Deep Dive: What’s Really in Jack-in-the-Box Tacos?
In our Random Facts segment, we learned something pretty astounding about Jack in the Box tacos.
That one fact led me right down the rabbit hole. I now know more than I ever thought I would about those tacos and I want to share what I’ve learned with you.
First, the fact that got this whole thing going.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal Americans eat a staggering 554 MILLION JITB tacos every year. Here’s another way to look at it: Americans eat about 1,000 Jack in the Box Tacos PER MINUTE.
If you’ve never had a Jack in the Box Taco, no one has ever called them “good”. They’re either “vile” or “AMAZING!” They could be both, kind of like the Schrodinger’s Cat of tacos. They’re both disgusting and delicious, until you take a bite of one.
The ingredients of these tacos, which the WSJ compared to cat food, is a matter of great speculation and debate. Here’s what I discovered…
The recipe has not really changed in 50 years. One former executive described them as “seasoned meat lump(?), two triangles of American cheese, some shredded iceberg lettuce, and a little sauce.”
According to an article on Is It Bad for You they are, “an unattractive looking paste containing texturized protein…which is essentially soy flour with caramel coloring, as well as defatted soy grits.” That leaves the main question unanswered: do they have meat in them. Again, the answer is complicated. There’s not much meat, but enough to make them “non-vegan”. Jack in the Box goes to great lengths to avoid answering that question on their website.
Interesting fact…the mini-tacos are NOT the same recipe as the regular ones. The full sized tacos have “some kind of beef” and the tiny ones have “some kind of chicken”.
Also, they appear to be inflation-proof. Through the years the price has remained relatively steady. When they first introduced them in 1976, you could get THREE regular JitB tacos for just 89 cents.
Keep in mind, that this was the introductory price. Somehow, Jack’s tacos are still just two-for-99 cents. Other than consumer electronics, name me something else that has only gone up a dime in price in 48 years.