Review: Jack in the Box - Hella-peno Burger

Jack in the Box's new Hella-peno Burger features a beef patty, sliced jalapenos, cheese-filled jalapeno poppers, cheese sauce, and taco sauce on a sesame bun. It's part of their late night menu and is only available from 9 pm to 5 am.

I picked up the burger with 'halfsie' fries, two tacos, and a drink for $6.

Somehow the Hella-peno Burger was much spicier than the ghost-peppered Blazin' Chicken Sandwich. I can only chalk it up to it having plenty of jalapenos. It was pretty spicy; I was sniffling and sweating a little.

The problem was there was plenty of jalapenos, but not enough variety as the whole thing just felt like a jalapeno burger, which, granted, is pretty much the name. I got plenty of jalapeno flavor and surprisingly not too much tang between the peppers and taco sauce. There was a good amount of beef here as well, but it felt like it was missing something to pull it all together. Basically, there wasn't enough cheese and it didn't have enough flavor. They needed to go nacho cheese all over the burger, but instead, they went with mildly creamy and it just didn't do it for me.

I ended up pulling out the jalapeno poppers to enjoy on their own; they're quite good and decently crispy for having sat inside the burger.

Overall, Jack in the Box's Hella-peno Burger was disappointing for what could have been. It brought the meat and the peppers, but didn't quite meet them with the cheese. I guess there's a reason they didn't call it the "Hella-peno Cheeseburger."

Nutritional Info - Jack in the Box Hella-peno Burger Munchie Meal
Serving Size - 1 meal (not including beverage)
Calories - 1600 (from Fat - 765)
Fat - 85g (Saturated Fat - 24g)
Sodium - 3644mg
Carbs - 154g (Sugar - 16g)
Protein - 53g

I did some number-crunching and it's about 830 calories for the Hella-peno Burger alone.