Late-Night Cravings: Jack in the Box Munchie Meals, Ranked

There is arguably no chain that spends more time marketing its food to 3 a.m. stoney-baloneys than Jack in the Box. Jack's Munchie Meal Box, designed for those exact people, first launched in 2013. A decade later? It's been slightly revamped.

The Jack in the Box late night menu used to be a selection of nonsensical items combined into different boxes. It was chaos. Today, you have the ability to build your own Munchie Meals out of a variety of Jack's best options for $10.

But with nine individual components and only three spots to fill, what’s the best way to build yours out? Here’s everything you need to know about the best items on the Munchie Meal menu.

This story was updated in November 2023.

In the days before the chicken sandwich wars, the chicken sandwich from every fast food restaurant was a flat little disc with breading, much like the McChicken still is. Jack's was the best in the biz at that time; crunchy, spicy, and reminiscent of proper fried chicken. It’s still a weird little frisbee of a chicken patty, but it remains my favorite thing on the Jack in the Box menu.

It's also a lot more palatable than the Chick N Tater Melt and the Spicy Nacho Chicken Sandwich, which were two previous, very real Munchie Meal options. Jack's new Loaded Chicken sandwich, which is just a bunch of chicken strips on a hot dog bun, is also a lot more unhinged than this.

The first time I ever really thought about a fast food value menu, I was thinking about Jack’s taco deal. Two tacos for 99 cents is every middle school kid’s dream, and you could often catch me with a pair of those bad boys in my hand when I was that age.

We all know they’re wonderful, especially so with Jack’s taco sauce, but the fact that you can get two tacos and only take up one spot in Jack's Munchie Meal is huge. Pair these with the Halfsie Fries and bing-bang-boom, you’ve got four different sides for the price of two. Tacos are some of the best Jack in the Box items, and there's no conceivable reason you should skip them.

This is a must for me. But look, if you need to go for only Curly Fries, I get it. They're what Jack does best. Occasionally those curly fries are a little too salty, and that can get compounded with all the other goofy stuff you've got going on in your box, making this a nice way to regain some balance if you need to.

This is why we’re all here. Those beautiful curls are Jack’s masterpiece. So crunchy, so golden, so well-seasoned. I think about Jack's curly fries when I'm eating other burgers.

And what an elegant vessel for dipping, the curly fry! It’s like breaking off the tip of that hill that Jack Skellington walks on (is he the Jack behind all of this?) and taking it for a swim into some tasty sauce. Divine stuff.

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It’s a classic, right? Mayo, ketchup, mustard, and both yellow and white cheese meet on Jack’s signature buttery buns. This kind of simplicity is what fast food is all about. The Ultimate Cheeseburger is the single best Jack in the Box burger that isn't served on sourdough.

Plus, if you've still got PTSD from the other shenanigans that Jack used to get up to (like the Sriracha Curly Fry Burger and the Stacked Grilled Cheese Burger), this is one of the most toned-down choices you can make. No more cheese sauce; just cheese.

Related: Ugh, Fine: I Ranked the 9 Measly Items on the McDonald's Dollar Menu

This is basically the Ultimate Cheeseburger, but with more of the classic fixins: lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle. Jack in the Box generally has better produce than places like Wendy’s, so this isn’t necessarily a death blow.

Sure, tomatoes are a highly controversial fruit, but there’s no denying that a burger tastes better with the sharp, stinging crunch of an onion. Think of the onions. Do it for the onions.

Related: French Fry Showdown: The Chain That Beats McDonald's

It’s 2023 now, and Jack can’t sit idly by while every other fast food restaurant competes for chicken sandwiches. Enter his spicy sauced Cluck Sandwich, which features a thicker, somewhat juicier chicken breast than the classic spicy chicken.

It also comes topped with pickles and “Good Good Sauce” which, believe it or not, I did not name. It’s a spicy aioli not unlike the one they serve at every other chain. The Cluck is just fine, but you only get one choice for your sandwich. I think you want the Spicy Chicken.

I assure you, there’s nothing wrong with the Jack in the Box onion rings. These things are an important part of any late-night munchie meal. Plus, fried onions, are a win in my book no matter where they come from.

The only thing keeping them down here is the fact that everything else is simply a better choice. You can’t leave that drive-thru window without tacos or curly fries. You just can’t do it.

Jack’s fries aren’t bad. In my day, they had little bits of skin on them, which was the business. 

You could roll up to a Jack in the Box and get regular fries instead of curly fries or Halfsie fries if you want, but … why would you do that?