The Chicken Sandwich Wars continue to rage with various chains out there throwing out all sorts of fancy new offerings to make an impact (including Taco Bell’s upcoming chicken “sandwich”), but there are some longtime players in the game that are worth seeking out. And the Spicy Chicken from Jack-in-the-Box is one of those.
Following is the official description of the sammy from the chain’s website:
Spicy crispy all white meat chicken with fresh sliced tomato, lettuce and real mayonnaise all on a butter bakery bun.
This sandwich has been around for over twenty years (Hey Popeyes, how did it take you so long to come up with your own version?), and it has long been one of my favorites. I recently visited Jack in the drive thru to refresh my memory on how good this sandwich is, and I was not disappointed.
They are touting it as having a new, bigger piece of chicken and the picture on the menu shows a pretty thick fried filet that looks similar to what Popeyes is slinging. What I received did not have the same girth, though it did seem bigger than what I previously remembered. This is a whole breast filet that is seasoned, battered, and fried, and while it may not match up to that picture, it is still quite good.
The chicken patty has a good crunch to it and plenty of taste throughout. It has a nice kick of heat to it, but as with most things from the drive thru, this sandwich does not quite count as hot. It comes with whole-leaf lettuce and tomato as well as mayonnaise. (And on my most recent visit they went way overboard with the lettuce. Maybe they thought I needed an extra serving of vegetables?) Those act as a counterbalance to the spiciness of the chicken, and make this mostly a mild affair, but still quite tasty. The bun does the job of holding the sandwich together and is decent for a fast food joint, but nothing that really stands out.
I recall ordering Jack’s Spicy Chicken all the way back in the ‘90s, and I’m sure it packed more of a punch back then. These days it still delivers a bit of kick, but they appear to have toned the heat down. Still, this is one darn good sandwich that that was doing the spicy chicken thing long before it became the latest fad, and I count it as one of the better options out. It won’t bust your diet either at 500 calories (as long as you pass on that large order of curly fries). One hack that kicks this one up a bit is to order it with mustard instead of mayo which pairs quite well with the spicy chicken.
The rub here is the fact that I have found Jack-in-the-Box to be one of the most inconsistent fast food chains quality-wise. If you’ve had the Spicy Chicken (or any other menu item) from Jack-in-the-Box and did not like it, you likely encountered a subpar location. Try going to a different drive thru, and if you find a good one, stick to it. Jack has a great fast food chain when the quality is good. But sadly that is hit or miss.
Jack-in-the-Box is currently promoting their new Cluck Chicken Sandwich which is also pictured with a thick patty to make it visually competitive to the competition over at Popeyes. I have not tried that yet as they do not have a spicy version but may pick it up at some point. But if you are looking for a really good spicy chicken sandwich, Jack’s longtime standard will not disappoint as long as you can find a location that is run well.
Tale of the Tape:
Serving Size: 1 Sandwich
Calories: 500
Fat: 25g (4g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 22g
Carbs: 48g
Sodium: 1310mg