Ranking the 10 Jack In The Box Sauces from Worst to Best

Fast food fans can probably agree that few things are better than unsuspectingly coming across a new favorite dipping sauce. Whether you had a nirvana moment upon first trying Chick-Fil-A sauce or your heart’s been captured by another favorite fast food sauce, there’s something about dunking a 10-piece chicken nuggets in savory goodness that can’t be beat. To that end, it shouldn’t be surprising that many fast food chains nowadays have a variety of dipping sauces to choose from — and Jack in the Box is no exception. 

Though it’s not the most prolific fast food chain in the U.S., Jack in the Box has locations in many states across the country. I didn’t discover it until moving to Portland, Oregon, but I was sold on the chain once I found it carries mozzarella sticks and popcorn chicken. Are they the best mozzarella sticks and popcorn chicken you’ll find? No, far from it. But when you need a quick, satisfying bite, they’ll get the job done. Even more impressive, though, is the chain’s wide array of sauces — you’ll find over 10 sauce options on its menu, some standard and others unique to the chain. I decided to take on the task of trying and ranking as many of the chain’s sauces as I could get my hands on, based on flavor and how unique of an offering it was. While some were impressive, others are easily forgettable. 

To briefly clear the air: I typically love a secret sauce. Give me any spicy mixture of mayo, ketchup, mustard, and spices, and I’ll be a happy girl. However, Jack in the Box’s Secret Sauce is woefully bad. I don’t think my expectations of a secret sauce, fry sauce, or whatever its moniker may be are unreasonable. I expect a tangy, smooth sauce with a medley of flavors throughout that can enhance whatever it adorns. This just didn’t deliver. 

My first impression of the sauce was actually pretty positive, and I considered it for a middling spot on this list. It was tasty enough, with a flavor palate that mostly delivered on what I expected. However, as I kept eating it, I was met with an unpleasant realization. This sauce was granular. Yep, that’s right — what should have been a smooth sauce packet had large mustard-like grains that were wholly unexpected and unwelcome to my palate. Does anyone expect a sauce to be “chunky?” I certainly didn’t, but I found that here. If you don’t mind textured sauces, this could be a safe enough choice, but it was an easy, indisputable no for me. 

Yet another surprising last-place contender came in the form of Jack in the Box’s Bacony Buttermilk Ranch Sauce. This didn’t get last place because it had a fine texture, but its flavors left much to be desired. As a staunch lover of both bacon and ranch, I expected this sauce to be an easy top-spot option. Perhaps that expectation only enhanced my ultimately poor opinions of this sauce; either way, you can bet I won’t be getting it again.

What would you expect from a bacon ranch sauce? Perhaps the same things I did — a smoky, slightly salty sauce that’s tempered by ever-lovable ranch flavors. Had I gotten that, I’d have been happy. What I was met with, though, was entirely different. The sauce was smoky enough, but it was way too salty to be palatable, and the bacon flavor was also overdone. The chain shot big here and indeed delivered a walloping punch of flavor, but the flavors just didn’t work together and weren’t balanced in the slightest. If you’re craving a hit of sodium or you possess gentle taste buds, you may have a differing opinion — but if you’re in the majority of the population, I’d urge you to pass on this one. 

Ah, sweet and sour sauce. The dutiful accompaniment to spring rolls and other Asian-inspired cuisine doesn’t make any lofty claims about itself. Any variation of the condiment should be a reliable, flavorful addition to whatever you dip in it. Not so with Jack in the Box’s take on the sauce. Granted, I’ve never tried to make it myself, but there are enough variations on the market that it seems like an easy-to-nail concept. 

My impression upon opening the dipping cup was positive. I could tell the sauce was thick and sticky, which is personally a key characteristic of a good sweet and sour sauce. Upon tasting it I felt a bit duped. Have you ever had a bland sweet and sour sauce? You have if you’ve been to Jack in the Box — I found myself looking for any depth of flavor in this small cup and struggled to find any. About the only flavor it had was a slight tang. I’d imagine it’s about on par with the fast food chain’s egg rolls, but it tasted seriously diluted and utterly unimpressive, even compared to other packets I’ve tried. 

Of all the condiments you could mix with sriracha, honey has to be one of the best. There’s something about the sweet-and-spicy mixture that just can’t be beat — honey’s warmth balances the heat of sriracha without muting it, and the result is a flavor bomb typically worthy of whatever you’d want to pair it with. Sadly, I can’t make the same claims about Jack in the Box’s Honey Garlic Sriracha Sauce. 

This sauce only ranks higher than the Sweet and Sour Sauce because its flavor wasn’t bad — it simply didn’t deliver on what its moniker promised. I expected the sauce to be hot, sweet, and aromatic. Instead, I got a burst of heat that overwhelmed any other tasting notes. There wasn’t enough honey to adequately cut through the sriracha, so though it was slightly sweet, its sweetness was negligible. Garlic is definitely present, but comes as an afterthought. This might be a delicious combo for some consumers, but it wasn’t at all for me. 

Jack in the Box’s Taco Sauce got a well-deserved middling spot in this ranking — like its placement, the sauce was decidedly mid. If I ever got tacos from the chain again (though I don’t know why I would when I have a Taco Bell literally right next door) its taco sauce would be an easy accompaniment. I won’t ever crave it, and I probably couldn’t eat it outside a meat, cheese, and lettuce-filled corn shell, but that’s neither here nor there. 

If you taste the sauce on your own, you’ll get a distinctly tomato, almost ketchup-esque flavor that’s hot to boot. However, it wasn’t too hot for my palate, and I’m typically pretty spice-averse. It added a decent amount of flavor to the chain’s taco, which would have been pretty bland without it — given that, I’d say it served its purpose. I just won’t be stashing extraneous packets in my kitchen drawer for later use. 

If you prefer to dunk anything and everything in BBQ sauce, you won’t be disappointed by Jack in the Box’s offering. Though no part of me was tempted to call this the best BBQ sauce I’ve ever had, it was a solid sauce for being a fast food offering, and I’ve absolutely bought worse bottles from the store. Whenever I do have problems with the sauce, it’s typically because it’s too sweet. 

On the whole, I thought this sauce was pretty well-balanced. It had all the smokiness I’d expect from a good BBQ sauce and, though it was a little on the sweet side for my palate, by no means was it too saccharine. Moreover, its texture was thick and ideal for dipping. BBQ sauces vary so widely that it can be hard to judge one when taking into account the expansive range of sauces out there; however, I could expect this to earn a middling spot in any BBQ sauce roundup. 

Some honey mustard simply isn’t worth buying, but I couldn’t put Jack in the Box’s version in that category. I’ll say off the bat that I’m not generally a fan of honey mustard sauce. I loathe yellow mustard in any form, honey mustard included, but I set aside my own bias to give this sauce a fair chance. It was well-deserved — though the honey mustard wouldn’t be my first choice for a dipping sauce, I ate more than a few bites of it without complaint. 

There’s a sour component to the sauce that’s very welcome when placed alongside its honeyed sweetness. It’s not too sweet, though, and ultimately this balance was impressive, easily pushing this sauce into the top half of my ranking. The sauce is flavorful and tangy, and even though I don’t have much to compare it to (again, not a huge honey mustard gal), I can unequivocally tell that it’s a pretty decent take on the sauce. 

Can anyone ever mess up the classic ranch sauce? Actually, yes — I absolutely loathe Trader Joe’s take on the condiment (though I’m a diehard fan of the store in general) and typically, it’s Hidden Valley or nothing for me. I couldn’t find confirmation on who provides Jack in the Box’s Buttermilk Ranch sauce, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Hidden Valley itself is behind the tantalizing dipping cups.

This ranch has the signature tang you’d expect from the condiment, without any of the off-putting sweetness that I often have problems with in various brands’ ranch sauces. I liked this ranch, and this is the dipping cup I finished the most of. Ranch lovers expect the condiment to be reliable; one should be able to get it from pretty much anywhere and know what it’s going to taste like in advance. This cup certainly delivered, so though it’s not a unique offering from the fast food chain, it doesn’t stray from the mark and got an easy third-place spot. 

Have you ever had an avocado sauce from a fast food chain? Yeah, me either. I was understandably dubious at the prospect of trying Jack in the Box’s Creamy Avocado Lime sauce — though delicious in theory, I couldn’t help but think that there was a lot of room for error in this concoction. What could easily be a fresh, zesty addition to your favorite fast food staples could just as easily taste nasty. Fortunately, the former was the case here.

I was impressed by the varied tasting notes in this small cup. Lime came through with a refreshing, sharp appeal, while the smooth avocado sat in the background and was ever-so-often punctuated by a bit of jalapeño. I dipped a chicken nugget in this for my initial taste, and then felt prompted to pour some on a taco. That was an A-plus decision, and I’d advise anyone who wants to try this sauce to do the same. While you’re at it, sneak away as many cups as you can to stockpile at home. 

Jack in the Box’s Good Good Sauce delivered everything I hoped its Secret Sauce would. The chain could have simply called it “Good” sauce, but it was well deserving of its double-moniker title. One of my favorite things about this sauce is its versatility — it boasts enough flavor to shine against anything, yet its profile has such a mixture of notes that it won’t clash with whatever food you order.

If you’ve ever had a house-made fry sauce from a burger joint, you have a good idea of what to expect from this sauce. It’s a solid fry sauce with the tiniest kick of heat, and even though brown sugar is the third ingredient, it doesn’t taste too sugary at all. Ketchup and mustard come through well and are present in a good balance, as are the other spices the company includes in this sauce. It’s tangy and full of flavor, an easy choice if you can’t decide what sauce to get, and a solid fry sauce all around. 

To rank these sauces, I headed to my neighborhood’s Jack in the Box location and grabbed one of each sauce the store had, along with a couple tacos, chicken nuggets, and fries. I tried each sauce with the most appropriate cuisine — both the Taco Sauce and the Creamy Avocado sauce went on the chain’s tacos, while the rest saw chicken nuggets as the cup-to-mouth vehicle. The only sauce I hoped to try but couldn’t was the chain’s marinara sauce. All locations around me seemed to be out of mozzarella sticks and the signature sauce, so I’ll have to save that one for my next taste test.

I judged each based on how good it was and how singular an offering it was. Flavor came first and foremost (which is why the classic Buttermilk Ranch got such a high spot), but if two sauces tied in terms of palatability, I gave preference to the more unique offering. This made the Creamy Avocado and Good Good sauces easy contenders for the top two spots; from there, each sauce varied enough that it wasn’t difficult to assign the rest of them a place.