Cookout Menu Best Items: 12 Orders Worth Getting

The best items on the Cookout menu are the char-grilled Cook Out Style burger, the BBQ sandwich, a Cheerwine float, a thick milkshake and a side of hushpuppies, and the cheapest way to get several of them is a tray. A Regular Tray is commonly $7.39 and includes one main, two sides and a drink. This page is about the Cook Out restaurant chain, not a backyard party menu.

Cook Out says its beef is fresh and char-grilled to order, and the board also has chicken, BBQ, hot dogs, wraps, sides and 40-plus shake flavors. Below are the 12 orders that keep coming up across ranking lists and customer reviews, with typical prices and calories from Cook Out's official nutrition figures.

What are the best items on the Cookout menu?

These 12 are ranked by how consistently they appear, not by one person's taste. The last column counts how many of four ranking lists name the item (Shopfood, Whimsy & Spice, Restaurant Clicks and a fan-run tray list). Reviews are most divided on the chicken strips, and the chicken section explains why.

Prices vary by location; these are the typical figures from our Cookout prices guide. Calories for every item are in the Cookout nutrition guide.

What is the best burger at Cook Out?

The Cook Out Style burger is the one to order first. It adds homemade chili, slaw, mustard and onions to a char-grilled patty, and it is the style the ranking lists describe first. A regular quarter-pound burger with the style is 451 calories and 25 grams of protein, at a typical $3.99.

Order it as a Big Double if you want more beef: two thinner patties, 311 calories before the style. The Cheddar and Out West styles are the other two that reviewers praise, and every style is broken down in our burger styles guide. Shopfood's April 2026 ranking put the char-grilled burger first, and the fan-run tray list uses the Big Double as its first-timer pick.

Is the Cook Out BBQ sandwich worth ordering?

Yes, and it is the best protein for the calories on the whole menu. The Regular BBQ Sandwich is 368 calories with 29 grams of protein, about 40 calories more than a plain quarter-pound burger, with 7 more grams of protein. Chopped pork goes on a soft bun with slaw, and lists describe it as Carolina style.

The sources disagree on the sauce. One calls it vinegar-based eastern North Carolina style and another describes slaw and Texas Pete, so ask for the slaw on top and judge it yourself. The BBQ Plate is 976 calories, a bigger sit-down-style meal with sides.

Which chicken should you order at Cook Out?

Char-grilled chicken breast is the safe choice, the spicy fillet is the crispy one, and the chicken strips are the polarizing one. All four ranking lists name the char-grilled breast, which comes in styles such as BBQ (376 calories) and Cajun (377). It has 25 grams of protein for the calories, which is why it appears on our high-protein orders page.

The Spicy Chicken Breast Fillet is 446 calories and three of four lists include it, usually with Cook Out sauce for dipping. Chicken strips (660 calories for three) are cooked to order, so expect a short wait. Some regulars swear by them, while other reviewers found them small, so treat strips as the item most likely to vary by store.

Are the hot dogs and quesadillas worth it?

Both are good value, and the Cook Out Style hot dog is the one to pick. It comes with chili, slaw, mustard and onions at 383 calories. A corn dog is 220 calories and $1.99, and it shows up again and again in tray orders from reviewers and Reddit posters.

Quesadillas are about $1.99, one of the cheapest hot items on the board. Shopfood warns they are an American take, not an authentic Mexican quesadilla, and one reviewer called the beef version a favorite. Their calories are not in Cook Out's nutrition PDF, so use the menu board figures in our hot dog guide and quesadilla guide cover every variation.

What are the best sides at Cook Out?

Hushpuppies, onion rings and Cajun fries are the sides reviewers name most. A tray lets you pick two, or double up on one. The numbers below are for a tray side where the nutrition PDF lists one.

See the full sides menu and fries guide for the rest.

Which milkshake and drink should you get?

Order a milkshake, and mix two flavors if you like. Cook Out lists 40-plus flavors at a typical $3.99, and swapping a tray drink for a regular shake costs $1.00 more ($1.60 for a fancy flavor). Shakes are thick enough that reviewers say you need a spoon, so let one soften before sipping.

Banana Pudding (781 calories) is the flavor two sources single out. Caramel (560) is described as smooth and less sweet, and Peanut Butter Fudge (765) is the classic for peanut butter fans. For a lighter treat, Fresh Banana is 538. All 44 are ranked in our milkshakes ranked by calories post.

Cheerwine, the cherry soda from Salisbury, North Carolina, is the other Cook Out signature. The Cheerwine Float is 401 calories at about $2.39, and Shopfood ranked it in its top 15. If you want the soda alone, a Large Cheerwine is 216 calories.

What is the best Cook Out tray for a first-timer?

Start with a Cook Out Style burger, hushpuppies and onion rings, and a Cheerwine to drink. A tray is the best value on the menu, and about 152,000 combinations are possible, according to a 2024 WRAL count. These three builds use the official calorie figures.

The middle build is close to the tray one Substack writer orders every time, with hushpuppies where they take a beef quesadilla. More builds with calories are in our tray combos guide, and you can total your own order in the calories calculator.

What should you skip or order with care?

Nothing on the menu is bad, but a few items vary more than the rest. Most complaints in review summaries are about the store, not the food, so the same order can land differently in different cities.

• Check the bag. Missing sides, onion rings in particular, are the most repeated complaint.
• Chicken strips can run small. Three strips do not fill everyone, so add nuggets or a wrap.
• Hushpuppies are best fresh. A few reviewers report burnt batches, so eat them first.
• Quesadillas are Americanized. Order one for the price, not for authenticity.
• Shakes are heavy. Most flavors run well past 550 calories, so size your sides around one.

How was this list put together?

I read four 2026 ranking lists and cross-checked them against customer reviews and a handful of local write-ups, then counted how often each item recurs. Calories come from Cook Out's official nutrition PDF, with the menu board used only where the PDF has no entry, and each case is marked. Prices are typical, not guaranteed.

Two sources could not be checked directly. Google's search results were blocked by a bot check, so I used DuckDuckGo's results for the same keyword. Reddit threads were also unavailable, so no Reddit counts are included, and the Reddit orders mentioned come from secondhand summaries. This page will be updated when I can read them directly. Last updated October 12, 2026.

Where should you start with the Cookout menu best items?

Start with the Cook Out Style burger and a shake, then add the BBQ sandwich and hushpuppies on your next trip. Every item here has full prices on the prices page, and the tray menu shows what fits on a tray. If you want something off the standard board, see what is on the secret menu.

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