Review: Jack in the Box - Turkey, Bacon & Cheddar Pannido

Jack in the Box's Turkey, Bacon & Cheddar Pannido features smoked turkey, bacon, cheddar cheese, and creamy Italian sauce on a toasted ciabatta baguette.

I picked one up for $4.99.

The best part of the sandwich was the ciabatta baguette. It wasn't too long ago where it seemed like every fast food chain was trying a ciabatta bun in one form or another but the ones I tried turned out to be less ciabatta and more bun. They were too soft and lacked the uneven bubbling and crisp crust of a decent ciabatta. Jack in the Box's ciabatta baguette had both a lightly crisp crust with a slightly rough texture and a crumb that with uneven and varied air pockets. It probably would have been better if they had toasted it inside as well.

Turkey was somewhat dry and bland. There was about a 50/50 turkey-to-cheddar ratio and the whole sandwich ended up tasting mostly of un-melted, mild cheddar and bread.

The bacon chimed in with some smokiness but very little in the way of crispy or crunchy bits. The sauce offered a savory creaminess with some herby notes but they spread it rather sparingly on my sandwich and I found in the rare position of wanting more sauce in my sandwich.

When it comes down to it, Jack in the Box's Turkey, Bacon & Cheddar Pannido was pretty off-kilter and came off mostly like a plain cheese sandwich. While it was novel to actually get a good taste of cheese in a fast food sandwich, I can't say the sandwich was actually good. I would not mind it at all if they kept that the ciabatta baguette around (or brought it back for some other sandwich) though.

Nutritional Info - Jack in the Box Turkey, Bacon & Cheddar Pannido (272g)
Calories - 690 (from Fat - 320)
Fat - 35g (Saturated Fat - 12g)
Sodium - 2460mg
Carbs - 48g (Sugar - 6g)
Protein - 45g