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 of them run under five dollars apiece. Twenty-five flavors of milkshake and a rotating dessert case round out the counter. Sweet tea, Cheerwine and drip coffee 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 flat-priced milkshake wall. Every row lists the same item’s price, and most also carry a calorie count pulled from the same listing. The Cook Out Tray leads the board because it pairs one main with two sides and a drink for a single price. Portion and calorie counts for the tray itself vary with whatever main and sides go inside it. That detail sits with the tray’s own table below.

Cook Out Trays

The Cook Out Tray is the fastest way to order off the Cook Out menu. A customer picks one main, whether a burger, a chicken sandwich or chopped pork barbecue, and the tray adds two sides plus a drink. All three tray builds price at $6.99 apiece, whichever main gets chosen. A smaller Jr. Tray serves the same idea in a reduced portion.

Homemade Char-Grilled Hamburgers

Homemade char-grilled hamburgers anchor the Cook Out menu, each patty grilled to order rather than fried. The Cook Out Style Burger and Out West Style Burger dress a char-grilled patty with the chain’s own toppings for $3.49 apiece. The Steak Style Burger adds a steak sauce at the same price. Cheeseburger (No Bun, Gluten-Free Style) and Hamburger Patty (No Bun, Gluten-Free Style) swap the bun for a lettuce wrap. Full wheat and dairy declarations sit on a separate page for anyone avoiding more than one allergen.

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 keeps the lowest calorie count in the section at 280, while the Chicken Strip Club stacks strips, bacon and cheese for $5.99. Grilled Chicken Sandwich (No Bun, Gluten-Free Style) 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 400 calories, and the BBQ Plate adds a full side portion for a dollar more. Both use the same smoked pork as their base.

Char-Grilled Hot Dogs

Char-grilled hot dogs come in five builds, from a plain dog to a bacon cheddar version loaded at the counter. Corn Dog and Chili Dog both price at $1.99, tied for the cheapest hot dog on the Cook Out menu. Bacon Cheddar Dog carries the most calories of the five items on the Cook Out menu at 440.

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, the same price as the chain’s hot dogs. It carries 450 calories, the heaviest single line on this part of the board. Cook Out has kept the sandwich largely unchanged since it first appeared on the board.

Quesadillas

Quesadillas fold a grilled tortilla around melted cheese, sold plain or with a cheddar-style filling swapped in. Both versions price at $1.99 on the Cook Out menu, twenty calories apart. Neither carries a meat filling by default. Both grill on the same char-grill used for the burgers and chicken, which gives them a slight smoky edge a fryer cannot match.

Wraps

Wraps come in six flavors, all folded around a protein-and-sauce combination rather than plain grilled chicken alone. Crispy Chicken Wrap and Cajun Wrap sit at the lower end of the group’s calorie range, while Cajun Ranch Wrap tops it at 440. Every wrap on the Cook Out menu prices at $1.99 regardless of flavor.

Sides

Sides round out any Cook Out Tray or stand alone as an add-on to a sandwich order. French Fries and Cajun Fries share the same cut, twenty cents apart. White Cheddar Cheese Bites carries the highest price of the group at $3.39. Hushpuppies and Onion Rings fill out the fried half of the lineup.

Fancy Milkshakes

Fancy Milkshakes make up the largest single section on the Cook Out menu. Twenty-five flavors blend to order, and every one carries the same flat price. Peanut Butter Fudge Milkshake and Peanut Butter Cup Milkshake sit at the top of the calorie range, both past 650. Banana Berry Milkshake stays closest to the bottom at 550. A handful of off-menu shake combinations blend two listed flavors into one cup at the same counter price. That flat $3.99 stays the only thing every flavor on the board has in common.

Floats & Desserts

Floats & Desserts closes out the sweet side of the Cook Out menu with two options. A Coke Float or Cheerwine Float runs $2.39 at the fountain instead of the blender. Cheesecake is the only baked item in the section, a chilled slice priced at $3.99. Both share the same 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 at $2.39. Cheerwine is the Carolina cherry soda. Coca-Cola Beverages fills out the fountain side of the section.

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