When the predecessor of international fast food restaurant chain Burger King (BK) first opened in 1953, its menu predominantly consisted of hamburgers, French fries, soft drinks, milkshakes and desserts. After being acquired by its Miami, Florida franchisees and renamed in 1954, Burger King began expanding its menu by adding the Whopper. The company did not add another permanent hamburger to its menu until the introduction of the Big King sandwich in 1996 in response to McDonald's Big Mac sandwich. The company began experimenting with premium hamburgers, made from higher quality ingredients, in 1978 with the introduction of its Specialty Sandwich product line. The products were some of the first designed by a fast food restaurant chain that were intended to capture the adult market, members of which would be willing to spend more on a higher-quality product. However, it was not until 2002 that the company began working on a premium burger in earnest. On the value side, Burger King first started offering sliders to its menu in the mid-1980s and offered them off and on for the next 20 years.

The company's first major chicken product, its Original Chicken Sandwich, was also part of the company's 1978 Specialty Sandwich line. Burger King's Chicken Tenders made their debut in a menu revision and expansion in 1985 to address the absence of a chicken fingers product akin to McDonald's Chicken McNuggets. The company began offering the first, nationally available grilled chicken sandwich product when it added the BK Broiler in the early 1990s. That sandwich would go on to be reformulated and renamed several times before settling on the current Grilled sandwich. The chain added a second chicken finger product with the introduction of its BK Chicken Fries product in the mid-2000s. Burger King's Chicken Fries would also be removed and re-added to its menu in response to ownership changes and customer demand.

The company introduced the first iteration of its breakfast menu was another addition that came in with the company's in a 1978 menu expansion. Initially a clone of McDonald's breakfast line, the company began to differentiate itself with the introduction of the Croissan'wich breakfast sandwich in 1982.

Burgers

Cheeseburgers Cheeseburgers have been offered at Burger King since the company's launch in 1953. The Double Cheeseburger was introduced in 1976 and the Bacon Double Cheeseburger was introduced in 1982.

The Bacon Cheeseburger was included as an option when Burger King introduced its first value menu in 1998.

Whopper

The Whopper sandwich is a hamburger sold by Burger King and its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's. Introduced in 1957, it has undergone several reformulations including resizing and bread changes. The name is used in the Home of the Whopper advertising as well as the name of the BK Whopper Bar. The Whopper has prompted Burger King's competitors, mainly McDonald's with at least six different products and Wendy's with its Big Classic, to develop similar products designed to compete with it.

The company markets several variants of the burger, such as the Whopper Jr., as well as variants based on regional tastes or customs, such as the teriyaki Whopper in Japan or the LTO Canadian Whopper. With the company's expansion into India, the chain introduced two new variants on the Whopper while reintroducing the chicken version of the sandwich. To accommodate practitioners of Islam and Hinduism, who make up the majority of the Indian population, the chain has eliminated beef and pork from its menu. In their place, a combination of chicken, vegetarian patties and mutton are used in place of beef.

To promote continuing interest in the product, Burger King occasionally releases limited-time offerings ("LTO") on the Whopper such as the "Windows 7 Whopper" in Japan as a product tie-in with Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system. The hamburger contained seven stacked beef patties and measured high, weighed almost , and had more than . It was originally planned to be available for only seven days starting on 22 October 2009. Due to its success in selling 6,000 sandwiches within the first four days, Burger King decided to extend the promotion period an extra nine days, ending on 6 November.

As the signature product of the company, it is often at the center of advertising promotions, product tie-ins, and even corporate practical jokes and hoaxes such as its 1998 April Fool's Day prank where Burger King took out a full page advertisement in several national publications, such as USA Today, promoting a new version of the sandwich called the "Left-Handed Whopper". The advertisement claimed that the condiments were all rotated 180° to accommodate southpaws. Some of the early twenty-first century advertising programs, particularly in Europe, have drawn criticism for cultural insensitivity or misogyny. One such example was The Texican Whopper, an LTO version of the Whopper sold in Europe and was advertised with an ad that featured a pair of actors dressed as a cowboy and a lucha libre wrestler. The problem arose when the Mexican Ambassador to Spain complained that the commercial featured demeaning stereotypes of Mexicans. Additionally, the print version of the advertisement featured the wrestler wearing a cape that appeared to be a Mexican flag, a violation of Mexican laws governing the usage of its national banner.

Big King

The Big King sandwich is one of Burger King's major hamburger products and has been part of its menu for more than twenty years. During its testing phase in 1996–1997, it was originally called the Double Supreme and was configured similarly to the McDonald's Big Macincluding a three piece roll. It was later reformulated as a more standard double burger during the latter part of product testing in 1997. It was given its current name when the product was formally introduced in September 1997, but maintained the more conventional double cheeseburger format. Its introduction capped a period of sales success for Burger King, where the company successfully took on its rival McDonald's. The product was renamed King Supreme in 2001 when it was slightly reformulated as part of a menu restructuring during a period of corporate decline for the company in which its corporate parent, Diageo, was trying to sell the company. When a TPG Capital-led team of investors took over the company in 2002, the new management team again restructured the menu, eliminating the King Supreme in favor of its new BK Stacker line of sandwiches. The sandwiches were part of a line of controversial sandwiches high in fat and calories which several groups protested. A limited time offering (LTO) sandwich line known as BK Toppers accompanied the Stacker line briefly in 2012, including one sandwich known as the Deluxe topper a virtual clone of the Big King in its formulation. The Stacker and Topper lines were discontinued in the United States shortly after, and the Big King returned to said market in November 2013 as a permanent product after the company was again sold, this time to 3G Capital of Brazil.

Despite being off the menu in the United States for several years, the product continued to be sold internationally under several names. The BK XXL line was sold in European markets and was the center of controversy over product health standards and advertising in Spain when first introduced. There is also a chicken variant of the sandwich in the United States and Canada.

Premium burgers

As far back as the 1970s, Burger King has attempted to introduce a premium line of burgers. These sandwiches are part of a system which eventually became known as the barbell strategy; a plan designed to expand Burger King's menu with both more sophisticated, adult-oriented fare along with products that are more value-oriented. This program is intended to bring in a larger, more affluent adult audience who will be willing to spend more on the better quality products on one side while maintaining a lower cost value menu dedicated to a more cost-conscious audience on the other. The hope is that the customers would be drawn in initially for the lower prices of the value-menu and upgrade to the more expensive products, upping overall sales.

The chain's first major attempt was part of their Specialty Sandwich line that was introduced in 1979 was the Sirloin Steak Sandwich. After the failure of the Specialty Sandwich line, Burger King went on to introduce several other premium burgers made from a variety of meats. One major example introduced in 2002 was the BK Back Porch Griller sandwich line. The sandwich, introduced in May 2002 was a pronounced failure, and pulled in September of that year. The next product Burger King introduced was its Angus Steakburger which it began selling in 2004; it too had lack-luster sales due in part to the patty being par cooked. The sandwich was later reformulated as the Steakhouse Burger which used a thinner, flatter, fresh cooked patty. The Steakhouse Burger sandwich was eventually replaced with the Steakhouse XT/Angus XT burger, which used a new, thicker round patty among several other changes. This newer sandwich was made possible with the introduction of the company's new broiler systems which allowed varying cooking times and temperatures which in turn gave the company the ability to utilize fresh cooked, thicker patties in its sandwiches. Only variations of the sandwich that explicitly state "Angus" in the title are manufactured from meat from Angus cattle. In 2011, the company discontinued selling the product in the North American market, replacing it with the Chef's Choice burger. The Chef's Choice Burger was removed in 2012. 2014 saw the introduction of the newest attempt at introducing a premium burger to the company's portfolio with the introduction of the A.1. Ultimate Cheeseburger in North America.

Internationally, the chain has introduced several lines of premium sandwiches. In New Zealand, the chain first introduced the BK Crown Jewels line which was based upon the Whopper, TenderGrill, and TenderCrisp sandwiches. The line was eventually replaced with the BK King's Collection menu of Angus-based sandwiches. It also sold Angus-burgers in Australia, Great Britain and Ireland. In East Asia, the chains sells the Angus XT sandwich which is a variant of the Steakhouse XT. In Great Britain, the chain has also introduced a burger based on lamb and another based on Wagyu beef, while back in the United States it sold a turkey burger sandwich – all of which were limited time offerings (LTOs).

Sliders

Burger King has sold a variety of sliders, or mini-sandwiches, since the 1980s. Burger Bundles was the first iteration, a set of three small hamburgers or cheeseburgers. These sandwiches were eventually replaced with a reformulated product called Burger Buddies that was sold in pairs. After a change in management in 2004, Burger Buddies were re-released as BK Burger Shots. The company has also sold several chicken and breakfast sandwich versions of these products.

BK Stackers

The BK Stacker sandwiches are a discontinued family of hamburgers featuring the same toppings that targets the late-teen–to–young-adult and male-oriented demographic groups. It is a cheeseburger consisting of anywhere from one to four grilled beef patties, American cheese, bacon and Stacker sauce served on a sesame seed bun.

History The BK Stacker was first introduced in the summer of 2006. The chain garnered media attention due to the size of the sandwiches, particularly the Quad, and the large amount of calories and fat that the sandwich had (see the Enormous Omelet Sandwich breakfast sandwich.) In a November 2006 menu revision, the Double BK Stacker became a numbered Value meal item in North America, with the number varying by market area.