I Tried 11 Fast Food BBQ Sauces, and This Is the One I’m Stashing in My Purse on the Way Out

Is there a more American condiment than barbecue sauce? I’d argue probably not. This sauce is so important (and divisive), it has split entire regions of the United States into very specific fan bases who swear by vinegar, mustard, or a certain thickness. But if you’re grabbing your lunch at the drive-thru and not at a smokehouse, meat and three, or other barbecue establishment, these are not the debates to be had.

No, the fast food barbecue sauce options will all be a certain thickness (no mop sauces here) and likely all a certain color (Alabama white, for example, isn’t a common thing to see chicken strips diving into). So, to determine the best one, we have to go by taste, personal preference, and the ingredients. 

What Makes a Great BBQ Sauce?

For me, I like to have it all. A little sweetness, a good amount of vinegar, and a nice smokiness to boot (that doesn’t taste super fake). It’s the combination of these things that makes barbecue sauce, well, barbecue sauce, and not some ketchup or mustardy mishap. And though there are plenty of recipes for variations that include things like fruit, herbs, or even flowers that really sing on a pork chop dish, when it comes to my little fast food dipping cup, I just want a classic. 

How I Tested Fast Food BBQ Sauces

I first tasted each sauce by itself before using it as a dip for chicken nuggets and waffle fries. This method allowed me to see each sauce's true flavors and how it changed when applied to chicken or potatoes. Some sauces were better when allowed to function as intended—as a dip—but I based my decision primarily on how the sauce tasted plain. That said, the top three sauces were equally excellent in any application.

The Best Fast Food BBQ Sauces, Ranked

11th Place: Chick-fil-A

The waffle fries might be stellar, but folks need not wait in line for Chick-fil-A’s Barbeque Sauce. It lands itself in dead last place for one simple fact: It doesn’t taste like one, at least not to me.

Though labeled simply “Barbeque Sauce,” it might as well be called honey barbeque— it's so sweet. My first dips into the cup tasted like orange juice, but an inspection of the label revealed the out-of-place flavor to be pineapple juice. Sure, pineapple juice is not an uncommon thing to chuck in the mix (I’m lookin’ at you, Sweet Baby Ray’s), but it takes on a life of its own in this sauce. If the folks at Chick-fil-A called it “Hawaiian Barbeque,” or if it were used as a glaze on a chicken skewer or delicious grilled chicken sandwich, I could get down. But this? For nuggets and fries? Get outta town.

10th Place: KFC

Before we even get to the cup's contents, it's worth noting that at 50 cents a piece, KFC charged the most for its condiments when ordering them alone. That said, I want to give them kudos for not using caramel color in its sauce. And that’s about where my applause will stop. One taste and the word was “nope.” Maybe it’s the citric acid that makes it so off-putting since it reads very citrus-forward, but whatever it is, it’s naggingly sweet. When you dip something in the sauce, it detaches itself from the dipping vehicle and you're left with that unpleasant flavor. I finished the nuggets without sauce just to get that flavor out of my mouth. I think that sums it up.

9th Place: McDonald's

Did the folks at McDonald’s try this sauce and think, “That’s weird. Let’s call it Tangy BBQ”? The world may never know. Once I tried the sauce on the chicken, I wanted to run. It tasted like I dipped it in straight vinegar. (This comes from someone  who drank Italian dressing as a kid.) No hate for vinegary barbecue sauces or my friends in the Carolinas, but this one is rough. It wants so badly to be a mop sauce, but it’s too thick, and the addition of sherry wine powder holds it back from greatness. I love a good mop sauce on my barbecue plate, but for my fast food chicken tenders, it’s a hard pass.

8th Place: Wendy's

Wendy’s BBQ sauce starts off tasting fine, but it has an odd habit of trying to convince you otherwise. It’s very sweet and big on the smoke. And though sweet and smoky is pretty much the name of the game here, you want the two to dance. Here, they don’t even touch, let alone tango. The smoke isn’t exactly what I’m hoping for either—it’s much too synthetic. Visible bits of pepper and paprika attempt to elevate the sauce to greater heights, but it just falls flat. 

7th Place: Popeye's

I was quite excited to read “BoldBQ” on the front of Popeye's barbecue sauce cup. That is, until I realized that the word is more about how bold it is to have high fructose corn syrup as the main ingredient. Or maybe it's a reference to how much vinegar they thought they could shove into a sauce. (It’s even runny because of it.) But yeah, bold it ain’t. Maybe it's slightly bold in the middle of the bite, but mostly it’s just harsh.

6th Place: Burger King

Now this is more of what I’m used to. Burger King's BBQ Sauce is a nice blend, it pairs well with both chicken and fries, and it brings in a lovely little smoke at the end. It’s what you want from a fast food barbecue condiment. Though, if I’m honest (and I always am), even though the ingredients aren’t identical, I’m not sure I’d be able to tell the difference between this and Sweet Baby Ray’s.

5th Place: Sonic

Sonic’s sauce tastes like Burger King’s but with a bit of an unpleasant aftertaste. So why did it eek out ahead? The smoke factor. This one showed up with a bit more bang for the buck in that department. What lands Sonic's at number five, though, is that it tastes more like molasses-y ketchup than its own sauce. The more bites I consumed, the more convinced I was that it was just ketchup, but browner.

4th Place: Arby's

Mm-hmm. Solid. That’s the immediate reaction to Arby’s Tangy BBQ Sauce. It’s a sweeter style, but still what I’m looking for in the barbecue category, and so similar to Sonic’s, it’s hard to distinguish. Ultimately, the home of the meats won out for tasting a bit more like discernable barbecue sauce. It’s as simple as that. An order of this to go with your wrap or curly fry order will do just fine.

3rd Place: Whataburger

I haven’t been to Whataburger enough times to know if this is always the case, but they really went above and beyond. First of all, the standard size for a dipping sauce cup is .85 to 1.5 ounces (most commonly, they’re around 1 ounce). Whataburger gives you a whopping 2 ounces per cup, and they gave me two of them for free.

Inside the dipping-cup behemoth is Whataburger's Honey BBQ, with distinct notes of honey, barbecue, and smoke. If honey barbecue is your thing, this is its quintessential flavor, so go ahead and pretend this is the winner. It’s not usually my thing, and I’m still a big fan. It had no heat whatsoever, just sweetness, then smokiness (and still less sweet than some in this list simply named “BBQ”), with a beautiful silky texture. Way to go, Whataburger!

2nd Place: Shake Shack

Peppery, sweet, and smoky—Shake Shack's BBQ is delicious. The fries and tenders were a-flyin' once this was opened. It’s absolutely everything you could want in a barbecue sauce. There’s vinegar up front and a peppery punch toward the end—perfect. Even my husband, who is not a fan of Shake Shack in any capacity (and had prejudged this sauce before it even entered our home), was a big, big fan.

1st Place: Zaxby's

As previously mentioned, any of the top three sauces could be the winner—they’re all really good. It just comes down to personal preference, and I prefer this kind of barbecue sauce to a honey one. I seriously wavered whether Shake Shack was my number one choice for quite some time, dipping back and forth between that cup and this one.

In the end, Zaxby’s BBQ Sauce was just different from all the others. "Yum" was the overwhelming response to the combination of sweet and smoky with a subtle heat. (If you don’t like spice, opt for Shake Shack. There is no warning on Zaxby's package to tell you that it packs a bit of a punch.) This is a deeper, thicker, full-bodied sauce with some lemon juice tossed in for a pop of acid to cut through the richness. I know a pulled pork sandwich isn’t the goal here, but this sauce would make sense in that world. It’s really good. If you just want a solid, flavorful, bold barbecue sauce, this is it.

Zaxby's also won our taste test of fast food secret sauces, so clearly, the chain is doing something right in the sauce department. If you don't live near a Zaxby's restaurant, don't sweat it. The chain now sells its signature sauces in Walmart, Kroger, and Winn Dixie across the Southeast and on Amazon for those who live elsewhere. So go ahead and stock up—we won't judge.