Cook Out Menu with Prices and Calories

The Cook Out menu runs on a single idea: a char-grilled main, two sides and a drink at one set price. Burgers, chicken, chopped pork barbecue, hot dogs, quesadillas and wraps all sell as free-standing items too, most under five dollars. Forty-two flavors of milkshake and a short dessert case round out the counter. Sweet tea, Cheerwine and a full fountain fill out the drink station.

Cook Out built its menu around char-grilling instead of fryers wherever possible. The habit traces back to its earliest Greensboro location. Its famous Cook Out Tray lets a customer pick one main and two sides for a flat price.

That combination feeds the chain’s reputation as one of the cheapest full meals in fast food. Sides alone stretch from crinkle-cut fries to hushpuppies and onion rings. The drink station adds sweet tea and Cheerwine to the usual fountain lineup.

At a glance

Cook Out Menu Prices and Calories

Cook Out groups its full menu into twelve categories below, from the signature Tray to char-grilled burgers, chopped pork barbecue and the milkshake wall. Every row lists the item’s price, and nearly all also carry a calorie count. The Cook Out Tray leads the board because it pairs one main with two sides and a drink for a single price. Its calorie count varies with whatever main and sides go inside it.

Cook Out Trays

The Cook Out Tray is the fastest way to order off the Cook Out menu. A customer picks one main, such as a burger, chicken sandwich or chopped pork barbecue, and the tray adds two sides plus a drink. The full-size tray runs $7.99, and the BBQ Sandwich Tray matches it. A smaller Jr. Tray serves the same idea with a lighter main for $6.99.

Homemade Char-Grilled Hamburgers

Homemade char-grilled hamburgers anchor the Cook Out menu, each patty grilled to order rather than fried. Four sizes run from the Small Burger (245 calories) to the Huge Burger (516 calories). Four style add-ons list the calories and price each brings to a patty. Cheeseburger (No Bun) and Hamburger Patty (No Bun) drop the bun, and full wheat and dairy declarations sit on a separate page.

Char-Grilled Chicken

Char-grilled chicken splits into a plain grilled breast and several breaded, spicy builds finished on the same grill. Grilled Chicken Breast carries 377 calories, while the Chicken Strip Club stacks strips, bacon and cheese for $3.99 at 846 calories. Five finishes from Original to Cheddar Style show what each topping brings to a chicken sandwich. Grilled Chicken Sandwich (No Bun) gives the same grilled cut without the bun.

Chopped Pork BBQ

Chopped pork BBQ comes chopped and sauced rather than pulled into long strands, served as a sandwich or a plate. The style traces back to eastern North Carolina barbecue traditions, where a whole hog gets smoked and pulled apart by hand. The BBQ Sandwich runs $4.99 at 368 calories, and the BBQ Plate adds fries and hushpuppies for a dollar more at 976 calories. Both use the same chopped pork as their base on the Cook Out menu.

Char-Grilled Hot Dogs

Char-grilled hot dogs come in nine builds, from a plain dog to a bacon cheddar version loaded at the counter. Cheese Dog and Mustard Relish Hot Dog price at $0.99 apiece, the lowest single prices among the hot dogs. Bacon Cheddar Dog carries the most calories of the nine at 523. Slaw Dog sells at select stores only.

Sandwiches

Cook Out keeps its non-burger sandwich section to a single item, the BLT. Bacon, lettuce and tomato stack on toasted bread for $1.99. It carries 392 calories, close to the BBQ Sandwich at 368. Cook Out has kept the sandwich largely unchanged since it first appeared on the board.

Quesadillas

Quesadillas fold a grilled tortilla around melted cheese, with chicken or beef as the filled versions. Cheese Quesadilla carries 355 calories, Chicken Quesadilla 449 and Beef Quesadilla 514, and all three price at $2.39 on the Cook Out menu. Cheddar Style Quesadilla stays on the board at $1.99. Every quesadilla grills on the same char-grill used for the burgers and chicken.

Wraps

Wraps come in six flavors, five of them folded around crispy chicken and a sauce or seasoning. Cajun Wrap sits at the lower end of the chicken group at 501 calories, while Ranch Wrap tops it at 522. Bacon Ranch Wrap stays lightest of all at 419. Prices run from $0.99 to $2.19 across the six on the Cook Out menu.

Sides

Sides round out any Cook Out Tray or stand alone as an add-on to a sandwich order on the Cook Out menu. French Fries (347 calories) come in Regular and Large, with Cheese Fries and Chili Cheese Fries as loaded versions. White Cheddar Cheese Bites carries the highest set price of the group at $3.99. Hushpuppies, Onion Rings and Okra fill out the fried half of the lineup.

Fancy Milkshakes

Fancy Milkshakes make up the largest single section on the Cook Out menu. Forty-two flavors blend to order, and every one prices within the same range of $2.79 to $3.99. Cherry Cheesecake Milkshake sits at the top of the calorie range at 925, while Fresh Banana Milkshake stays closest to the bottom at 538. A handful of off-menu shake combinations blend two listed flavors into one cup at the same counter price.

Floats & Desserts

Floats & Desserts closes out the sweet side of the Cook Out menu with three options. A Coke Float (399 calories) or Cheerwine Float (401 calories) runs $1.79 at the fountain instead of the blender. Cheesecake is the only baked item in the section, a chilled slice of 360 calories at $1.99. It sits in the case near the register.

Drinks

Drinks round out the counter with sweet tea, soda and bottled water rather than a full espresso program. Fresh Brewed Tea and Dasani Bottled Water both carry zero calories, and every fountain drink lists calories from Small (12 oz) to Huge (32 oz). Cheerwine is the Carolina cherry soda, ranging from 108 to 288 calories across those sizes. Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper, Sprite and the Hi-C flavors fill out the fountain side.

Cook Out Hours

Cook Out keeps some of the latest hours in fast food, with most locations opening around 10:30 in the morning and running well past midnight. Friday and Saturday nights commonly push service to 3:00 in the morning, a schedule built around late-night and post-shift customers. Weeknights typically wind down earlier, closer to 1:00 or 2:00 a.m., though the exact cutoff shifts by franchise owner and location.

Drive-thru lines often outlast the walk-up counter itself once the overnight window begins. Individual locations post their own hours on the door, since a franchise owner can run later or earlier than the citywide pattern.

Cook Out Locations

Cook Out’s map runs down the Atlantic seaboard and into the mid-South rather than coast to coast. North Carolina and South Carolina carry the largest share of the chain by far, reflecting its Greensboro roots. Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia each hold more than 40 restaurants apiece, and the map thins out toward Kentucky and Mississippi at the smaller end. The chain has not expanded outside its home region in the Southeast and mid-South.

What to Expect Inside a Cook Out

Cook Out runs a walk-up counter and drive-thru rather than full table service. Many locations skip an indoor dining room altogether. Customers order at a window or a counter. The wait can stretch longer than a typical fast-food stop, given the char-grilled format and the size of the menu board.

A large illuminated board lists every burger, side, hot dog and shake flavor at once. That size is part of why the Cook Out Tray became the easiest way for a first-time customer to order. Cash and card both work at the register. The long drive-thru queues seen late at night are as much a part of the Cook Out experience as the food itself.

Cook Out Menu FAQs