Bottom Line: The Jalitos Ranch Hungr-Buster is a filling burger that will satisfy your appetite and need for heat.
So I swung through my local Dairy Queen last week looking to try this new Flame-Thrower Signature Stacker they have been advertising, but I didn’t see it on the drive thru menu. Knowing that many DQ’s are franchised and don’t always have the same menu items as other stores at the same time, I figured the new burgers were not available here yet. And my eye was drawn to the Jalitos Ranch Hungr-Buster, which has been on the menu before but tends to come and go. So I placed my order for that and pulled up to pay and saw the poster on the window touting the signature burgers. Oh well, I’ll leave that for a future review
For the most part, the Jalitos Ranch Hungr-Buster is a pretty simple burger. It has a quarter-pound beef patty (I got the single, but the double “Belt-Buster” is also available), American cheese, fried jalapeno strips, lettuce, Ranch dressing and that’s it. It is a thin burger patty, but cooked up perfectly with plenty of beefy taste and a nice saltiness to it. A classic greasy spoon burger. The cheese adds a nice creaminess and the lettuce adds some texture and a bit of a crunch. The Ranch does not stand out too much, but brings a little more creaminess to the table.
The jalitos (that’s pronounced hah-leetos, hombre) are fried strips of fresh jalapenos and they bring a nice crunch to the burger. There isn’t as much jalapeno taste as you might expect (I was looking for some roast pepper flavor), but these do add some heat to the burger (and when I took one off and tried it, I detected more flavor, so apparently they just got lost in the mix). Mine was approaching Medium heat, and the burn lingered a bit. If you want to kick things up, ask for extra jalitos (they might charge you for that, though) or pickled jalapenos if they have them available (they will charge you for that). That Ranch sauce counters the heat to an extent, so another way to amp up the heat is to substitute mustard (which belongs on hamburgers anyway and will cut the calories, though you will have to call it a Jalitos Mustard Hungr-Buster).
This is definitely a filling burger and it’s going to set you back some calories as well. It tops out at 961 cals with a whopping 503 of those coming from fat (and 1526 mg of sodium!). And if you get the double-patty version? Plan on wearing your fat pants the rest of the week because it will bust that belt as promised! This is not something that your waistline (or your doctor) will appreciate you eating on a regular basis, but if you are craving a good burger with some heat, you can stop into DQ from time to time for this spicy and tasty offering. And at just under ten bucks for a combo, it’s about in line with other fast food joints these days.
As I said above, I don’t know that this counts as a regular menu item, and it may depend on your local Dairy Queen. But feel free to mosey on down and give it a shot in case it is currently around on one of those limited-time-only deals. And if they don’t have it, I’m betting that Flame-Thrower Signature Burger is a good alternative and I will be reporting on that one soon. (When I went back, they still didn’t have the Flame-Thrower version, so I will have to wait longer on that.)
Tale of the Tape:
Calories: 961
Fat: 56g (21g Sat/2g Trans)
Protein: 39g
Carbs: 76g
Sodium: 1526mg