Animal Style Burger Fries (Copycat In-N-Out)

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 animal style fries with meat recipe 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. 

Why You’ll Be Obsessed with These Fries Too

• Tastes like In-N-Out, but without the long lines. When you’ve got a food craving, there’s nothing more annoying than having to wait in a long, long line before getting your food. Then, when you finally do get it, it’s wrong or doesn’t have enough sauce or is super soggy. This recipe includes no long lines or soggy fries, and you can add as much sauce as you want.
• Easy to customize. Don’t eat meat? Skip the burgers! Want it even spicier? Add more pepperoncini peppers or switch them out for jalapeños for a hotter heat.
• Super shareable for parties or game days. While you don’t have to share these, they are a really fun party snack. Make a batch and set out a tray at your next potluck, New Year’s Eve party, or share some of these fries at your big game day gathering.
• Easy to make at home. We love when we can make classic restaurant or fast food items in the comfort of our own homes. Making this at home also means you can control what you put in this meal, like organic beef, your favorite frozen french fries or even scratch-made, and homemade sauce. It takes some of the mystery out of fast food, which is usually a good thing.

What Are the Ingredients in Animal Style Fries with Meat?

• Frozen fries – use your favorite frozen French fries and season them with a little olive oil (to help them crisp), and seasoning salt. We don’t recommend using curly fries, waffle fries, steak cut fries, or wedge fries.  
• Caramelized onions – sweet or yellow onions cooked in butter, a little water to deglaze the pan and help the caramelize faster, and salt.
• Burger patties – while not a traditional topping on In-N-Out animal fries, you can order an animal style burger from there. So we think cooked beef burger patties make an excellent topping for our recipe copycat version of these fries. If you don’t eat beef, feel free to substitute your preferred choice of patty or skip entirely.
• 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.
• Animal style sauce (aka special sauce) – good quality mayonnaise (Best Foods/Hellmann’s or Duke’s), ketchup for sweetness and tomato flavor, yellow mustard for tang, and both dill and sweet relish for mild acidity and balanced sweetness. 
• 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 Fries At Home

Bake up the fries and caramelize the onions. Preheat the oven according to package directions for fries (we cook ours at 425°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper for easier cleanup. Bake the fries for 25 to 30 minutes or according to package directions, then season with seasoning salt.

While the fries are baking, heat butter in a frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for a few minutes, then add some water and cook a few more minutes until the water evaporates and onions turn golden. Repeat adding water/cooking until the onions are soft and caramel in color, about 20-25 minutes total. Season with salt at the end.

Cook the burger patties. While the onions finish up, cook the burger patties on stove or grill until desired doneness (about 4 to 5 minutes per side or 8 to 10 minutes total). Cut the patties into bite-sized pieces. Once done, cut them into bite-sized pieces.

Make the special sauce and finish the fries. Mix the animal style sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Top the cooked fries with burger pieces, then lay the American cheese on top of the fries. Bake the topped for 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Top the fries with the caramelized onions (note: if the onions are looking too clumpy, you can mix them with an extra splash of water at this time). Spoon some special sauce on top of the fries and top with pepperoncini, if using.

Serving and Storage Suggestions

Who are we kidding? You probably won’t have leftovers if you set these out at a party. But if you’re eating them yourself or with your partner, sibling, or roommate, it’s possible you’ll need to put away some leftovers. We recommend storing any non-eaten animal fries in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a couple of days. Reheat the leftovers in the oven at 350°F for a about 10 minutes or until they’re warm. 

Serve these animal style fries with meat at your next party or whenever you get the craving for loaded fries. 

Final Thoughts

We always loved In-N-Out animal fries, but think these homemade animal fries with meat are even better! They’re also a huge hit at parties and game day gatherings, so we highly recommend making a batch for your next shindig or whenever you get a craving for loaded fries. If you make these, we’d be thrilled if you’d leave a comment below and let us know how they turned out. You can also share a picture of your animal fries you make with this recipe and tag us in the post or story on Instagram!

If You Like This Recipe, We Think You’ll Love

• Our Homemade Ranch Snack Mix, made with our own ranch seasoning blend, Cheez-It crackers, Chex cereal, pretzels, and oyster crackers.
• Can’t decide between guacamole or chicken salad for a snack? Why not both? Our Guacamole Chicken Salad is a delicious and super fun blend of both foods.
• These Sweet and Spicy Nuts and Pretzels, which are crunchy, savory, a little sweet, and a touch spicy. A wonderfully snackable mix!
• For a fun sweet snack, whip up a batch of our Gingerbread Muddy Buddies. They’re a little spicy from the fresh ginger and earthy from molasses. Plus, they have cute little Teddy Grahams in them too!