Today, we’re reviewing Culver’s Smoked Cheddar Curderburger. The Curderburger is an annual limited-edition offering from Culver’s that debuted in 2021 and has been popular ever since. The Curderburger takes Culver’s popular ButterBurger Deluxe and adds a large fried cheese curd on top.
The ButterBurger is Culver’s signature hamburger offering. It gets its name from its lightly buttered and toasted bun. If you aren’t familiar with cheese curds, they come from curdled pieces of milk made during the cheesemaking process. At Culver’s, they are cheddar-cheese-based, typically deep-fried, bite-sized pieces served year-round as a side. In the case of the Curderburger, Culver’s adds a large cheese curd to the burger. With the 2026 offering, Culver’s used a smoked cheddar cheese for the first time. This was a very limited offering, and when Culver’s says limited, they mean limited. It was only scheduled to be offered from September 28 to October 11 (a two-week window). My local Culver’s sold out by October 6th.
George, Ruth, Craig, and Lea Culver founded the franchise in Sauk City, Wisconsin, on July 18, 1984, as “Culver’s Frozen Custard and ButterBurgers.” It’s privately held, and Craig Culver (George’s son) remains chairman. It’s headquartered in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. The chain operates primarily in the Midwestern United States and currently has about 1,000 restaurants in 26 states.
The Construction
I order a Curderburger with all of the default options except for mayonnaise. If you have followed my assessments, you know I am not a fan of mayonnaise.
- Single Beef Patty -(Default)
- Fried Smoked Cheddar Cheese Curd (Default)
- Lettuce (Default)
- Tomato (Default)
- Red Onion (Default)
- Pickles (Default)
- Mayonnaise (Not Included)
- Length: 4 1/2 inches (Diameter, include protruding of the cheese curd)
- Weight: 10 ounces
- Number Eaten: 2
- Location: Indian Trail, North Carolina
- Price: $8.19
In this case, I could only have a single Smoked Cheddar Curderburger. This was due to the item’s limited availability. It is also mentioned that the Smoked Cheddar Curderburger is customizable to add (or remove) many of Culver’s standard offerings. Items I saw available online include:
- Extra Hamburger Patty
- Ketchup
- Mustard
- Thick-Cut Bacon
- Mushrooms
- Grilled Onions
- Jalapeños
- Coleslaw Topping
- George’s Chili Topping
- Brioche and Gluten-Free Buns
The Appearance (*)
I will give Culver’s credit. The way they serve the Smoked Cheddar Curderburger looks quite presentable – and it maintains a stacked look. It’s clear, the publicity photo is highly staged and the actual item doesn’t look quite as close. It still earns a “Fair” comparison rating in my book.
Comparison Rating: Fair
(*) This is not factored into our overall assessment rating but is included for reference
The Experience
We scored the Curderburger like many other hamburgers we have assessed. As we’ve done for a while, we scored cheese as a condiment, and we treated the cheese curd the same way.
- Meat (Hamburger): 4 points
- Bun: 2 points
- Condiments: 2 points
- Intangibles: 2 points
Meat (Hamburger)
Culver’s advertises its burgers as “fresh, never frozen” and made to order. If you haven’t had the Culver’s burger experience, you are in for an absolute treat. The burgers are grilled and have a meaty, savory flavor. They are slightly crisp (not charred) on the outside, but still juicy and tender on the inside. It’s not a thick hamburger patty, but it’s an extremely good hamburger patty. I will admit the picture doesn’t do this justice, but it scored nicely.
One thing I will mention. I do food assessments by ordering takeout, picking it up personally, putting it in an insulated bag, and taking it back to the studio. I don’t eat the food in the car. Once back at the studio, I weigh, measure, and photograph it (in some cases, I photograph it separately with more than one food item). I mention this because if you do have a Culver’s burger, it is definitely best eaten fresh at the location. However, sometimes that isn’t practical. This still had a great score, but my point is it would be higher at the actual restaurant.
Score: 3.25 points out of 4.00 points
Bun
The bun was advertised as a lightly toasted, buttered kaiser bun. From the exterior, it didn’t quite look like a kaiser bun.
On many buns, when I see “lightly toasted,” it’s usually barely toasted. One could argue this is more than lightly toasted, but it doesn’t matter. This is how a toasted bun should be served. The butter flavor absolutely enhances this bun to the next level. The bun remains soft and pillowy inside. The bun’s top has a decent crust, and the toasting not only enhances the bun, but it also keeps it intact.
Finally I’ve seen Culver’s have a brioche bun option, but I would stick to the default “Kaiser” bun. It works.
Score: 1.50 points out of 2.00 points
Condiments
As always, we will break down the condiments one by one:
- Smoked Cheddar Cheese Curd: This is about the size of the hamburger patty (maybe even a little bigger). The cheese curd is breaded and deep-fried. It’s a mild cheese with some hickory and smoky notes. It’s really good. This is another case where transporting from the studio sometimes affects things. When served cooked-to-order, the cheese curd will have a molten, gooey quality. It’s going to lose some of that in transport. Like the burger, it’s still very good, but its even better when served fresh.
- Lettuce: The lettuce is shredded, but was slightly wilted. This might be a by-product of serving fresh hot items on it. It still has a mild vegetal quality, and Culver’s is not aggressive with too much lettuce.
- Tomato: This is a large tomato slice. It had a nice amount of ripeness and a good sweet quality. Outside the cheese curd itself, this was the star of the show.
- Red Onion: I would categorize this as more pungent than sweet, but it provided a nice balance to the toppings. These are served as sliced rings
- Pickle: These are sliced pickle slices. They have a good dill flavor. They are slightly briny and salt. I would still put them as good.
Overall, minus the lettuce, these are still good, fresh condiments, with the cheese curd leading the way.
Score: 1.50 points out of 2.00 points
Intangibles
As always, the main intangible is whether or not the overall experience exceeds the sum of the parts. The answer is yes. While I liked the cheese curd, I can tell you it didn’t quite affect the overall experience the way it does at Culver’s. The buttered bun definitely does its job here, too. This burger had no sauces, but it didn’t need them. The burger was moist enough, and the cheese curd (while slightly coagulated) added a smooth texture. Finally, sweetness from the tomatoes, the pungency from the onions, and the briny qualities of the pickles provided a nice balance.
This was a slightly messy, not terribly messy, sandwich. Some of the lettuce and pickle will slide off. This is another reason food shouldn’t be reviewed in a car.
I thought the proportions were perfect. While the curd itself is large, it was needed here. I’ve seen these TikTok “hack” videos where people try to make their own Curd-Burger by putting the side cheese curds on a burger. While I’ve never done that, I can only imagine them falling all over the place. Coalition Eats does not do hacks.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
This was a very limited item. In fact, it was so limited that I couldn’t get it into the Coalition Eats review schedule until after it completed its run. I debated whether to publish an assessment, but I chose to because my gut tells me this iteration of the Curderburger will be back by next year.
The Smoked Cheddar Curderburger scored 7.50 out of 10.00 points on the Coalition Eats scale. That is an above average score. At just about $8.00, it punches above its weight class. As I mentioned a couple of times, this most likely would have scored higher if done at the restaurant. I’ve done a couple of on-site assessments for select products, but usually that means no measurements can be taken and the photography is poor due to lighting. Next time, I hope to do this one to see the difference. In the meantime, you will have to wait till next year, but this one is a must-have item.
Summary
| Meat (4) | 3.25 |
| Bread (2) | 1.50 |
| Condiments (2) | 1.50 |
| Intangibles (2) | 1.25 |
| Total | 7.50 |
Score: Above Average 7.50 (out of 10 points)
Photo Credits: Cigar Coop, except where noted
