Discontinued Jack In The Box Items We May Never Get Back

Jack in the Box has been a prominent West Coast fast-food institution since 1951. Founded in San Diego by Robert O. Peterson, its roots predate McDonald's and Burger King. The chain is credited with popularizing fast-food staples that we have come to depend on, like the drive-thru window and breakfast sandwiches. Jack in the Box has expanded to approximately 2,200 locations in a legacy that stretches nearly three-quarters of a century. During that time, many menu items have been discontinued. Despite their popularity with customers, several of these discontinued items aren't likely to make a comeback — much to the chagrin of Jack in the Box's legions of fans.

Fast-food menus are known to be a revolving door of quirky concoctions and comfort foods proffered to the public by way of limited-time-only specials and fleeting trends. Many Jack in the Box specialties came and went this way, leaving customers to make sentimental pleas on fandom websites in hopes that the 24-hour fast-food chain would bring the items back. From the recent changes to the breakfast and late-night menus to fondly remembered treats from the restaurant's earliest days, these are some of the discontinued Jack in the Box items we may never get back.

In the world of fast-food chains, Jack in the Box's menu offerings are more culturally diverse than most. It is known almost equally for its burgers as for its tacos, and eggrolls are on the menu too. All-day breakfast is another way Jack in the Box sets itself apart. This allows customers more variety and flexibility, but fans of the menu weren't too pleased when the company discontinued one of its most popular breakfast items: the Grande Sausage Burrito.

In 2023, customers trickled into Jack in the Box only to find out that their go-to breakfast order was no longer available. Jack in the Box debuted the Grande Sausage Burrito in 2014. In addition to sausage and scrambled eggs, the burrito featured crumbled bacon, hash browns, and creamy sriracha sauce. After nine years of popularity as part of Jack in the Box's breakfast lineup, fans of the Grande Sausage Burrito hopped online to mourn the loss. Redditors urged the public to sign a petition on change.org in favor of returning the Grande Sausage Burrito to its rightful place on the menu.

When Jack in the Box changed its infamously hedonistic Late Night Munchie Meals in 2023, the decision to discontinue one sandwich led to a lot of customer disappointment. The sandwich in question was the Chick-N-Tater Melt. Fans flocked to social media to voice their dismay, which was echoed by others sad to see the sandwich go. The Chick-N-Tater Melt was comprised of crispy chicken, a hash brown patty, bacon, ranch dressing, and three kinds of cheese served on a croissant. It didn't take long for a change.org petition to be created in the sandwich's honor, calling for its return. 

Jack in the Box first introduced Late Night Munchie Meals in 2013, which consisted of $6 boxes of food containing one of the chain's original sandwiches (or loaded chicken nuggets), a pile of curly and regular fries (aka "halfsies"), two hard-tacos, and a fountain drink. The special was only available from the hours of 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and was popular with the post-bar crowd and night owl types.

The Chick-N-Tater Melt had a good run, but by the spring of 2023, Jack in the Box axed its unique Late Night Munchie offerings in exchange for the $10 Build Your Own Munchie Meal. Customers can now customize their sides but are limited to choosing one of four sandwiches from the regular Jack in the Box menu.

Some fast-food restaurants boast potato wedges on their menus, and others don't. Jack in the Box once counted itself among the former, offering customers this popular alternative to the standard-issue shoestring fry — but those days have since passed.

Jack in the Box started serving potato wedges in 1990, either loaded up with bacon and cheese sauce or plain. In early 2013, Jack in the Box introduced Hot Mess Wedges featuring melted pepperjack and cheddar cheese and a sprinkling of jalapeños. In the same year, the company decided to discontinue wedges altogether. Perhaps the powers that be at Jack in the Box assumed that selling curly fries, shoestring fries, and onion rings was enough, but customers did not agree. Jack in the Box commemorated the return of potato wedges with Loaded Chili Cheese Wedges, but by 2021, the starchy side was taken off the menu again.

In 2023, Jack in the Box sold Jack's Sauced and Loaded Potato Wedges as a limited-time-only item. The wedges were layered with cheddar cheese, cheese sauce, ranch dressing, and crumbled bacon with the optional addition of pickled jalapeños and Jack in the Box's Spicy Good Good Sauce. And limited it was. Potato wedges are not currently part of the standard menu, and if we ever get them back, it might not be for long.

Jack in the Box has a history of not so subtly marketing its food to marijuana enthusiasts, and Late Night Munchie Meals definitely leaned on some stoner stereotypes. The Sriracha Curly Fry Burger was a perfect example of marketing to customers who embraced slightly odd food pairings loaded with calories. Late Night Munchie Meals included a mix of curly and shoestring fries, but that wasn't supposed to discourage you from ordering a burger piled with curly fries as well.

The Sriracha Curly Fry Burger entered the Late Night Munchie Meal lineup in 2016. The chain had previously introduced a Spicy Sriracha Burger in 2014 that incorporated Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, bacon, jalapeños, creamy sriracha sauce, and a sourdough bun. The Sriracha Curly Fry Burger was a bit different and consisted of a Jumbo Jack hamburger patty and the same creamy sriracha sauce, but with American cheese, no lettuce and tomato, and of course, extra seasoned curly fries.

When Jack in the Box did away with its Late Night Munchie Meals in 2023 and promoted the Build Your Own Munchie Meal instead, the Sriracha Curly Fry Burger was discontinued. Customers have gathered on message boards to vent about the loss of the Late Night Munchie Meal, with one Reddit user commenting, "[...] only reason I went to Jack was for the sriracha curly fry burger munchie meal now I'd rather eat a cup of noodles [...]"

The original Jack in the Box menu was more simplified than the one you see today and included items that were a reflection of the time and place from which the chain was born. There was only one dessert sold in those formative days, and it was a hot apple turnover.

It's a centuries-old dessert, but the apple turnover works well as a fast-food sweet treat because of its portability — it's basically a handheld pie. Jack in the Box opened its flagship location in 1951, and when you take into consideration that apple pie was one of the most popular desserts in the 1940s, it makes sense that the chain was drawn toward putting a similar dessert on its early-era menu.

The apple turnover remained on Jack in the Box's menu for decades. Children of the '60s and '70s have been known to reminisce online about enjoying them back in the day. Vintage photographs of Jack in the Box's menu show that in the late 1960s, hot apple turnovers would set you back about 20 cents. In the many years since Jack in the Box discontinued apple turnovers, the main focus in the sweets department has been on milkshakes, cakes, miniature cinnamon buns, and bite-sized churros. If the company ever wants to revive the O.G. apple turnover, there are plenty of people who remember them well.

Jack in the Box originated in Southern California, a place where tacos feel right at home on a fast-casual menu alongside burgers, breaded chicken, and fried sides. Seeing as tacos and sandwiches share top billing, it's not surprising that nacho cheese has had some breakout moments on Jack's menu. One memorable turn was the Spicy Nacho Chicken Sandwich that burst on the Jack in the Box scene circa 2015.

The Spicy Nacho Chicken Sandwich saw the sensible yet unexpected duo of crispy chicken and zingy nacho cheese sandwiched between two slices of toasted sourdough bread. The chicken and cheese were punctuated by a couple of onion rings and jalapeños, proving to be just quirky enough for Jack in the Box to add it to its Late Night Munchie Meal menu. Like all of the sandwiches on this special menu section, you could order a Spicy Nacho Chicken Sandwich during conventional meal hours — it would just cost $2 more if you did.

This was a high note for Jack in the Box's Munchie Meal sandwiches, largely due to the onion rings' ability to retain their crispiness and the fact that it wasn't an utter mess to eat unlike the very messy-sounding Exploding Cheesy Chicken Sandwich (one of the original Late Night Munchie Meal choices). Sadly, the Spicy Nacho Chicken Sandwich was axed in mid-2023 when Jack in the Box streamlined the Munchie Meal menu by discontinuing all of the sandwiches left in the lineup.

If you hadn't noticed, Jack in the Box has a thing for jalapeños. As of late 2023, you can still find jalapeño poppers as a side choice, and before that, the spicy rings played a leading role in several items sold by the chain. Take, for instance, the Hella-Peño Burger, a cheesy, saucy, beef burger that had quite a kick.

Jack in the Box first tested the Hella-Peño Burger in its San Francisco locations — an appropriate move since the burger's name borrows from Bay Area slang. Was the Hella-Peño Burger hella good? Yes, as long as you really like jalapeños. It wasn't enough to stick jalapeño poppers on this burger to give it some heat — sliced jalapeños and taco sauce were also included in the mix. Naturally, the Hella-Peño Burger earned a coveted spot on the Late Night Munchie Meal in the summer of 2014. Sometime later, Jack in the Box discontinued the pepper-centric burger to make room for other fast-food sandwiches topped with finger foods and slathered in condiments meant to be consumed in the dead of night.

Australian cafe Piccolo Me is credited by some for inventing the croissant burger, but let us remind you that Jack in the Box dreamed one up back in 2013 when the franchise launched its Late Night Munchie Meals. The innovative concoction was named the Brunch Burger, but the beloved menu item has since gone the way of the dodo.

Fast-food breakfast would be nothing without fried eggs, bacon, and hash browns, but croissants are a welcomed bonus. Since the Late Night Munchie Meals were available from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., creating a burger to be sold in the wee a.m. hours that pays homage to these classic breakfast ingredients struck a chord with Jack's audience. Online food reviewers deemed the Brunch Burger as the best of the original Late Night Munchie Meals, thanks to its fluffy croissant bun and controlled use of condiments (mayonnaise is the only inclusion). The Brunch Burger was at the center of Jack in the Box's Brunchfast menu in 2016, however, it didn't prevent the item from eventual discontinuance.

Food fads are simply drops in the bucket of recorded time, but we have to admit that deep-fried clusters of macaroni are pretty basic, probably a waste of calories, yet a total guilty pleasure. Jack in the Box is inclined to agree, having had fleeting flirtations with the 2000s-era trend, which it sold as Cheesy Macaroni Bites.

The Bites hit the Jack in the Box menu in 2008 and were advertised as the perfect way to savor the comfort food staple on the go. Bite-sized and encased in the omnipresent fast-food vehicle that is deep-fried breading, Cheesy Macaroni Bites had their moment, but like many mass-marketed food trends, they were eventually discontinued. Fads have a cyclical life span though, and after a significant absence, Jack in the Box revived Cheesy Macaroni Bites in 2021, under the more straightforward moniker Mac & Cheese Bites.

The second coming of Cheesy Macaroni Bites was a welcomed one, served with a side of buttermilk ranch for dipping. Fried macaroni and cheese is a well-liked appetizer at pubs and sit-down chains (Cheesecake Factory and T.G.I. Friday's have sold them), but Jack in the Box phased them out for a second time to make room for other buzzworthy foods.

In the category of iconic breakfast fast-food items, it's safe to say that McDonald's McGriddle makes the shortlist. Jack in the Box is all too aware of this, and in 2012 the chain riffed on the sweet and savory handheld with its Breakfast Waffle Sandwich. We daresay that McGriddles changed the early morning fast-food game forever in 2003 by showing the general public that devouring sausage (or bacon), egg, and cheese between two maple syrup-infused pancake medallions was how breakfast should have been done all along. 

The menu innovation team at Jack in the Box (yes, there's one of those) was undoubtedly hard at work dreaming up another way to work a syrup-soaked carb into a breakfast sandwich and had its a-ha moment when it settled on the waffle. After all, why shouldn't waffles stand in for typical breakfast sandwich bread? They're sweet, fluffy, and easily recognizable from several yards away. We can't help but wonder if Jack in the Box envisioned itself as the proprietor of the McGriddle 2.0 as it prepared to release this clever sammie into the world.

It wasn't to be. While McGriddle revels in two decades' worth of notoriety, the Breakfast Waffle Sandwich has all but faded into discontinued obscurity. Although some food critics heralded Jack's Breakfast Waffle Sandwich as triumphant in the great breakfast sandwich debate, it could not forge a lasting place on the chain's regular menu.

Jack in the Box has had some weird commercials (the chain's mascot Jack I. Box, a human man with a giant Jack in the Box head is behind a lot of the weirdness), but a 2007 ad for the sirloin burger drove Carl's Jr. and Hardee's to sue. In the commercial, Jack gives a boardroom presentation about the new, 100% sirloin burger. He uses a diagram of a cow to point out which area of the cow's body the sirloin beef comes from. When one of the businessmen at the meeting points out that the competition sells Angus burgers and asks where the cow's Angus is, the competition (Carl's Jr. and Hardee's) dialed up their lawyers.

The drama brought the sirloin burger attention (the lawsuits were thrown out), and the product did live up to the hype. Jack in the Box was the first fast-food chain to sell a 100% sirloin burger, also offering it as a cheeseburger or bacon cheeseburger. Mini Sirloin Burgers hit the San Diego test market in 2009 and came in a box of three.

By 2011 however, Jack in the Box overhauled its menu and Mini Sirloin Burgers were discontinued. A few years later, the regular-sized sirloin burger was also veering toward extinction. Rumor about it being replaced by the Buttery Jack burger may have been the cause. Jack's sirloin burger vanished in the mid-2010s while the Buttery Jack continues to thrive — which means we may never get the sirloin burger back.

All-day breakfast is one of Jack in the Box's big draws, so the company has come up with new additions to this section of the menu to keep customers intrigued. In 2010, the chain sold a grilled breakfast sandwich served on sliced bread that contained a fried egg, two slices of American cheese, bacon, and ham.

The sandwich looked like a cross between a panini and a classic deli sandwich and earned decent customer reviews, with the main criticism being that the bread was a little too thin to counter the saltiness of the other ingredients. To accompany the grilled breakfast sandwich, Jack in the Box also sold a Deli Trio Grilled Sandwich with salami, ham, and turkey, and a Turkey, Bacon, & Cheddar Grilled Sandwich — both characterized as being even saltier than the breakfast version.

Jack in the Box sold its grilled sandwiches as an attempt to ride the "artisan" wave other fast-food companies were rolling out around that time. The grilled sandwiches were not a longstanding success and were ultimately discontinued to make room for other breakfast items.

These days, taquitos might seem like a ubiquitous Mexican-American fusion snack, but in the late 1980s, they were teetering on the edge of fast food's limelight. Leave it to taco-happy Jack in the Box to coax the idea of fast-food taquitos into the public realm. When the eatery ran TV commercials in the late '80s profiling the righteousness of not just taquitos but also the amazing dipping sauce called guacamole they came with, suburban America got keen on these once-regional foods.

By no means did Jack in the Box invent guacamole or taquitos, but it did prop both up at a time when Big Macs and Whoppers were on everyone's lips at local drive-thrus. Its offering of taquitos failed to catch on though, because the item was discontinued, only to resurface as a new release in the summer of 2002. For the second coming, Jack in the Box sold three and five-piece orders of taquitos, but once again, the rolled tacos faded away from menu boards and have not come back. 

Now, the closest thing customers can get to the once-novelty item is a helping of Tiny Tacos or Loaded Tiny Tacos, crunchy bite-sized tidbits that are sold with a side of creamy avocado lime sauce that the brand describes as being " like little love letters to your mouth."