Big Hardee
Hardee’s take on the double-decker special-sauce burger. Two charbroiled patties with cheese, lettuce, pickles, onions and a tangy sauce on a sesame bun. The charbroiling gives it smoke that the big chains’ versions lack, which is the whole point of ordering this instead.
The story
The Big Hardee was built to pick a fight. Hardee’s rolled it out chainwide in the autumn of 1995 as a direct rival to the Big Mac and the Whopper, and its first commercial put it next to a Big Mac to a jingle promising “more meat, more cheese, less money”. It faded from the menu and came back in September 2009 at $2.29, about 70 cents less than an average Big Mac, as the chain’s response to McDonald’s moving into Angus beef. It has stayed in the line-up since.
What’s inside
Make it at home
There is no copycat of the Big Hardee yet. Until there is, these recipes on the site come closest to it, judged by what goes into the bun.
- Shares beef, a special sauce and cheese
McDonald's Big Mac (Copycat) - Shares beef, cheese and a double stack
Whopper (Copycat) - Shares beef, cheese and a double stack
Big Beef Blopper - Shares beef, cheese and a double stack
The Mr. Smiley Burger
Similar burgers at other chains
Built around the same things as the Big Hardee.- McDonald's · beef, a special sauce, cheese and a double stack
SignatureBig Mac - Vkusno i Tochka · beef, a special sauce, cheese and a double stack
SignatureBig Hit - Big Smoke Burger · beef, a special sauce, cheese and a double stack
The Double Smoke Stack - Hungry Jack's · beef, a special sauce, cheese and a double stack
SignatureBig Jack
More from Hardee's
About Hardee's
Wilber Hardee opened his first restaurant in Greenville, North Carolina, in 1960, and Hardee’s became a Southern institution largely thanks to something it started making in 1977: biscuits made from scratch every morning. In 1997 it was bought by the company behind Carl’s Jr., so the two chains share a star logo and several burgers, but Hardee’s has kept its own, more family-friendly personality.
Across the American Southeast and Midwest, plus hundreds of restaurants in the Middle East and Asia.
Not affiliated with Hardee's. Trademarks belong to their owners.