Learn Five Guys Nutritional Information: Are They Serving a Better Burger?

Since the opening of the first Five Guys Burgers and Fries location in Arlington, Virginia in 1981 the burger joint has promised to serve the best burger around. After winning thirteen foodie awards, including consistently appearing on Zagats survey rating since 2001 and being voted Washington Magazine’s “Readers Choice” #1 Burger each and every year since 1999, they seem to keeping their promise. But to be sure, Five Guys nutritional information needs to be explored.

With more than 250,000 different ways to order a burger at Five Guys, knowing the exact nutritional content you’re getting can be a little tricky. Let’s focus on the basic menu items they serve and check out what nutrients they have to offer the diner.

For starters, all menu items at Five Guys are trans fat free. There are no trans fats in any of their listed menu items. They state that there are no freezers in any of the Five Guys locations, so nothing is ever frozen. Additionally, they use only peanut oil to create their tasty treats.

A Closer Look: Burgers at Five Guys

The item menu that’s propelled their success is the burger and the variety of ways it can be ordered. They offer the basic types of burgers: hamburger, cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger and bacon burger. It’s what you can choose to put on them that make this burger restaurant different from the rest.

Let’s explore the Five Guys nutrition information provided for burgers.

Their hamburger contains 700 calories, with 400 of those calories from fat. They have 43g of total fat, 19.5g saturated fat, 125mg cholesterol and 430mg sodium.

The same sized cheeseburger will serve you with 840 total calories, 500 from fat, 55g total fat, 26.5g saturated fat, 165mg cholesterol and a staggering 1050mg sodium.

Now add some bacon to those burgers and see how the nutritional content of Five Guys Burgers changes.

The Bacon Cheeseburger contains a total of 920 calories with 560 from fat, 62g total fat, 29.5g saturated fat, 18mg cholesterol and a killer 1310mg of sodium.

Even if you’re not watching what you eat, these burgers are high in sodium, cholesterol and the calories from fat are something to consider before you eat too many of these delicious burgers.

Burgers traditionally aren’t considered a healthy, low calorie food so there’s not too much to be surprised about there. Now let’s take a look at their fries.

Add an Order of Fries Please

A regular sized serving of Five Guys fries contains 620 total calories, 260 calories from fat, 30g fat, 6g saturated fat, 90mg sodium and the cholesterol was listed as N/A.

Now the add-on’s. With a long list of ways that you can really ‘dress up’ your burger, let’s look at the two that have the highest fat and sodium content.

Hands down, adding mayo to your burger will add on lots of things you don’t want. With 100 calories, 11 fat calories, 2g of saturated fat, 10mg of cholesterol and 75mg sodium in just a smear on a bun, you may want to think twice.

Next up, bacon. An add-on of bacon will give you an additional 80 calories, 60 from fat, 7g fat, 3g saturated fat, 15mg cholesterol and 260mg sodium.

But there are add-ons that will boost your nutrition. Consider adding green peppers, jalapeños, lettuce or pickles. These are low in the bad stuff and offer some nutrients your body can use.

References

(Web): Mayo Clinic: Healthy Eating and Nutrition - https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/MY00431

(Web): Five Guys Burger and Fries - https://www.fiveguys.net/files/files/NutritionalInfo_2009.pdf

(Web): Five Guys Burgers and Fries - https://www.fiveguys.com/menu.aspx