Ranking The 15 Best Late-Night Fast Food Options In America

Picking the best late night fast food options in America are something of a specialty of mine. Whether consciously or not, I have been ranking the country’s best late night fast food chains for my entire adult life and all of that has led me right here today.

If you disagree with the selections below it is of the utmost importance that you know that is an indictment on you, not me. These fast food selections are infallible.

Ranking The 15 Absolute Best Late-Night Fast Food Joints In America

From burgers to tacos, biscuits to chicken fingers, when the clock strikes midnight on the weekend and our stomachs are rumbling then we must be fed. These are the best places to get our hunger under control and ensure we wake up feeling refreshed.

Some of these late night fast food spots, in fact most of them, are best eaten at night. Going to town on these meals in the light of day sits differently. But without further ado, these are the 15 best late night fast food options in America.

Best Overall Late Night Fast Food: #1 Whataburger

Either you agree with Whataburger at #1 or you have never had Whataburger. It is as simple as that. Their burgers are wider and more delicious than anyone else in the late night game. Heck, I’d still rather have a Whataburger burger than Five Guys any day of the week.

Their bacon, egg, and cheese taquitos which are served for breakfast are made available late night and hit the spot. The ketchup at Whataburger has magic dusted inside, that’s the only way I can fathom why it tastes so much better than their competitor’s ketchup.

Whataburger fries are, on the surface, rather unremarkable. To look at them you see just run-of-the-mill fries. Then you take your first delicious bite and reach a level of late-night nirvana that only Whataburger can bring you to. My only gripe with Whataburger is there isn’t one close enough to me anymore…

2. Steak n Shake

The steakburger at Steak n Shake is in a class of its own. While their competitors are whipping up generic ground beef burgers, Steak n Shake goes the extra mile with a smashburger made out of steak bits (sirloin, t-bone, round) all cooked fresh over a sizzling hot griddle as you order it. I don’t even care about the beef tallow being re-added. Everything was fantastic before. But if that’s your thing then more power to you.

These burgers aren’t microwaved. They are made fresh to order. And the skinny shoestring fries, they are divine. Steak n Shake’s biggest problem, in my humble opinion, is they used to be open much later, until the wee hours of the morning but are only open until midnight some days now. They were the most reliable and tastiest late-night fast food option for most of my life, up until around 2020.

Best Late Night Fast Food For Freshness: #3 In-N-Out

Our first hyper-regional fast food chain on the list is, of course, In-N-Out. Their ingredients are the freshest of anyone in the business, there’s no denying that.

The burgers are fantastic, but on the smaller side. Fries are fantastic ‘animal style’ but leave a little to be desired without. Is In-N-Out over-hyped by Californians? I’d argue no. Most will tell you it’s great fast food but would never try and convince you that In-N-Out is trying to be something that it’s not. It is reliably delicious with fresh ingredients. What else are you looking for?

4. Jack in the Box

At the end of the night, Jack in the Box (or J-in-the-B) is just what is needed to get you right before the morning. While you might be thinking ‘I’ve been drinking for hours, why would I need more calories?’ and the answer boils down to you needing a full stomach and to ensure your body isn’t *only* processing alcohol.

If you are looking for full fat, full flavor, and large portions then you can’t go wrong with Jack in the Box. Their tacos, mini tacos, Sourdough Jack burger, curly fries (!!), and breakfast options make it one of the most reliably delicious fast food meals on the market but I’d rather eat it at midnight then in the judgmental light of day.

5. Taco Bell

After the top 4, we see a drop off in quality but certainly not flavor. I have never gone to Taco Bell in search of micro nutrients or attempting to hit my daily macro goals, I go to Taco Bell for the packets of hot sauce, chalupas, double decker tacos (R.I.P.), crunchwrap supremes, gordita crunches, and a Mountain Dew so large it barely fits in my hands.

While I do have fond memories of Taco Bell as a kid and eating inside so I could play that game where you drop a quarter in the water… I’d much prefer to hit the drive-thru late night with nobody around to judge as I take down 10 tacos in the driver seat.

Another great aspect of Taco Bell that is overlooked is prevalence. They are everywhere. Off of highways, in airports, combined with other fast food restaurants, you can always find a Taco Bell and it is always reliably delicious.

6. White Castle

Do any other fast food joints on this list have an entire 2000s buddy comedy centered around how alluring the delicious burgers are? Nope. Only White Castle!

The science behind what makes White Castle’s tiny burgers so delicious is actually pretty interesting. They are ‘onion steamed’ whereby the burgers are pierced 5 times and then placed on top of a bed of chopped onions on the griddle and actually cooked on top of the onions versus straight on the griddle.

At 2.5″ they are the smallest burgers in the game but that’s a great thing! You can order them in the ‘Crave Clutch’ (20), the ‘Crave Case’ (30), or step it up to the ‘Crave Crate’ which will include 100 of the 2.5″ square sliders, each served with 1 pickle slice.

Do they even sell fries at White Castle? I honestly have no idea. I’ve only ever eaten so many of the sliders I’ve made myself sick and haven’t had any room leftover for anything else that might be on the menu.

Best Late Night Waffle: #7 Waffle House

Waffle House is an American institution. I could write thousands upon thousands of words praising Waffle House so distilling it all down to why it is a great late-night fast food option is rather difficult but I’ll try…

The best people watching in the game. Waffles, heavenly waffles. 24/7 service. They’re open unless a life-threatening natural disaster is unfolding. Glorious hash browns that are in fact so good they could convince anyone alive that hash browns are a superior form of potato.

I could keep going but why? Just keep your head on a swivel when you are there after the bars close down.

Best Late Night Fast Food Chicken Nuggets: #8 McDonald’s

One of my colleague’s here at BroBible, Connor, put it best to me when he said “you could place McDonald’s pretty much anywhere on the list but I know a 20-piece of McNuggets hates to see me coming after the bar.” Ain’t that the truth!

My go-to late night order at McDonald’s is either a 10 or 20-piece of McNuggets and 1 or 2 double cheeseburgers. I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve never been a Big Mac guy and am perfectly fine filling my gullet with the double cheeseburgers.

What can you really say about McDonald’s that hasn’t been said? It is THE flagship fast food joint in the world. They have 40,000+ locations in over 100 countries. If there is one thing we can agree on across the globe it is that McDonald’s hits right after tossing a few pints back.

9. Taco Cabana

Taco Cabana is one of the best fast food chains in America and it is a crying shame they only exist in Texas, a state I’ve only previously lived in for a year of my life.

Taco Cabana has the best queso of any fast food chain on planet earth. They also hook you up with so many tortillas and chips to soak up the aforementioned queso you would think that you died and went to queso heaven upon your first visit.

Some locations are 24 hours. All are open late. They often have outdoor seating. EVERYTHING is made fresh, including the tortillas made in-house each day. Their salsa bar brings tears of joy to my eyes. Taco Cabana really is making late night magic happen and if they would just open up for business beyond the Texas borders they could inevitably take over the last night fast food world… That’s a big ‘if’ though.

10. Sonic Drive-In

Sonic Drive-In blends the perfect combination of nostalgia, fast food flavors, and unique offerings. Also, sometimes late at night are you in desperate need of some tater tots in order to get your mind and body right with the universe. This is a perfectly normal human experience.

When that craving hits, you go to Sonic Drive-In. And as the name implies there’s no drive-thru, it’s a drive-in. You roll down your window and someone brings the food to your car in a scenario reminiscent of the America our parent’s and grandparents grew up in.

The pebble ice! Sonic’s pebble ice is probably single-handedly responsible for the boom of pebble ice makers being sold over the past 5 years. I have one, it’s glorious. I use it every day. Heck, I’m going to stop writing for a second and go get a handful of pebble ice to chew on and ruminate on why it’s so vastly superior to every other form of ice on planet earth.

11. Del Taco

Del Taco is rarely, if ever, the first late night fast food joint that comes to mind when my belly is growling around midnight but that’s on me, not Del Taco. They have a ton of locations open 24/7 which is obviously what we are here to talk about in the first place: the best late night fast food.

The California-Mexican flavors you get at Del Taco are exceptional, and sadly, part of the reason people on the East Coast might be hesitant to give it a shot. But they grate all their cheese in house, beans are cooked from scratch, there’s a true freshness to the quality of the food you don’t find elsewhere.

12. Wawa

There was a time in life when someone tried to convince me that Wawa was great late night food and I thought they were a complete and utter dunderhead. A total nincompoop. As it turns out, it was I who was the poopcomnin!

Because even though Wawa masquerades as a gas station from the outside, on the inside they are slanging some of the best late night fast food around. Their Philly cheese steak is exceptional. The seasonal Thanksgiving wrap with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce is something I wish I could eat all year long. The entire menu goes hard and Wawa is wildly underrated.

13. Wendy’s

To be perfectly fair, I could have placed Wendy’s anywhere on this list from numbers 5 through 15 and it would have made sense.

Wendy’s chicken nuggets go hard but not the hardest, obviously, that crown goes to the McNuggets. Their square burgers are phenomenal when they come out fresh and piping hot but that’s not always the case. I have been served lukewarm Wendy’s burgers that left me questioning the decision to go there in the first place.

Where Wendy’s is unrivaled is the Frosty department. Dipping their french fries in a Frosty, scooping it with a spoon. There’s no wrong way to eat a Frosty. Chocolate, vanilla, swirl. We don’t discriminate, we celebrate.

14. Guthrie’s

Fresh, never frozen. Guthrie’s chicken fingers are so vastly superior to the other popular chicken finger chain it’s not even close.

Getting a ‘Gut Bucket’ is sometimes the only missing piece in achieving pure bliss. Their chicken fingers are crispy golden fried, the Guthrie’s Sauce is straight up divine, and their crinkle-cut fries bring everything together in perfect harmony. The only reason to choose another chicken fingers joint over Guthrie’s late at night is if there isn’t a Guthrie’s nearby.

15. Carl’s Jr/Hardee’s

The burgers are massive. Sure, it’s a little odd they change their name depending on what part of the country you are in. And I would swear up and down that Carl’s Jr. is better than Hardee’s despite them being the same chain/food, but the burgers are gigantic and that’s what lands them on the list of the best late night fast food at #15.

Those massive burgers also come with charbroiled flavor. I do appreciate that charbroiled flavor late at night. It imbues me with the sense that someone somewhere took care in making that burger. Also, they will go out on a limb with outrageous burger promos like the El Diablo burger. And don’t forget about the biscuits!

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