9 In-N-Out Menu Tricks Californians Order Without Looking

If your In-N-Out fries come out soggy, ask for them well done next time.

Californians who eat there a lot have tricks like that memorized.

Here are the In-N-Out menu tricks Californians order without looking.

1. Animal Style Burgers

In-N-Out’s Animal Style burger dates to 1961.

Ask for your burger Animal Style, and you get hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, and a mustard-cooked patty, plus pickles, extra spread, and grilled onions.

Two words do all that.

You can ask for it on your choice of burger, and the company’s Not So Secret Menu lists six items in all.

2. Protein Style

In-N-Out’s Protein Style trades the bun for lettuce.

Your favorite burger comes wrapped in hand-leafed lettuce.

The burger stays.

The company’s menu lists the patty as 100% American beef, with no additives, fillers or preservatives.

If you’d rather skip the lettuce too, Eat This, Not That! describes a tomato wrap that puts two tomato slices where the bun would go.

That one isn’t on the list.

3. Flying Dutchman

In-N-Out’s Flying Dutchman gives you two patties and two slices of cheese, with no bun and no condiments.

The timeline entry honoring Guy Snyder calls it a not-so-secret-menu item and credits him with creating it.

It isn’t one of the six.

A version wraps the patties in grilled onions instead of a bun.

Ask for it that way, or you may get only patties and cheese.

You used to save money by ordering the patties and cheese slices one at a time, about $3.40 instead of around $5.50.

A 2025 company memo, reported by The Independent, set the price of a patty and slice at half the price of a Flying Dutchman.

It came from the chief operating officer, Denny Warnick.

4. 3×3 and 4×4

In-N-Out’s 3×3 stacks three patties and three slices of American cheese on a freshly baked bun with hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, and spread.

It’s also called the Triple Triple.

All three patties are 100% American beef.

The 4×4 adds a fourth patty and a fourth slice, and its other name is Quad Quad.

Onions are optional.

The Double-Meat, two patties with lettuce, tomato, and spread, sits on the same list for when three is more than you want.

5. Grilled Cheese

In-N-Out’s Grilled Cheese is a burger order without a patty.

No patty needed.

It’s two slices of melted American cheese with hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, and spread on a freshly baked bun.

Onions are your call, with or without.

6. Animal Style Fries

In-N-Out’s Animal Style fries borrow the burger’s toppings.

You get fries with spread, cheese, and grilled onions on top.

They aren’t one of the six items.

The fries underneath are hand-cut potatoes that the kitchen fries in 100% sunflower oil, so you’re still getting the regular fry.

Bring a fork.

7. Roadkill Fries

In-N-Out’s Roadkill Fries stack a Flying Dutchman on top of Animal Style fries.

Tasting Table describes the chain’s secret menu as full of strange names and ordering hacks.

Some employees won’t know it.

If you get a blank look, you can order the Animal Style fries and the Flying Dutchman separately.

8. Well-Done Fries

In-N-Out fries its potatoes once, and customers often complain they come out soggy.

If you order them well done, they cook longer and come out crispier.

They no longer look like uncooked strips of potato.

Well done can lean dry and crunchy, though.

Light goes the other way.

It means less fryer time and a less crisp fry.

If you can’t decide, light well sits in the middle, between normal and well done.

Some Reddit fans like it because the outside stays crisp and the inside stays fluffier.

9. Neapolitan Shakes

In-N-Out’s Neapolitan shake puts chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry in one cup.

Its shakes come in chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, so the Neapolitan is a mix of flavors already on the menu.

The three flavors sit in layered strips rather than a blend.

Sporked calls the Neapolitan a secret-menu favorite, and it isn’t on the company’s list.

You can ask for it by name, and if the employee doesn’t recognize it, you can ask for the three flavors layered in one cup instead of blended.

Blending can muddy the flavors and lose the layered swirl.

Where the Names Come From

In-N-Out's chief operating officer told Fox News Digital in 2026 that the company began serving Animal Style in the early 1960s.

A customer watched an employee make a custom burger and asked for the same thing.

He said the name was created on the spot.

Many names came from customers.

You'll also hear names that people simply invented.

Mental Floss reports that a purported fries order with chopped hot dogs is fake because In-N-Out doesn't sell hot dogs.

A Patty for Your Dog

In-N-Out's pup patty went viral on TikTok as an order that promised your dog a free meal.

Not quite.

A Fresno TV station tested it at a Central Valley drive-thru and found you'd still pay $1 for the patty.

What the station got was an unsalted patty, which its Los Angeles sister station calls perfectly good for your dog.