Try These Hacks With Your McDonald's Filet-O-Fish Sandwich And Thank Us Later

There's something about a Filet-O-Fish, isn't there? The classic fish sandwich from McDonald's has had a lot of scorn thrown its way since its invention in 1962, but there's a reason why it's stayed on the menu at the world's most famous fast food restaurant ever since. It's cheap, it's tasty, it's accessible from a dietary perspective, and it's fresher than you might think. Plus, the Filet-O-Fish is one of the most hackable sandwiches you can get at McDonald's, as its simple nature makes it a versatile foundation for all sorts of upgrades.

Some Filet-O-Fish hacks are delightfully simple; small but efficient changes like adding one or two extra toppings or asking your server to prepare it in a slightly different way can make your sandwich feel new again. Others are way more extravagant, achieved by combining menu items to make towering burgers or sandwiches with varying textures. I've eaten dozens, if not hundreds, of Filet-O-Fish sandwiches over the years (it's my firm belief that it's the most underrated item on the McDonald's menu), and in my time I've tried most of the big hacks out there. If I may say so myself, I've also pioneered a few lesser-known hacks that I've largely kept to myself until this moment.

Many McDonald's hacks involve combining two or more of its burgers to make an entirely new creation, and this concept is what's behind the Land, Air, and Sea. This huge sandwich is made by ordering a Big Mac (your "land"), a McChicken (the "air"), and our star ingredient of the Filet-O-Fish (I think you can guess what this one is). You then make a sandwich within a sandwich, by placing your Filet-O-Fish on top of your Big Mac, and placing your McChicken underneath it. You can also flip things around, putting the Filet-O-Fish on the bottom and the McChicken on top.

Now, I'm gonna be honest with you: This quirky secret menu item is an absolute beast. The few times I've tried it, I've basically had to unhinge my jaw to eat it. However, it's also surprisingly delicious: You get a lot of flavor in one bite, with the lightness and tartness of the Filet-O-Fish helping to balance the beefy Big Mac and the salty McChicken. If you want things to be less towering, a far more efficient way of doing this hack is to remove the bottom bun of your Filet-O-Fish and the top bun of your McChicken. Alternatively, just remove any of the other buns you like to reduce the sheer amount of bread and make things easier to eat. Trust me, this one's not for the faint of heart!

In the United Kingdom, a chip butty is one of those meals that you eat rarely, but enjoy every time. It's basically a sandwich made from white bread, with fries, ketchup, and butter between the slices — and while it's best enjoyed without any extra additions, you can easily add further ingredients to make it more substantial. You can also reverse-engineer it, and add fries (or chips) to other sandwiches like the Filet-O-Fish to make a butty worth celebrating.

That's where our next hack comes in. Simply order your Filet-O-Fish with a side of fries, and pile them into your sandwich. You can put them on top of the fish or below it, it's up to you: I personally like to pop them on top of the fish and add a squeeze of ketchup to provide some extra tartness and moisture. Then, just dig in. Adding fries to your sandwich adds a deliciously salty pop to each bite, and the pillowy softness of potato. Plus, the crispier fries in each box give the sandwich a bit of extra crunch. As an added bonus, adding your fries to your sandwich helps make things much easier to eat — no moving between different menu items, just put them all together and chow down.

To a lot of people, this hack will feel sacrilegious. After all, the tartar sauce is one of the best parts of a Filet-O-Fish, and is what provides brightness and tanginess to an otherwise fairly simple sandwich. However, if you want to amp things up a little, Big Mac sauce is an excellent substitute — and one that will unlock an impressive amount of flavor. What's surprising is how well the sauce goes with fish, adding a slightly smoky note and a shade of umami that doesn't overwhelm the patty, but gives it more depth.

If, like me, you like your Filet-O-Fish to be moist and saucy, then I'd recommend asking for a double helping of Big Mac sauce. This will take your sandwich to the next level, giving it double the flavor and moisture while somehow not becoming the dominant taste. This order can sometimes be tricky to navigate if you're grabbing your food from one of the self-service kiosks, so it might be easier to order directly from a server, explaining the swap to them so they can communicate it to the kitchen easily.

If you're in the market for an early lunch, this next hack is for you. Putting fries into your Filet-O-Fish to make a fish and chip sandwich is a time-honored tradition, but I'm way more of a fan of subbing in a hash brown instead. Adding a hash brown to a Filet-O-Fish gives you an extra crispiness and the deliciously greasy notes that the McDonald's favorite provides. Plus, its patty shape gives each bite a uniformity that you sometimes don't get when adding fries, and it's much easier to just slot in.

However, to do this hack, you're gonna have to think about your timings. You'll have to make sure to get down to McDonald's before either 10:30 or 11:00 AM (depending on what time your local store stops serving breakfast) in order to secure your hash brown. You'll then have to wait until the store's breakfast menu options end and the main menu begins, and then order the Filet-O-Fish. Your hash brown will cool down slightly as you're waiting for the sandwich, but it will gently warm back up once you put it inside. Plus, if you want your hash brown to be super hot, then take both items home and pop it in the air fryer.

Mashing up two burgers to make something entirely new? It's heaven, folks — and while I haven't tried this next hack, you better believe that I'm going to next time I'm in McDonald's. The Surf & Turf is a classic Filet-O-Fish hack that's so popular that in 2022, McDonald's added it as a temporary menu item for folks to order themselves. The hack involves taking a Filet-O-Fish and a Double Cheeseburger, and removing the top bun from both burgers. You then place the deconstructed Filet-O-Fish on top of the Double Cheeseburger, and crown it with the cheeseburger's top bun. Alternatively, you can split the two beef patties, placing them on either side of the Filet-O-Fish. 

You're left with a mega sandwich that's pretty cheesy. The Surf & Surf's main strength seems to be that while these flavors really shouldn't go well together, they really do. Folks who have tried this hack have mentioned that the tartar sauce works wonderfully with the beef, and operates in the same way that we'd imagine a horseradish sauce does with this meat, making it lighter and fresher. The pickles and mustard, meanwhile, serve to add complexity to the fish. Although this hack essentially doubles the size of your regular sandwich, it doesn't make it too big to fit into your mouth.

Okay, so here's the thing. I love everything about a Big Mac — its size, its flavor, and its delightful middle bun. However, sometimes I want that style of sandwich without all of that beef. That's where this next hack comes in. You can make a take on a Big Mac by grabbing two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches and simply combining them. Take the top bun off one of the sandwiches, scraping as much tartar sauce as possible onto the fish, and then place the second sandwich on top of the patty. You'll get a sandwich that resembles a Big Mac, middle bun and all.

Now, this hack of course misses out a few of the key components that make a Big Mac, well, a Big Mac. You don't get any lettuce, pickles, or onions, and no Big Mac sauce. However, there are ways around this. Try requesting those extra veggies in your Filet-O-Fish when ordering them, so you can add that extra freshness — and if you want, you can also try ordering your Filet-O-Fish sandwiches with Big Mac sauce. Alternatively, see if your server would be willing to put an order into the kitchen for a Big Mac that uses Filet-O-Fish patties instead. Either way, you'll get way more fish and will end up a lot more satisfied.

Filet-O-Fish sandwiches have a healthy dose of sharp flavors already, thanks to the tartar sauce squirted onto each patty. However, there are times where you just want a little bit more punch. For those moments, this next hack will see you right. When you next order your Filet-O-Fish, ask for it with extra mustard and pickles, as well as tartar sauce (you can also omit the tartar sauce if you want to keep your flavors a little more simple). This simple hack is so good that it's actually McDonald's-approved, with its crew members making their Filet-O-Fish sandwiches using these ingredients. If they're doing it, it must work, right?

@mcdonaldshouston

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While this hack doesn't reinvent the Filet-O-Fish as we know it, it sure is effective. The mustard gives a slightly sour edge to the sandwich which balances the salty, crispy fish patty. This sourness is contributed to by the pickles, which also supply a touch of sweetness. Plus, both ingredients give the sandwich a touch of extra moisture without making it unpleasantly mushy.

The easiest and one of the most effective Filet-O-Fish hacks is sitting right under your nose. We've all had a moment, one time or another, where we've realized that the Filet-O-Fish only has a half-slice of cheese in it. Filet-O-Fish aficionados like myself know that this is by design. The reasoning behind the half-slice is that McDonald's doesn't want to overwhelm the taste of the sandwich with too much cheese, and it reasons that a half-slice gives just the right flavor.

Well sometimes, folks, we want to be overwhelmed by cheese — and it's pretty easy to achieve this. When you're next ordering your Filet-O-Fish, do as I do and ask for extra cheese. Doing this gives the sandwich way more substance and makes it taste so much richer, and gives the tartar sauce something stronger to play against. It also adds a touch of extra moisture, which the Filet-O-Fish definitely benefits from (these burgers can get pretty dry). If you're feeling moderate, just ask for a full cheese slice instead of a half one. If, however, you want to go large, request a couple extra slices of cheese. You'll have to pay a little extra, but trust me, it's worth it.

Fish and bacon may not seem like a natural pairing, but they play off each other delightfully well in dishes like fish chowder with bacon, corn, and other veggies. As it turns out, they work well together in sandwiches, too. Adding bacon, lettuce, and tomato to your Filet-O-Fish to make a BLT of the sandwich is one of those hacks that doesn't sound like it'll work, but really does. You start with your basic order of Filet-O-Fish, and then alter it to add the B, the L, and the T — oh, and ask for extra cheese and maybe an extra fish patty to pull it all together, too.

The sandwich will end up as one of the heartiest things you can order from McDonald's, and a meal that's surprisingly well-balanced in terms of flavor. The bacon adds a touch of smokiness that works against the sharper flavors in the sandwich, and makes the cheese taste more developed and complex. The lettuce and tomato provide a vegetal crispness that stops the Filet-O-Fish BLT from tasting too dense and gummy. If you opt for extra cheese, it gives you a tanginess that keeps the sandwich bright. Just make sure you ask for extra napkins, too, as the Filet-O-Fish BLT can get pretty messy.

Unlike other McDonald's burgers, the Filet-O-Fish has no vegetables to speak of. You might be able to find microscopic chunks of onion in the tartar sauce, but let's be real, they barely count — and this lack of vegetables is reflected in the single gram of fiber the sandwich offers, as well as its lack of vitamins. Now, it's safe to assume that most people aren't heading to McDonald's for nutrition, but if you're craving a little more freshness, then hack your Filet-O-Fish by asking for more vegetables. You can add any vegetable that's in the other burgers to this sandwich, with tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and pickles all on offer.

Including these veggies makes a big difference. The tomato gives the sandwich a touch of sweetness and sourness, as do the pickles. Lettuce, meanwhile, brings the crunch, and has a refreshing effect that the Filet-O-Fish really benefits from. The onions play into the taste of the tartar sauce well, amping up the briny notes a little. Of course, you don't have to add every one of these veggies to the sandwich. You can use any combination you like.

We all like our sandwiches to have that wow factor, but I don't think it's any shock to say that the Filet-O-Fish can sometimes lack it. This sandwich thrives on its simplicity, after all. However, you can give your Filet-O-Fish a big boost of flavor and meatiness by grabbing a side order of McNuggets when you purchase it, and then tucking each nugget into the sandwich. Prise the fish patty off the cheese, and then pop a couple nuggets between the two. If you're laying them flat in the sandwich, you'll likely only get three or four in there — but you can always double-stack them.

This is one of my favorite hacks to do with a Filet-O-Fish, for the very fact that it amps up its flavor without altering it beyond recognition. The meaty chunks of chicken give the sandwich more umami, turning it into something just that bit more special. They also boost the saltiness of the Filet-O-Fish, while giving it a touch more crispiness. That's all before you think about which McNugget dipping sauces you can add, too. Pour honey mustard, creamy ranch, or sweet n' sour sauce into your Filet-O-Fish and wait for your tastebuds to explode.

One thing that really sets the Filet-O-Fish apart is its bun. The bun they use for this sandwich is steamed, giving it a pillowy soft texture and a lightness that pairs well with the fish and tartar sauce. However, eating that same bun again and again has its drawbacks — with the main drawback being that it can get seriously boring. So, why not ask for a different bun instead? We all know that McDonald's has plenty of sesame seed buns hanging out in the kitchen, and by swapping the standard Filet-O-Fish bun with this one, you get a sandwich with slightly more sturdiness. The thicker texture of the sesame bun makes the Filet-O-Fish just that little bit more filling.

It's worth remembering, though, that this is one of those hacks that may not work every time. I've personally failed a few times on this front, ordering a Filet-O-Fish with a regular sesame bun and receiving it in the standard one. The reason for this is because of the way the cash register is formatted, which doesn't allow for easy bun swaps. Instead, the server has to put a special request through to the kitchen, which may or may not be fulfilled.

Anyone who orders the Filet-O-Fish regularly will know how inconsistent it can be. Sometimes you'll get a fresh, crispy sandwich, and other times you'll get something doughy, wet, and lukewarm. This is because the Filet-O-Fish is far from the most popular sandwich in most stores, and therefore it doesn't fly out of the door as quickly as the Big Mac or Double Cheeseburger might. As a result, Filet-O-Fish sandwiches tend to sit there for longer than others, collecting condensation inside their boxes.

The easiest way to get around this is to make a small modification to your order. By adding a single ingredient like lettuce or tomato, or asking for more cheese, you can guarantee that your sandwich will be made fresh. Alternatively, you can just ask for a fresh one. It'll take a couple minutes longer to make, but most of the time the crew members on shift won't mind doing this (unless it's seriously busy, that is). While the latter isn't a hack to the sandwich itself, it's a hack to the standard ordering system, which is something we're always here for.