Discontinued Zaxby's Menu Items We're Not Getting Back

Zaxby's menu doesn't change as much as some other fast food menus, but it still has plenty of discontinued items. Customers tend to know what to expect when they get there and order their favorites. So, when a fave disappears from the menu, it can be devastating. While some discontinued items on the menu have sparked outrage and petitions to bring them back, others have disappeared into the night without much fanfare at all. One that always seems to make a comeback after it disappears is the Asian Zensation salad. However, there are some menu items that we won't hold our breath about seeing a return.

Missing menu items come from every menu category from sandwiches and salads (or "Zalads") to sauces and desserts. Hopefully, none of your favorites are on our list of discontinued Zaxby's menu items. Since we don't see any evidence that these will ever return, you're going to have to branch out and find something else to love.

Zaxby's still has a club sandwich, but it may not be the one you remember and love. In March 2022, the chain switched to a new Signature Club Sandwich, leaving the other one in customer's memories. Both have American cheese and bacon. However, the new version replaces the lettuce and tomato with pickles, mayo with Zax sauce or Zax spicy sauce, and buttery Texas toast with a potato bun. It also has one big fillet now instead of three chicken fingers.

Fans of the Zaxby's Club aren't happy with the change, especially for those who considered it their favorite sandwich. One customer on Reddit said that taking away the old version of the sandwich "is like Mcdonalds discontinuing the Big Mac! The new sandwich sucks, chicken is dry, and it doesn't taste great, in general. The old one was the best chicken sandwich out there! Whoever made this decision should be fired immediately." Luckily, there's a hack for ordering it. Just order the Kickin Chicken Sandwich with mayo (if it's available) instead of Tongue Torch and ranch sauces. Then, for about an extra $1.50, you can ask to add bacon and American cheese along with lettuce and tomatoes.

Another discontinued club sandwich at Zaxby's is the Cajun Club. One person started a petition on Change.org in July 2002 for its return, saying, "Today, my boyfriend attempted to order his daily Cajun Club Sandwich Meal from the Zaxby's closest to his work ... he was notified that the sandwich has been discontinued nationwide due to a survey the company did." However, with only about 150 signatures on the petition, we hate to say that Zaxby's may be right about its popularity.

Sure, there are plenty of people upset about it disappearing from the menu, but they just weren't as profitable as some of the other menu items. If you've ever worked in fast food, you know that grilled chicken items don't tend to sell as well. There's still a grilled chicken sandwich on the menu that's not spicy, but it doesn't have bacon, and there's a spicy fried chicken sandwich, but it doesn't have lettuce or tomato.

If you aren't familiar with Insane Sauce, you probably weren't buying wings, as it was a sauce only sold on or with wings. Those who discovered and loved it are distraught that it no longer exists. One customer on Reddit said they were ordering it three times a week.

Unfortunately, there just weren't enough people who knew about Insane sauce, so it wasn't profitable to keep. An employee on Reddit said that the "insane sauce comes in 3 gallon bags. By the time we use one gallon of our insane sauce the sauce is technically expired." One customer eats in different Zaxby's during their travels and said that they liked to order the sauce on things other than just wings. "More than often, the employee taking my order reacts like I'm the first person to ever order it.' Without more exposure, it was destined to fail. Not all customers who tried this hot sauce liked it either, with pepper and celery dominating the flavor profile. So, there's more than one reason it has disappeared from the menu. However, the petition for its return on Change.org has over 600 signatures.

Milkshakes seem to be one of the most missed discontinued items on Zaxby's menu. At one time, the dessert menu had several milkshake flavors. The restaurant once just had strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla milkshakes before branching out into more exciting flavors like birthday cake, chocolate cookie, banana pudding, caramel pecan pie, and brownie batter.

Change.org has five different petitions going to bring back the milkshakes, with the birthday cake milkshake being the one that customers seem to miss the most. One reason you may not see the birthday cake milkshake again is that it was introduced to commemorate Zaxby's 25th birthday. A Change.org petitioner said, "I believe that the public has been done a great disservice by the removal of the birthday cake milkshake, and it is time to take a stand. Personally, I have consumed in my lifetime an upwards of 46 birthday cake milkshakes from Zaxby's." For April Fool's Day in 2023, Zaxby's taunted fans with an Insane milkshake on Instagram. We have to say that combining two menu items that customers have been wanting back for an April Fool's Day joke was just cruel.

In March 2021, Zaxby's announced it was removing the Chicken Caesar Zalad from its menu. A month later, Zaxby's released a "Caesar Zalad Zax Hack" on Facebook for making the salad once it was gone from the menu. Supposedly, all you had to do was order a House Zalad with Caesar salad dressing. One customer on Facebook replied by saying, "This is revolting. You should be ashamed of yourself." The House Zalad comes with toast instead of croutons, jack cheese instead of Parmesan cheese, and tomatoes instead of bacon. Plus, who wants red cabbage, carrots, and fried onions in their Caesar Zalad? 

The chain eventually removed Caesar salad dressing from the menu, too, since there was no Caesar Zalad to go with it. So, no, you can't hack the menu to make a Caesar Zalad. Caesar Zalad is its own thing. There are, of course, plenty of people missing the Chicken Caesar Zalad. However, one customer said it cost too much for what you got on it. It "barely [had] any chicken and bacon. No wonder it's being discontinued on lack of sales."

Crinkle Fries, Fried White Cheddar Bites, Fried Pickles, and Tater Chips still exist on Zaxby's sides menu if you're in the mood for something fried. However, spicy fried mushrooms flew the coop in 2019. It's just a matter of which sides were selling better, and fewer people tend to buy fried mushrooms.

There just aren't a lot of places where you can find fried mushrooms in the fast food arena, and they're fairly rare in other restaurants, too. One customer on Reddit said, "[T]he spicy fried mushrooms are like my favorite thing across most fast food menus. It's hard in my opinion to find good fried mushrooms." So, for people who liked fried mushrooms, Zaxby's was the only dependable place to find them for a while. But, alas, they're gone and not likely coming back. However, we could be wrong since both Tater Chips and Fried Pickles disappeared and eventually returned. With Fried Pickles ending up being voted the worst menu item in our poll of Zaxby's menu items, we're surprised they're still around while Spicy Mushrooms are not. 

Another fried side item that you'll no longer find on the Zaxby's menu is onion rings. With onion rings being more popular, in general, and more common on fast food menus, it's surprising that they were on the chopping block. Zaxby's knows what sells, and these apparently weren't as popular as some other options like Fried Pickles and Fried White Cheddar Bites. Sure, you can get them elsewhere, but customers miss eating them with their Zaxby's chicken orders.

Based on some Reddit threads, it seems as if the chain didn't even introduce them at every Zaxby's location. So, some people never even got to experience eating these with their favorite sauce. Currently, there are two Change.org petitions for the return of these classic sides. However, there aren't even 150 signatures on the petitions, so it seems like there aren't enough people outraged at their disappearance. Since they've been gone since 2019, we're not holding out a lot of hope for their return. While there are fried onions on some of the salads, they're just not the same as getting an order of onion rings.

The Bourbon Chicken Sandwich disappeared once before and made a menu return in 2009. When it returned, the chain enlisted NFL stars Mike Ditka and Herschel Walker to promote it. Zaxby's served the sandwich on Texas toast with bourbon-glazed chicken strips and provolone cheese. It was a fairly simple sandwich since the bourbon flavor was the star. You could also get it as part of a Meal Deal with Crinkle Fries and your choice of soft drink. However, even with all that celebrity exposure, it seems that the Bourbon Chicken Sandwich wasn't destined to stay on the menu.

There's not a whole lot of buzz on the internet about missing this sandwich beyond an occasional TikToker expressing fond memories of a sandwich long past. So, with it firmly out of the memory of most customers and almost nobody demanding it, it's likely to remain in ancient Zaxby's history rather than make an appearance this decade.

Blue cheese lovers were sad to learn that Zaxby's was discontinuing its Blackened Blue Zalad in 2021. Some had quite a fit when they tried ordering it only to discover it was no longer available. Since it's been gone, one customer on Reddit, said they "panicked so hard when they said they discontinued it. I don't even know what else there is to order there."

When the Blackened Blue Zalad left the building, so did the blackened seasoning and the blue cheese crumbles. So, it's just not possible to get the employees to make it for you anymore. However, if you're willing to buy some blue cheese at the grocery store and eat your salad at home, there's an easy hack to recreate this salad, although it will lack blackened seasoning, red onions, and blue cheese dressing. All you have to do is order a house salad, get it with chicken with Tongue Torch sauce, ask for it with tomatoes and fried onions only, and add Zax sauce. Then crumble some blue cheese over it. It's not quite the same, but it could satisfy your craving.

Zaxby's tends to keep some desserts on the menu, like Funnel Cake With Caramel Sauce and Chocolate Chip Cookies. However, some faves have had to go to make room. Among the ones that no longer exist on the menu are Chocolate Brownies. Zaxby's bid farewell to their brownies in March 2021.

The chain announced on Facebook that it was getting rid of brownies at the same time it announced it was getting rid of two salads and a side. While there was some outrage about the other disappearing menu items and some demands to bring back milkshakes, nobody seemed to lament the loss of the brownies at all. So, it doesn't seem to have been a big loss. One Redditor was a little surprised to learn that the brownies had been discontinued. However, they said, "I personally liked them but I guess I'll settle for cookies." With such a generally lackadaisical sentiment about their loss from customers, brownies are likely to never return.

At the same time that Zaxby's announced it was getting rid of brownies and Caesar salads in 2021, it announced that side salads were leaving the menu, too. Side salads were a healthy side-order alternative to all the fried offerings. However, it just wasn't as popular.

One customer who missed it said on Facebook, "My toddlers love it and so do I. I went to order it and telling my 3 yr old they don't have it she can't have a salad at the speaker box didn't go so well. Can't keep anything healthy we don't need huge salads all the time." A few customers expressed that they would miss it, but there wasn't an outrage like there was when Chick-fil-A announced it was getting rid of the side salad and had to bring it back. However, Zaxby's side salad didn't come with cheese or any crispy extras to make it special like Chick-fil-A's. Instead, it was just a bowl of mixed greens with tomatoes and cucumbers — nothing too special.

The last time we saw mention of the Chicken Parmesan Sandwich being on the menu was in 2017 when it made a comeback from oblivion. Rather than bringing the sandwich back, the chain added Chicken Parm Loaded Fries to the menu in October 2023. It still contained chicken, marinara sauce, and Parmesan cheese. However, Crinkle Fries replaced the bun. With the loaded fries only being a limited time offering, it doesn't seem like there's a chance the chain had any plans to repurpose the ingredients for a Chicken Parmesan Sandwich.

When the fries appeared on the menu, a few people on social media asked for the sandwich to come back, but not many. One suggestion was to bring it back on a hoagie roll instead of Texas toast, which we think is an excellent idea. If the Chicken Parm Loaded Fries are still around, you could probably hack the menu by ordering the Kickin Chicken Sandwich, minus the sauces that come on it, plus the Parmesan cheese, garlic aioli, and marinara sauce from the loaded fries. There aren't any guarantees, though.

In 2019, Zaxby's introduced a Smokehouse Cheddar BBQ Fillet. It was a limited time menu item, so the chance of it coming back later was entirely dependent on how popular it was. The sandwich came on Texas toast and featured a fried chicken fillet and smokey bacon. Mayonnaise and BBQ sauce topped it off, along with cheddar cheese and onion rings. With onion rings also off the menu, we don't expect to see this sandwich on the menu again any time soon.

After one Redditor tried it, they said, "It was pretty good. Nothing really overpowered anything on the sandwich, and it was a pretty solid mixture of flavor. Would order again." However, there wasn't much chatter when the sandwich left the menu, so we're not sure it was popular enough to merit a return. BBQ and chicken always go well together, but maybe they're not the flavors people crave when they go to Zaxby's.

At the same time in 2019 that Zaxby's introduced the Smokehouse Cheddar BBQ Fillet, it also introduced the Southwest Chipotle Fillet for those craving a spicier chicken sandwich. The sandwich included a fried chicken fillet on a toasted bun with lettuce and tomatoes. It packed a decent amount of heat from pepper jack cheese, chipotle aioli, and jalapeños.

One Redditor said it was "[r]eally well balanced, and the jalapeños actually helped cut a lot of the richness." So, it was a good sandwich. However, like the Smokehouse Cheddar BBQ Fillet, the Southwest Chipotle Fillet was only offered for a limited time. Honestly, there wasn't a lot of chatter from customers about it when it appeared and disappeared from the menu. Spicy chicken sandwiches that get their spiciness from something other than a spicy fillet aren't so easy to find, but this one just didn't stick around long enough to pull in enough fans to stay.