Jack in the Box Fish Sandwich Recipe

The Jack in the Box Fish Sandwich is a panko-breaded Alaska pollock fillet with shredded lettuce and tartar sauce on a bun, brought back each year for Lent. This copy breads a pound of pollock in flour, egg and panko, fries it for three minutes a side and serves it on toasted buns with a four-ingredient tartar sauce. It makes four.

Does Jack in the Box have a fish sandwich?

Yes, but not all year. Chowhound wrote in April 2025 that the chain brings its fish sandwich back for a limited time during Lent, usually between February and April. By the time the article appeared, the 2025 sandwich was off the menu again.

The same article says what is in it: a pollock fillet breaded in panko, topped with lettuce and tartar sauce, on a bun. The fish is Alaska pollock from a Seattle seafood company. Earlier years had a deluxe version with two fillets and cheese; the 2025 sandwich was simpler and sold for as little as $2.99.

This recipe is a reconstruction from that description. MakeFoodLovely is not connected with Jack in the Box.

Recipe

Jack in the Box Fish Sandwich

A reconstruction of the Jack in the Box Fish Sandwich — a panko-breaded Alaska pollock fillet with shredded lettuce and tartar sauce on a toasted bun. Four sandwiches.

5.0 (1)Print

Prep

20 min

Cook

12 min

Total

32 min

Serves

4

Cuisine

American

Ingredients

• For the tartar sauce:
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped dill pickles
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• For the fish:
• 1 pound Alaska pollock fillets (thawed if frozen)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 cup vegetable oil (for shallow-frying)
• For the sandwiches:
• 4 hamburger buns
• 1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce

Instructions

1. Stir the mayonnaise, the pickles, the lemon juice and the onion powder together. Refrigerate the sauce while the fish is prepared.
2. Pat the fish dry with paper towels and cut it into 4 portions about the size of the buns, folding thin tail ends under. Season both sides with the salt and the pepper.
3. Put the flour on one plate and the panko on another, and beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water in a shallow bowl. Turn each portion in the flour, then in the egg, then in the panko, pressing the crumbs on.
4. Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat to 350°F; it should stand about 1/4 inch deep. Fry the fish for 3 minutes a side, until deep golden and 145°F in the middle. Drain it on a rack.
5. Toast the cut sides of the buns in a dry skillet. Spread the sauce on both halves, put the lettuce on the bottom halves, add the fish and close the sandwiches.

Pollock, panko and a short fry

Frozen pollock fillets work; thaw them overnight in the refrigerator. Cod or haddock take the same breading and the same time.

• Dry fish. Water on the surface turns the flour to paste, and the crust comes off in the pan. Pat each piece dry before it goes into the flour.
• Even portions. Pollock fillets run thin at the tail. Folded under, the thin end cooks at the pace of the thick one.
• Oil at 350°F. A thermometer is the reliable way. Without one, a pinch of panko dropped into the oil should sizzle at once and brown in about 30 seconds.

The tartar sauce for this fish sandwich

Mayonnaise, chopped dill pickles, lemon juice and onion powder. Chowhound's description says tartar sauce and nothing more, so the mix here is a plain one. Two tablespoons of dill relish can replace the chopped pickles, and a teaspoon of chopped capers or fresh dill can go in with them.

The sauce keeps five days in a closed jar in the refrigerator. It also works as a dip for the Jack in the Box curly fries.

Baked or air-fried

For the oven, toast the panko first: stir it with 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, until golden. Bread the fish as in the card, set it on a rack over a baking sheet and bake at 425°F for 12 to 14 minutes. Panko that goes into the oven pale stays pale, because the fish is done before the crumbs brown.

In an air fryer, spray the breaded fish with oil and cook it at 400°F for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once.

Two fillets and cheese

For the deluxe version that Chowhound mentions, cut the pound of fish into 8 thinner pieces and fry them for 2 minutes a side. Lay a slice of American cheese between two hot fillets; it melts on its own.

Leftovers, and other sandwiches

Fried fish loses its crust in the refrigerator. Leftover fillets reheat in a 400°F oven in 6 to 8 minutes, on a rack.

Other Jack in the Box copies on this site are the Cluck Sandwich, a fried chicken sandwich, and the grilled chicken sandwich. A breaded chicken patty on a long bun is the Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich.