Animal Style Burger Fries (Copycat In-N-Out)
French fries loaded with beef, cheese, caramelized onions, special sauce, and peppers make these copycat In-N-Out Animal Style Burger Fries a hit!
These loaded fries are a supremely delicious, homemade party snack. They’re easy to make and taste even better than the fast food version!
A not-so-secret secret: animal style fries from In-N-Out are one of the best fast food options out there. Unfortunately, not everyone lives near an In-N-Out location, and even if you do, the lines are always way too long. Our version of this snack uses frozen fries for convenience, American cheese for classic fast food vibes, and a homemade special sauce. We’ve added cooked burger patties for a meaty twist and chopped pepperoncini peppers for slight heat. The result is a comforting indulgence for when you’re craving something super tasty and over-the-top.
(Raises fry) So here’s to skipping the long drive-thru lines and making your own animal style burger fries at home!
What Are Animal Style Fries?
Animal style fries are part of In-N-Out Burger’s not-so-secret menu. They consist of fries topped with American cheese, In-N-Out “spread” (their special sauce), and diced caramelized onions.
Our version adds cut up burger patties and pepperoncini for added texture, protein, and flavor.
Did you know you can also add pepperoncini to your In-N-Out orders? Just say “add chilies.” Or just make our version of these fries. They’re soooo good!
The Special Sauce
We love making sauces and condiments for our dishes, and this copycat In-N-Out spread is something we’ve been topping our burgers with for years. We make ours a little differently than the original version, and we like to think that it’s even better than what the burger joint uses. But, you be the judge!
Here are the ingredients for our Special Sauce:
- Mayonnaise – this sauce, like many of our others, starts with good quality mayo. We prefer Duke’s or Best Foods/Hellmann’s.
- Ketchup – ketchup provides a nice mild tomato flavor and sweetness to the sauce.
- Yellow mustard – yellow mustard gives this special sauce a hint of tang. Many variations of the In-N-Out spread use white vinegar instead, but we prefer the flavor of mustard here.
- Dill relish – dill relish gives the spread some texture and another layer of sourness to balance out the sweet ketchup notes.
- Sweet relish – we like to add sweet relish too for balance.
Ingredients in the Animal Style Burger Fries
These fries have a few basic ingredients: a base layer of seasoned fries, then the cooked and cut up burger patties, then a layer of cheese, a layer of caramelized onions, and finally a topping of special sauce and pepperoncini.
Here is everything you need to make them:
Fries
- Frozen fries – use your favorite frozen French fry brand here. We just don’t recommend super thick cut fries or wedges for this recipe.
- Olive oil – the olive oil helps the fries crisp up a little more in the oven.
- Seasoning salt – we like to season our fries with seasoning salt, but regular salt would also work.
Caramelized Onions
- Onions – we like using sweet onions here because they caramelize up so nicely and get a little sweet. Yellow onions would also work.
- Butter + olive oil – using a mixture of butter and oil gives the onions the flavor of butter and the higher smoke point of oil so that they don’t burn as easily.
- Water – water is the key to quickly and evenly caramelizing onions. It is used to deglaze the pan when cooking the onions at a higher heat, helping them caramelize and soften faster.
- Salt – we like to salt onions at the end when caramelizing.
Additional Toppings for the Animal Style Burger Fries
- Burger patties – these aren’t a traditional topping on In-N-Out animal fries. However, you can also get animal style burgers from the popular fast food chain, so we think cooked burger patties make an excellent topping for our version of these fries. If you don’t eat beef, feel free to substitute your preferred choice of patty.
- American cheese – if you want these fries to taste as close to the original as possible, you have to use American cheese. Cheddar cheese would also taste good, however.
- Special Sauce – see the section above for more information.
- Sliced pepperoncini – we like the subtle heat and brine that these peppers provide, but you can leave them out if you don’t like spicy food.
How to Make Animal Style Burger Fries
To make these loaded fries, it’s helpful to think about this recipe in different parts and focus on each part individually. Once you do that, you can assemble everything together.
Top the seasoned fries with chopped burgers. Top with American cheese slices. Bake until the cheese melts. Finish with special sauce. Optional: add pepperoncini peppers.
Fries
Preheat the oven according to the package directions. For reference, we bake our frozen fries at 425°F.
Toss the frozen fries with olive oil and seasoning salt. Bake them according to the package instructions.
Caramelized Onions
While the fries are baking, make the onions. To caramelize the onions, first heat butter and oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions to the hot pan.
Cook the onions for 2 minutes, then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water. Cook them for 6 to 8 more minutes until the water evaporates and the onions turn golden in color. Add 2 to 3 more tablespoons of water, cook until the water evaporates, and repeat these steps until the onions are soft and caramel in color, about 20 to 25 minutes in total. Season the onions with salt.
Secret Sauce
To make the sauce, add all of the ingredients to a bowl and mix them together until fully combined.
Burger Patties
Cook the burger patties on the stove or a grill until they reach your desired doneness. They will also be cooked more in the oven once the fries are assembled, so you could cook them slightly less at this stage so that they don’t overcook in the oven.
Once they are cooked, cut them up into bite-sized pieces.
Assembling the Fries
To assemble these Animal Style Burger fries, distribute the burger pieces on top of the baked fries that are still on the baking sheet. Top the burger pieces and fries with evenly arranged slices of American cheese.
Bake the fries for 3 to 5 minutes or until the burgers are cooked through and the cheese has melted. Remove the fries from the oven and top them with the caramelized onions, special sauce, and pepperoncini, if using.
Animal Style Burger Fries (Copycat In-N-Out)
Ingredients
Fries
- 1 bag frozen fries, (24 oz)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp seasoning salt, like Lawry’s or other
Caramelized Onions
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¾ cup water, divided
- Salt to taste
Special Sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp dill relish
- ½ tbsp sweet relish
Additional Toppings
- 2 burger patties, beef, turkey, plant-based, etc.
- 6 slices American cheese
- ¼ cup Sliced pepperoncini, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven according to package directions for fries (we cook ours at 425°F).
- Heat butter and oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 2 minutes, then add 2-3 tbsp water. Cook for 6-8 minutes until water evaporates & onions turn golden, and repeat adding water/cooking until onions are soft and caramel in color, about 20-25 minutes total. Season with salt at end.1 sweet onion, 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp olive oil, ¾ cup water, Salt to taste
- While onions are cooking, toss frozen fries with olive oil and seasoned salt. Bake for 20 minutes or according to package directions.1 bag frozen fries, 1 tbsp olive oil, ½ tsp seasoning salt
- Cook burger patties on stove or grill until desired doneness. Cut into pieces.2 burger patties
- Mix the sauce ingredients together in a bowl.½ cup mayonnaise, ¼ cup ketchup, 2 tbsp yellow mustard, 1 tbsp dill relish, ½ tbsp sweet relish
- Top cooked fries with burger pieces and American cheese.6 slices American cheese
- Bake for 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melty.
- Add caramelized onions, special sauce, and pepperoncini, if using.¼ cup Sliced pepperoncini
