At In-N-Out you can order custom-made food. Some customizations are available at no additional cost; those that use inventoried items such as cheese, meat, and buns cost extra. While it's not on the printed menu, there are buttons on the cash register for these items. You can pretty much order anything you want, as long as they have the ingredients. While the "secret" menu is listed on the In-N-Out corporate site, it is far from complete.
Also, keep in mind that since you can customize anything, you can feel free to order whatever you want and create your own "double-secret personal menu". Get a 0x3 with four slice of tomato on a double toasted bun and call it a "cheesy wiki". The following are just the custom orders that are popular enough to go by well known names.
The one key restriction they have (for "a variety of reasons" according to corporate) is putting fries on a burger. This means that some of the secret menu items like a monkey burger (fries animal style on a burger) will require you order both part and assemble them yourself. There are a few other items that are put together at the table — like lemon fries: fries with a squeeze from a lemon wedge.
Burgers
Stock: If you ordered your burgers off the menu they would come with:
- a spread similar to thousand island dressing.
- one slice of tomato (two if one won't cover the entire bottom bun)
- a portion of lettuce
- Onions are always offered when you order. They come as a fresh slice by default, but raw chopped, chopped grilled, and whole grilled onions are available by request. The amount is constant regardless of the number of meat patties unless you ask for extra or lite of a condiment.
but instead consider ...
Custom Burgers
Note: Many of these styles can be ordered in combination (for example, Double-Double Animal Style No Salt).
This section would be awesome if it had pictures for each option. Add them if you have them. Or have an adventure next time you go to In-N-Out and order one of these you haven't had before!
Animal style is the most popular "secret" style. In addition to the standard toppings, animal style burgers include:
- pickles
- extra spread
- grilled onions instead of fresh onion
- mustard fried onto each meat patty.
Protein style, popular among Atkins dieters, no/low carb eaters and people who just like lots of lettuce:
- replaces the hamburger bun with large leaves of lettuce.
- It can be combined with other special orders, e.g., animal protein style.
- Lettuce is generally colder than buns, so beware of quickly-congealing beef grease in the sandwich.
3×3, 4×4, or generally M × C refers to a burger with a varied number of meat patties (first number, M) and slices of cheese (second number, C). For example, the popular Double-Double would be 2×2 (pronounced "Two-by-two" when you order it), while a burger with 3 meat patties and 1 slice of cheese would be a 3×1 (a "three-by-one").
As of August 2006, the largest burger that can be ordered is a 4x4. Only four slices of cheese maximum may be permitted on a single burger. That may be a Davis-specific rule, as somebody checked and officially the largest you can order is a 4x6. If you are wondering about ordering a 20×20, look at this link to deter you. It is a photo essay of the terrible 20 patty journey. Or, to even better satisfy any curiosity you may have, the 100x100.
Double-Meat (a.k.a. 2×0) is a Double-Double with no cheese.
- By definition a Double-Double automatically includes two slices of cheese; for two patties without the cheese, a double meat burger must be ordered.
The Flying Dutchman:
- Two meat patties
- two slices of cheese
- no bun
- Note: other condiments (including lettuce, tomato, spread, and onions) are not included unless you request them.
- This is a great way to circumvent the burger size rules. i.e.: order a 4x4 and two Flying Dutchmans and you have essentially an 8x8
Grilled Cheese:
- a sandwich with two slices of cheese
- no meat
-
the grilled cheese comes stock, with spread, tomatoes, lettuce, and onions if you would like.
- Like most orders, this can be combined with other styles such as animal style.
- FYI: The grilled cheese used to be cooked on the side of the grill that was reserved for toasting buns (so that it wouldn't get contaminated from being cooked on the same surface used to cook meat). They now have two separate grills, one for meat, and the other for bun toasting. However, the bun grill is coated with a special non-stick surface that doesn't allow them to cook grilled cheeses on it any longer, and they have to cook them on the same surface as the meat.
Veggie Burger or Wish Burger:
- A sandwich containing only vegetables, and no meat or cheese.
- "Wish burger" is a reference to Rubber Biscuit, which was a massive cult hit due to Dan Aykroyd's performance of it as Elwood Blues. The song is a lament about not having enough money for food, and going hungry. The majority of the lyrics are nonsensical vocal sounds, with one of the four actual lines being: "Have you ever heard of a wish sandwich? A wish sandwich is the kind of a sandwich where you have two slices of bread and you — hum hum hum hum — wish you had some meat!"
Burger Options
Mustard fried patty spread with mustard, then cooked. This also adds pickles, unless you tell them to hold the pickles. You can also ask for heavy mustard fried.
Onions can be ordered as whole fresh, fresh chopped, whole grilled, grilled chopped, or any combination of the four possibilities. So to maximize your onion variety you could get a burger with all four types. Whole grilled is certainly worth trying.
Chopped chilis adds some yellow chilies to the bottom of your burger. Medium heat, little bit of vinegar flavor. (You can also ask for these on the side!)
Mustard and/or ketchup can be substituted for the spread. Only designates no spread. Cashiers may ask if you want ketchup or mustard instead.
No-salt has no salt added to the the patties. Once you add the condiments and cheese, you don't need the extra salt anyway and you can leave without feeling like a dried-out-but-satsfied lump.
Extra Salt is added to the tomato layer of the burger for those who feel the need for extra sodium on their burger.
Extra toasted bun/lightly toasted bun/untoasted bun. The bun come toasted by default, but you can ask to have the level of toastyness varied. The buns are toasted to add some rigidity to the burger, as an untoasted bun is flimsy under the weight of all the meat/cheese/condiments. This also prevents sauces and toppings from excessively soaking into the bun, thereby avoiding the last-bites-are-soggy problem. This needs to be the first modification requested, based on keystroke order into the register.
Extra everything - Extra tomatoes, extra lettuce, extra onion, extra spread, extra pickles, extra onions, extra chilis. You can ask for all of these at no extra charge. They'll really fill out your burger and make it a more balanced meal, especially if you're a veggie fan. Onions can come in four ways: whole raw, whole grilled, chopped grilled (like animal style) and chopped raw. You can also ask for both raw and grilled onions in the same burger.
Medium rare or well done. You can specify how well done your hamburger patties are. FYI: Medium rare will definitely show a pink middle.
Custom Fries
- Fries well-done are extra crispy fries.
- Fries light well are a little more done than regular fries, but not as crispy or greasy as the well-done fries.
- Fries lite are fries that have been cooked less than normal.
- Fries no-salt have no salt added to them.
- Cheese Fries are fries with two slices of melted cheese. A fork is included.
-
Fries animal style include two slices of melted cheese, grilled onions, and spread as toppings. A fork is included.
- Additional alterations that can be made to Animal Fries include substituting spread with ketchup and/or mustard, substituting grilled onion with raw chopped onion, and finally, adding or substituting chopped chilies.
- Lemon fries you can make your own lemon fries—just grab a lemon slice from next to the ice tea machine, and squeeze it on your fries. It really livens things up.
Custom Drinks
Milk Shakes
- A root beer float is a concoction made of half vanilla shake and half root beer soda. Be sure to specify whether you want it more creamy or soda-ey.
- A Neapolitan shake is a mixture of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavored shakes. If an order contains a shake of each flavor, this is called "Around the world."
- A black and white is a vanilla and chocolate shake (skip asking for a gray; they'll just get confused).
- Strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla can be combined in any way, i.e., just chocolate and vanilla, chocolate-strawberry, etc.
- Large and extra large shakes are also available. The cup sizes for these shakes are one below soft drinks (i.e. a large shake is a medium soft drink cup, while an extra large shake is a large soft drink).
Other
- Milk. 2% lowfat is your only option. Yaaknow, it's for da kids.
- Fountain Drinks - you can combine Iced Tea and Lemonade for an Arnold Palmer.
Side Items
These items are free:
- Spread - good with fries
- Side of pre-packaged yellow chilies.
- Water comes in a clear plastic cup to distinguish it from soda/shake cups.
- Creative Lemonade. Take your water cup, squeeze several free lemon wedges in, add a few free packets of sugar, stir well to blend. Fresh and tasty!
See also Secret Menus at Davis Restaurants.
2005-08-19 19:27:56 I recommend the animal style french fries. The cheese, spread and onions add a unique taste to the fries. —SimonFung
2005-08-19 22:17:36 i recommend getting a regular cheese burger with animal fries inside. They can do it. It's amazing. —JaimeRaba
2005-08-20 22:12:19 Fries well-done have the potential to be incredibly delicious. Unfortunately the amount of 'well-done-ness' is directly proportional to their busyness. If they're busy, they won't be well done. If nobody is there, you'll get burnt potato chips. During normal business hours, though. YUM! —MichaelGiardina
2005-11-03 00:21:37 I heard a rumor that must be varified that they will serve you filofel if you ask for it. —DanielGonzales
2005-11-03 17:31:24 Lettuce and tomatoes are not inventoried so I always ask for "extra lettuce, extra tomatoes" to fatten up the burger. —MelvinQuan
2005-11-03 17:46:03 What's the biggest burger you could do for free? Extra lettuce, tomatoes, (grilled?) onion, pickels, bun?, sauce?, .. —JaimeRaba
2005-11-03 17:46:18 For vegetarians.. how about grilled tomatoes? (grilled pickels?) —JaimeRaba
Officially, the only items that are allowed to touch the grill are buns, meat, cheese, onions, and mustard
2006-02-18 16:28:59 Are the pickles frees? —SuBnorMal
2006-08-11 20:17:29 wow, I had no idea, this is amazing! learn something every day! —JoeRunnels
2006-08-11 22:04:11 If you eat protein style long enough (like me), you end up preferring hamburgers without lettuce as a matter of taste (not diet). —SS
2006-08-12 03:17:39 The 5x5 spread only I ordered yesterday tasted so good! (not very healthy at all) —JeffKwong
2007-08-17 15:48:53 I have always wondered if the 4x4 version of the Flying Dutchman would be called the double dutch. Anyone tried it? —CraigFergus
2007-11-12 19:08:53 how do you order "fries inside?" would you just say, "one hamburger, fries inside, animal style, no salt?" Also, is there an additional cost for "fries inside?" —ArianeMetz
2008-10-01 17:05:10 Everything Animal Style is the way to go. My old roommate and I would head out here for some late night grub rather frequently. We did it much more during finals. Anyway, we would each order two double-doubles and two orders of fries—all Animal Style. And we would have a glorious feast. I think it's good study food, too. I think In-N-Out is why my grades drastically improved. —CurlyGirl26
2009-01-07 16:35:25 i just ordered the "animal style" fries
look i love fries but this thing looks disgusting on the fries. You will need a fork. Its just not hot enough. My uncle ordered the animal style fries too. He took one bite and said ugh. He ordered the animal style double burger and liked it. Somebody tell these guys to heat up the fries. Has anyone ordered a one x bitch yet. —andrew1977
2009-03-13 20:59:50 My friend and I just a few days ago got a 12x12 in St. George, UT. It was actually 2 4x4's with 2 flying dutchmans because they wouldn't (and didn't know how to) make a 12x12. We of course got the animal style fries. —dbaer
2009-05-14 19:17:50 You left off:
Mustard Grilled Patty - patty spread w/ mustard, then cooked —ThelDavis
2009-05-14 19:22:49 I figured out this is a wiki! —ThelDavis
2009-05-15 08:37:10 I always ask for whole grilled onions. Of course they take a little longer and the cashier has to yell it out to the cook so they have enough time to get it down on the grill early, but they are tasty! —AmLin
That sounds great! What exactly are they? I'm picturing a thick slice of onion, not broken into rings, grilled. —jw
You are correct. It's a whole onion slice kept intact and grilled on both sides. It guarantees a good dose of grilled onion in every bite. —AmLin
2009-08-09 11:24:36 My favorite burger is any meat/cheese combo with all four kinds of onions (whole, whole grilled, chopped grilled, and chopped raw), with extra spread, extra lettuce, and chilies. You can also get whole chillies on the side if you like. —ARWENNHOLD
2009-11-13 16:47:23 I heard of a "Monkey Style." Apparently it is a myth cause the server just laughed at me. —SunjeetBaadkar
2010-02-25 12:32:19 You have been able to get a 10 x 10 for years. We used to have competitions to see who could finish one. —bexharris
- I am six feet tall and weigh 220 pounds and I feel sick just thinking about trying to finish a 10x10. —hankim
2010-04-22 17:35:09 i recommend the 4x4 with chopped chilies its the best if your hungry aand you want some heat —bocaj518
2011-01-04 16:51:12 The Healthiest Meal at In and Out - Chevy Style - Hamburger, Both Onions, Protein Style, No Salt. Fries Light Well, No Salt. Ice Tea w Lemon is perfect. Thats a perfect meal, cheap and low on calories. Going to fill you up for sure.... —ChevyKoul
2011-08-30 17:04:41 It's all about the mustard fried with whole grilled onion (incidentally, they call it mustard fried, not mustard grilled... if I remember right, it's MFR on the receipt). —TomGarberson
2012-02-05 23:47:24 Alas, In N' Out has failed me. :( They wouldn't put fries inside my cheeseburger! —TimJ
2012-02-06 17:43:15 Every time this page pops up on Recent Changes, I find myself compelled to go to In-N-Out. At least I know what's for dinner tonight... —TomGarberson
- I agree. Time for an In-N-Out trip. — Wes-P
2012-06-08 14:45:28 The "Davis County Wiki" In-N-Out Secret Menu page got a shout out from A Hamburger Today, one of the more prominent hamburger oriented blogs.
2012-11-07 12:21:27 Chopped chilies are now available for your Animal/Cheese Fries. Self-serve chilies are also available at some, if not all stores. Likely located by the ketchup pumps. —MikaShaw
2014-03-08 11:47:57 Why does it say "Davis County Wiki"? Isn't it for City of Davis? Has anyone had luck with the Fries inside the burger around here? If so, how did you order it? —PaulineTorres
- Yup. They were just a bit confused. I've noticed it confuses the general internet even more when you say Yolo county and then insist it is a real place. -jw
2014-11-13 13:04:52 I have a freakishly strange love of onions. So I went down to my local In-N-Out and created a career killing monstrosity I dub the "Vampire Slayer." What it is is a double double (I assume they could do a 3x3 or a 4x4 of this, I haven't tried yet) and asked them to put chopped fresh onions and chopped grilled onions on every layer of the burger. So it would go-
Bun, lettuce, tomato, spread Grilled and fresh onion First meat and cheese patty Grilled and fresh onion Second meat and cheese patty Grilled and fresh onion and finally top bun
I also asked for my patties mustard grilled as well. Not sure if every In-N-Out will do it, but mine sure did! —AmandaLin
* Maybe it's because I haven't had lunch yet, but that sounds like poetry.
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