Healthy Menu Options & Nutritional Information at In-N-Out Burger

By John C. Barnard Last updated Apr 28, 2022 0

In-N-Out Burger is a popular burger joint serving burgers, fries, shakes, and malts. It’s also noted for having a “Not So Secret Menu”1 available.

“Animal Style” is one of the more well-known examples (standard In-N-Out cheeseburger with the beef patty grilled with mustard, extra special sauce, pickles, and grilled, caramelized onions). However, it does not provide grilled chicken or salads, which are available at many other burger shops.

Although In-N-Out Burger has a reputation for serving fresh, excellent burgers, persons on a specific diet (such as a vegetarian or vegan diet) may find it difficult to eat here. This dinner may be difficult for those seeking to cut their fat or sodium intake. This restaurant, on the other hand, is likely to satisfy you if you prefer a typical burger and fries lunch every now and again.

Expert Opinions

The menu at In-N-Out Burger is straightforward: burgers, French fries, and milkshakes. On the basic menu, there are no vegetarian, salad, or meatless options (excluding fries). Because these foods are poor in filling fiber and high in calories, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar, they should be eaten in moderation.

Choose a basic hamburger and avoid sugary beverages for the lowest calorie burger. RD, CDE Barbie Cervoni

Getting Around the Menu

Because there are only a few main cuisine categories on the In-N-Out Burger menu, ordering is simple. On the In-N-Out Burger website, the restaurant gives nutritional information2 and ingredient lists for their core menu items.

If you choose, you can customize your food by omitting particular condiments or ordering a hamburger without a bun. However, for the vast majority of personalized items, nutritional information is unavailable.

What to Order and What Not to Order at In-N-Out

The Healthiest Choices
Option with the Fewest Nutrients
Hamburger with Onion in a Protein Style (Burgers)
4×4 Burger, Not-So-Secret (Burgers)
Fries de France de petite taille (Fries)
Fries made from roadkill (Fries)
Vanilla Shake (Small) (Shakes)
Strawberry Shake Extra Large (Shakes)
Tea with ice (Beverages)
Root Beer Barq’s (Beverages)
Option with the Most Nutrients

The “Protein-Style” hamburger, which does not include a bun and is lower in calories, fat, carbs, and sodium, is the healthiest option on the basic menu at In-N-Out.

Burgers

At In-N-Out, you can customize your burger in a variety of ways. You can change the proportions of meat, cheese, special sauce, and seasonings. You can even request that your hamburger be halved. This may be your best bet if you prefer a conventional burger with a bun.

However, the serving size will be substantially lower than the next healthiest option on the menu, the Protein-Style hamburger, which is a classic In-N-Out hamburger (with one patty and no cheese) wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun.

Hamburger with Onion in a Protein-Style

The Protein-Style hamburger with onions has 240 calories, 17 grams of fat (4 grams of saturated fat), 11 grams of carbohydrate, 13 grams of protein, and 370 milligrams of sodium. By removing the bun, you save a lot of calories, carbs, and sodium.

While the nutrition information for the bun isn’t provided, calculating the difference between the burger with and without the bun adds 150 calories, 2 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 28 grams of carbohydrate, 3 grams of protein, and 280 milligrams of sodium.

4×4 Burger (Not-So-Secret)

The “Quad Quad” is another name for the Not-So-Secret 4×4 Burger. This item’s nutritional information is not provided by In-N-Out Burger. It’s basically two Double-Doubles sandwiched between one bun—or a Double-Double sandwiched between two Protein Style Double-Double sandwiches.

On a bun, it consists of four beef patties, lettuce, tomato, spread, and four slices of American cheese (with or without onions).

While the nutritional information isn’t accurate, based on the numbers presented, it includes about 1,470 calories, 102 grams of fat, 37 grams of saturated fat, 72 grams of carbohydrate, 75 grams of protein, and 3,160 milligrams of sodium.

Fries

While there is only one option for french fries on the basic menu, there are methods to modify them. Customized fries, on the other hand, aren’t always healthier than regular fries.

For example, you can have your fries cooked mild (softer), well done (crispier), or any combination of the two. You can also add fat, calories, and sodium to your fries by adding cheese or meat.

French Fries (Small)

A single order of standard french fries contains 370 calories, 15 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 52 grams of carbohydrate, 6 grams of protein, and 250 milligrams of salt. You may simply share these with a friend if you’re trying to reduce your sodium or fat intake.

The 125-gram serving size is sufficient for two people to share. A small serving of fries at McDonald’s weighs roughly 75 grams as a comparison.

Fries made from roadkill

Ordering dishes “animal-style” is a frequent menu trick at In-N-Out. While this menu item is most commonly associated with burgers, it has also become popular for ordering fries. The fries are topped with more spread, a slice of melted cheese, and chopped grilled onions when served animal-style.

You get a Flying Dutchman on top of your animal-style fries if you order Roadkill Fries. That is, two burger patties are divided by cheese and served on a bed of spread fries, melted cheese, and grilled onions.

Again, nutritional information for this popular menu hack is not provided, but estimating the nutrition information for fries topped with two burger patties and two slices of cheese (protein-style cheeseburgers) yields 890 calories, 54 grams of fat, 18.5 grams of saturated fat, 63 grams of carbs, 39 grams of protein, and 1,410 milligrams of sodium.

Shakes

In-N-Out burgers are famous for their ice cream shakes. Vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate are the three primary flavors. You can also mix any flavor combination to create your own unique mixture. On the basic menu, there is only one shake size, which is 15 ounces.

However, it is common knowledge that you can order big or extra-large shakes, which will be served in the larger cups supplied for soft drinks.

Vanilla Shake (Small)

A regular (15-ounce) vanilla shake contains 570 calories, 30 grams of fat (19 grams of saturated fat), 65 grams of carbohydrate, 10 grams of protein, and 360 milligrams of sodium.

Changing the taste to strawberry or chocolate barely significantly alters the nutritional information, so if you want to indulge in this creamy pleasure, go with your favorite flavor.

Strawberry Shake Extra Large

While exact information for the larger sizes is not available, estimating based on the larger-size cups is pretty simple. 20 ounces equals a large cup (which is the medium soft drink size without ice).

At In-N-Out, an extra-large milkshake cup is 30 ounces (the equivalent of a large soft drink without ice), or twice the size of a regular shake. An extra-large strawberry smoothie contains 1,180 calories, 48 grams of fat, 30 grams of saturated fat, 228 grams of carbohydrate, 16 grams of protein, and 620 milligrams of sodium.