Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s Most American Thickburger
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Presented by Carl’s Jr. or Hardee’s, depending on which side of the Mississippi you live on, look upon the Most American Thickburger and despair.
Released in 2015, this is a 4th of July BBQ between a freshly baked bun — a ⅓ or ¼ lb Angus beef burger served on top of Lay’s kettle-cooked potato chips and topped with a split hot dog, tangy pickles, a slice of American cheese, and all the normal fixings. It’s the perfect accompaniment to an extravagant 20-minute fireworks spectacular.
At a whopping 1,250 calories per burger, you can practically hear the Star-Spangled Banner playing with every bite.
McDonald’s Pizza
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Introduced in the 1980s, the McPizza was McDonald’s failed attempt to expand their dinner portfolio and encroach on some of Domino’s and Pizza Hut’s corners. At one point, the item was available at almost 500 locations around the United States. A quick trip to internet conversation hubs like Reddit will tell you that it had a loyal fanbase that still remembers it fondly. Unfortunately, the biggest problem the Franchisees faced was being able to provide quality pizza at drive-thru speed. By the 90s it was discontinued. To this day, only one location in the United States in Orlando still serves the McPizza as a novelty item.
Taco Bell’s Waffle Taco
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Essentially Taco Bell’s version of the McGriddle, this item should have been a slam dunk but for whatever reason has been discontinued. The company even ran a marketing campaign featuring Pete Davidson in 2022 effectively apologizing for getting too weird with it.
Egg, cheese, and either sausage or bacon served between a mini-waffle with a side of syrup doesn’t seem that out there, though it might be too much for people to wrap their heads around that early in the morning.
Still, the item has its passionate fans and the change.org petition demanding Taco Bell bring back the sweet and savory morning pick-me-up is halfway towards its signature goal.
McDonald’s McSalad Shakers
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One of the most infamous food flops in McDonald’s history, the McSalad Shakers were introduced in 2000 and were available in three varieties: Chef, Caesar, and Garden McSalad. Each salad came in a large plastic cup allowing consumers to add as much or as little dressing as they’d prefer and then literally McShake it up in the container. A convenient light lunch that also gave you a wrist and forearm workout in the days before the Shake Weight.
The only explanation is that some logistics manager over-ordered plastic cups and the boys in the food lab scrambled to backfill a solution.
Jack In The Box’s Burger Dippers
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“The burger you eat like a fry” is something that could only be dreamt up by the Wonka-esque mad food scientists at Jack in the Box. The strange item was tested in 2019 in a handful of markets and inexplicably never took off. It’s a real head-scratcher.
The Dippers are rolled hamburgers encased in a deep-fried sesame seed-covered coating, served with either Ranch or Ketchup and were unsurprisingly pitched as an upsell add-on item to the late-night Munchie box.
A classic example of a fast food company so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t stop to ask if they should.
McDonald’s Onion Nuggets
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This is another item folks remember so fondly. There’s even a change.org petition demanding to bring them back. The McDonald’s Onion Nuggets were dropped in the late 1970s and are exactly what they sound like. Though they did not make a big splash, the early work on developing and releasing the Onion Nugget would lead directly to the release of the Chicken McNugget in 1983.
Also, if you’re ever curious why McDonald’s has never added onion rings to the menu, a former McDonald’s chef explained on TikTok that the company is loathe to introduce anything that might encroach on the sales of french fries since they are one of their most profitable items.
Burger King Mac N’ Cheetos
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Put this one in the category of a food collaboration designed mostly to go viral on the internet. However, it does have a passionate fanbase who have gone Cheeto crazy on the handful of times Burger King has made them widely available for purchase.
The Burger King Mac N’ Cheetos were deep-fried macaroni and cheese sticks dusted with normal Cheeto or Flaming Hot Cheeto dust, depending on the year, and came in packs of five. The bright, unnatural orange color of the product is certainly off-putting, though let’s be honest if you’re ordering deep-fried mac and cheese bites — whether or not these are an affront to God and nature — is probably not a big concern.
McDonald’s Hula Burger
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Back in the 1960s, as McDonald’s continued to expand and grow into the American institution that it is today, there were efforts made to ensure that they appealed to the broadest possible base of consumers. One of the problems they were trying to solve was how to convince Catholics to visit the restaurant on Fridays despite the fact they were not permitted to eat meat. Ray Kroc had one possible solution.
Enter the Hula Burger — a thick slice of pineapple served between a standard burger bun with a couple of slices of American cheese. No, thanks.
Of course, the Filet O’Fish ended up being the actual answer to this problem. But credit to McDonald’s for trying to think outside the box.
Taco Bell’s Bell Beefer
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When the restaurant first opened in the 1960s, American consumers were famously wary of a fast food restaurant that only served tacos. Taco Bell has made a handful of attempts since its inception to introduce a hamburger-type item to its menu and win over some of those skeptics.
The Bell Beefer is one such item (originally it was confusingly labeled a chili burger).
What we have is a Mexican-inspired sloppy joe — with ground beef, shredded lettuce, and diced onions between a sesame bun and smothered in their classic mild sauce. Another lost item that has an ardent base of support online includes, you guessed, a change.org petition to bring it back.
Pizza Hut’s Fiesta Taco Pizza
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You’ve heard of Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza, but have you ever encountered Pizza Hut’s Fiesta Taco Pizza?
This strange item was released to the general public in 1979 and was supposedly available in some markets through 2004. A standard pizza crust loaded with everything you’d find in a standard taco — beef, lettuce, onions, diced tomato, and shredded cheese — this is for anyone who ever found themselves unable to make the hard decision between whether tonight was a good night for tacos or pizza. Visually, it’s not the most appealing item on this list, though that hasn’t stopped social media warriors from angrily posting about the potential sales Pizza Hut is missing out on by not bringing it back.
