Jack in the Box Blazin’ Chicken Sandwich Review: Hot and Spicy and Everything Nicey

When someone tells me something is hot, I usually ignore it. The average definition of “hot” is small potatoes to me. After the spicy sauces of Quaker Steak and Lube in Pennsylvania and growing up in the birthplace of the Buffalo wing, “hot” takes on a whole new meaning. 

 A few jalapenos here, some serranos there, and cayenne to top it all off doesn’t phase me. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t crave the heat and pain; I want spicy with flavor. When I bite into something hot, I don’t want instant burn. I want a heat that keeps coming and surprising me with its complex flavors. I like to explore a sauce or a dry rub and learn something new about it each time I eat it.

After a few commercials for Jack in the Box’s new Jack’s Blazin’ Chicken Sandwich with Ghost Pepper Ranch Sauce, I was convinced I needed to try “Jack’s hottest sandwich yet.” It had jalapenos, ghost peppers, and crispy chicken. It sounded just like a buffalo chicken sandwich I once had on the East coast. The pictures made it look flavorful and exciting with all the extra hot sauce surrounding the fried chicken breast. I thought I would take Jack in the Box menu prices up on their “Blazin’” sandwich and see if it really was as spicy and hot as they claimed.

Boy, did they deliver. This sandwich was hot enough to satisfy my hot tooth and not so hot that I could see people with lower loves of spicy/mouth burning liking it as well. They sandwich came to me piping hot (temperature-wise) and wasn’t messily thrown together. Much of what makes us die over certain foods is their tantalizing presentation.This item flies high on the Jack in the Box nutrition info for calories, but it is so worth it. It really turns me off to a chain, location, or restaurant when I consistently get food that looks like someone threw everything in a bag, shook it up, and dumped it onto my plate. Jack’s Blazin’ Chicken Sandwich was neatly arranged and looked appetizing when I first opened the box.

Upon initial inspection, the sandwich was ideal. No extra sauce sloshed around, the bun wasn’t flat and crushed, the chicken was extremely hot, and all the cheese was melted (ahem, Taco Bell cheese). The smell of jalapenos and Ghost Pepper Ranch Sauce made my mouth water and I was psyched to take my first bite. However, I contained my inner ravenous animal and fully inspected the sandwich’s entirety.

Bummer, Jack in the Box! I was so excited to go to town on your sandwich! Although the tomatoes on the sandwich looked healthy and good, each piece of lettuce had brown spots all over it. Even if this isn’t a health code violation, it’s not very appealing. There were also no grilled onions to be found. I had ordered one Jack’s Blazin’ Chicken Sandwich with all the fixins and didn’t get all my fixins. What a shame. You’d think since they advertised the grilled onions so much on the commercial they’d want to show them off on the sandwich.

But not all was lost even though the first interior impression was poor. After removing the faulty lettuce and getting over the fact that there would be no grilled onions, I saw that the rest of the sandwich was well put-together. The chicken was fully-cooked, the jalapenos were snappy and fresh-tasting (pretty sure they weren’t fresh jalapenos but they were pretty close, definitely not slimy), the bun tasted fresh, and the cheese complimented the sandwich nicely. Every food item had good proportions. If I didn’t have to throw out some of the toppings, all parts of the sandwich would have harmonized like Boyz II Men.

To the meat of the matter we’ll go. Was it hot? Yes. Was it tasty? Yes. Would I recommend it? Surprisingly, yes! The jalapenos had an excellent crunch as did the chicken and the Swiss-style cheese matched the other flavors of the sandwich well. I loved the Ghost Pepper Ranch Sauce because it was hot and left a slow burn but was tangy and tasty. I could see all varieties of hot lovers enjoying this sandwich. The creaminess of the ranch mixed with the Ghost Pepper was really a great combination. Although the jalapeños weren’t very hot, the sauce helped to pull their flavor into its spiciness.

I loved the crunching sound I heard when I took my first bite and the juice that came from the chicken on my first chew. The texture of the chicken, bun, cheese, sauce, and jalapenos created an awesome mouth-feel. I wanted to keep taking more and more bites to get all the flavors and fill my stomach with this delicious sandwich. I finally found something that tasted similar to my favorite East coast Buffalo sauce.

There were no hard parts or mysterious stringy-things in the chicken breast. It tasted fresh, was extremely juicy, and was not overcooked. Impressive, Jack in the Box. It tasted slightly salty but the creamy cheese helped to relieve that. Jack’s Blazin’ Chicken Sandwich wasn’t hot enough to have me grasping for a drink but it was hot enough that I would say it stands up to it’s “Blazin’” name. I would love to find out the recipe for the sauce and start pouring it on everything.

A slight gotcha though. If you’re supposed to be watching what you eat, don’t watch these commercials. Jack’s Blazin’ Chicken Sandwich is HIGH in sodium, potassium, calories, fat, and cholesterol. Shocker, right? Fast food that’s bad for you…where have we heard that before? If you’re road tripping or hoping for a super quick lunch that’s hot and spicy, definitely find a Jack in the Box to drive-thru. But if your health is something you’re trying to improve upon, maybe get this sandwich on a cheat day or once every few months.

Jack’s Blazin’ Chicken Sandwich Nutrition Info 

Serving Size: 1

Calories: 665

Calories from Fat: 269

Total Fat (g): 30

Saturated Fat (g): 6

Trans Fat (g): 0

Cholesterol (mg): 68

Sodium (mg): 1172

Potassium (mg): 662

Carbohydrates (g): 70

Dietary Fiber (g): 5

Sugars (g): 8

Protein (g): 32

As someone who truly loves spicy foods, I couldn’t believe a fast food chain actually created something that was spicy and tasty for just $5.07 with tax. You know you hear something’s spicy and you try it and it turns out that by “spicy” they meant extra pepper? Disappointing. Picking up the fluffy-bunned, juicy-chickened, Ghost-Pepper-Ranch-sauce-delight, “clucking good” Jack’s Blazin’ Chicken Sandwich will excite your taste buds, change your expectations of spicy when it comes to fast food chains, and have you stuffing each bite to get as much of the sandwich as you can into your jaws. Just make sure to confirm with your friend at the window that all the items, including the grilled onions, are on the sandwich.

 Check out the Jack in the Box secret menu now live: http://secretmenus.com/jack-in-the-box-secret-menu

Summary

Reviewer

Mandy Ellis

Review Date

2014-04-25

Reviewed Item

Blazin' Chicken Sandwich

Author Rating

5