the American's milder taste. For a cheesy celebration when you're really feeling hungry, order a triple and get one slice of all three kinds.

The Wisconsin Swiss Melt's rye bread contributes a robust, savory taste, but there are other options you might prefer for the burger's top and bottom, especially if you're not a fan of caraway seeds, one of the rye bread's ingredients. The bread from the Sourdough Melt is a tangy choice with a flavor that also makes its presence known. Since the sourdough is sliced bread instead of a roll, just like the rye, it has the same patty melt vibe.

As with the cheese, two flavors can be better than one. Instead of choosing between them, combine their earthy tastes by requesting one slice of each bread. Want more carbs? Take a page from a Big Mac and ask for a third slice of either sourdough or rye between a double's two beef patties. Turning to the other ButterBurgers' buns is also a possibility. The standard kaiser roll makes the Wisconsin Swiss Melt more like a traditional burger, or you could also choose the softer brioche bun.

There's no shortage of toppings available for the ButterBurgers, with nearly a dozen offered in all. Grilled red onions is the only one that's normally part of the Wisconsin Swiss Melt, leaving many others to choose from. Sauteed mushrooms pair well with the beef and onions, as does bacon. Jalapeños add a spicy bite, and you could ask to toss them on the grill for a few minutes, especially if you're including them with the onions, mushrooms, and bacon since all those toppings are cooked.

There are interesting flavor and texture contrasts if you add some fresh ingredients, such as combining the mellower grilled red onions with the sharp raw ones, or with tangy pickle slices. Hold the cooked onions and opt for toppings such as lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard, or mayo for a more classic-style burger. You could also go outside the regular options and ask for the tangy sauerkraut that comes on the Grilled Reuben Melt sandwich.

The Wisconsin Cheese Curds came in only behind the original ButterBurger in our ranking of the chain's popular menu items. Its powers that be had the brilliant idea of combining the two in a CurderBurger, a seasonal offering with a big round fried curd on top of The Culver's Deluxe. It actually began as an April Fool's joke in 2021 that was just the patty-sized cheese on a bun, but the chain made it a real thing with a burger when patrons clamored for it. It now returns as a limited-time item each October to celebrate the month's National Cheese Curd Day.

The curds are made in Wisconsin by master cheesemakers at La Grander Hillside Dairy, which supplies them exclusively to Culver's. Since they feature cheese made in the chain's home state, just like the Wisconsin Swiss Melt does, it seems right to bring them together in a version of the CurderBurger. Get an order of the iconic menu side with the burger and put some of the buttery, deep-fried nuggets on top for the full Badger State experience.

The Wisconsin Swiss Melt doesn't have any sauce, and the only ones offered among the regular optional toppings are ketchup, mustard, and mayo. However, there's a whole Sauces & Dressings section of the menu to dip into. Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ is a good match, or Buffalo for a spicy kick. One that's also named for the state, the Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese Sauce, doubles the cheesy flavor, and the burger gets a boost from the creamy heat of Ken's Boom Boom Sauce, made with chili peppers, Dijon mustard, and garlic.

Instead of choosing just one, play mad scientist and combine a couple, such as Sweet Baby Ray's and Buffalo or Boom Boom sauce, or honey mustard and ketchup. You can also add one of two types of heat with the packets of hot sauce or horseradish that are available.