Copycat In-n-Out Sauce (Easy Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

What is the In-N-Out sauce made of? ›

Spread 'em: Mastering the Special Sauce

I never understood why In-N-Out refers to their sauce as "Spread." Maybe they're just a little too cool for school. In any case, all it is is a basic Thousand Island-style dressing: a mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise, and sweet pickle relish.

Because of similarities in color and taste, many people assume that In-N-Out's burger sauce is simply Thousand Island dressing, i.e. a blend of mayonnaise and ketchup. However, Thousand Island has a thicker consistency and is slightly spicier than In-N-Out sauce.

A closer look at the ingredient list shows one significant difference between the two: while McDonald's, like In-N-Out, includes sweet pickle relish and mayonnaise in their secret sauce, McDonald's doesn't include ketchup or any tomato products at all.

The Burgers

This infamous mod takes the classic burger to the next level. The patty is mustard-grilled and topped with chopped caramelized onions and a smear of their famous “spread,” which is basically an awesome Thousand Island sauce.

Our commitment to quality starts with our hamburgers. And our burgers begin with our patties. Each patty is made using only fresh, individually inspected, whole chucks from premium cattle selected especially for In-N-Out Burger. Our team of Associates removes the bones, grinds the meat and then makes each patty.

Thousand Island Ingredients: It's mixture of mayonnaise, sour cream, ketchup, sweet pickle relish, red onion vinegar, sugar, garlic, and salt and pepper. All ingredients are combined by hand to make a perfect, thick, and creamy dressing, dip, or sauce.

McDonald's initially kept the ingredients of the Big Mac's secret sauce vague, but they've since revealed the contents to be mayonnaise, relish, vinegar, spices, and sweeteners—which is basically a riff on Thousand Island without the tomato.

How have we never heard about this stuff?! Fry sauce fans will be quick to tell you that while it may look similar, fry sauce is NOT the same as Thousand Island dressing. Fry sauce is “slightly sweet, totally creamy, with just a hint of tang from the vinegar,” according to food blog Buns in My Oven.

Roadkill Fries

Roadkill Fries are perfect for anyone who wants both a burger and fries but knows they don't have quite enough room for both. When you order roadkill fries from the secret menu for In-N-Out, you're ordering a Flying Dutchman on top of Animal-Style fries.

Best: Protein Style Cheeseburger

This core menu item is the regular cheeseburger (1 all-beef patty and 1 slice American Cheese) wrapped in lettuce rather than on a bun. This option makes our best bet due to its modest calories, and better saturated fat and sodium counts compared to other burger choices on the menu.

Does In-N-Out have a signature sauce? ›

This chain has plenty of well-known items on its menu, and the special In-N-Out sauce makes their signature burgers just that much better. It's often mistaken (by the naked eye) for Thousand Island dressing, but this spread has its own distinct flavor.

Haracz continued, saying fans of the popular fast food chain's sauce who are looking for something that's both “store-bought” and “already purchased” should try Walmart's Great Value Secret Sauce. The sauce, Haracz said, is “closest” to the Big Mac sauce that is “served in the restaurant.”

"The [sauce] that best replicated Big Mac sauce from McDonald's that you should go buy if you want it is Great Value's 'Secret Sauce,'" he told his burger followers. "Look at the ingredients statement, it's almost identical."

According to McDonald's, you'll have to order exclusively through the restaurant's app to get your hands on the sauce, which comes in blue and white packaging inspired by an early Big Mac wrapper.

Cheeseburger 100% beef patty, lettuce, tomato, spread, 1 slice of American cheese, with or without onions, bun. 2 100% beef patties, lettuce, tomato, spread, 2 slices of American cheese, with or without onions, bun. French Fries Prepared fresh in 100% sunflower oil using only fresh potatoes.

It's sweet, salty, a little zesty and the perfect condiment for any burger.

The yellow chile peppers carried by IN-IN-OUT burger are in fact cascabella peppers. Cascabella peppers are cone shaped and produce a chile pepper that is approximately 1 ¾” long by ¾” wide. Cascabellas turn from yellow, to orange, to red when mature. The plant has green stems, green leaves and white flowers.

Meat. For most of its history, In-N-Out has produced its own meat in company-owned facilities. The chain has a policy of using only fresh meat, and all of its stores are supplied by its California manufacturing operations located in Baldwin Park.