Crispy, crunchy, and topped with sweet and salty tartar sauce, McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish is a fast food classic. While it’s tough to improve on such perfection, creating coleslaw with easy ingredients from the McDonald’s menu can help to take your Filet-O-Fish from standard drive-thru fare to something you’d expect from a seaside seafood eatery.
Creating your coleslaw mix is simple: Ask for shredded lettuce on top of your Filet-O-Fish, an extra side of tartar sauce, and a fork. Open up your Filet-O-Fish container. Remove the lettuce from your sandwich and place it in the empty side of the container, add the tartar sauce, and mix until you reach creamy perfection. Add your newly-made coleslaw back to your sandwich, and enjoy the tang of extra tartar sauce alongside the crisp crunch of lettuce, highlighting the savory flavors of your crispy filet.
To get even more creative, try asking for a side of Big Mac sauce and to mix with your lettuce instead of extra tartar sauce. McDonald’s Big Mac sauce is fairly simple — it’s mostly mayo, with some sweet pickle relish, mustard, vinegar, and seasonings, making it a slightly sweeter and spicier version of tartar sauce that can go well with a Filet-O-Fish (it’s especially delicious if you order cheese on your sandwich). If you’re not a fan of coleslaw, simply ordering your sandwich with Big Mac sauce instead of tartar sauce can make your Filet-O-Fish even better.
More ways to take your Filet-O-Fish to the next level
The Filet-O-Fish is super beloved (and it has a seriously documentary-worthy history), so it’s no surprise that fans of the sandwich have long been creating their own twists on this classic favorite. Many McDonald’s fans have been sprucing up the Filet-O-Fish by adding bacon, lettuce, and tomato, creating a BLT-fish sandwich hybrid. Try the coleslaw trick with tartar or Big Mac sauce on the BLT to create an extra decadent treat.
While the standard golden bun that comes with the Filet-O-Fish is always a winner, consider switching things up by asking for an English muffin or breakfast biscuit instead. Both of these versions of the sandwich are delicious with the coleslaw hack. If you’re going with the English muffin, we recommend trading out tartar sauce for Big Mac sauce, as you’ll already get a touch of tangy flavor from the dried rye sourdough McDonald’s uses in its English muffins.
