Jack in the Box Popcorn Chicken Returns With a Sauce Nobody Can Name

Jack in the Box Popcorn Chicken is back. As of November 5 it has returned to participating locations nationwide for a limited time, in Small and Big Boxes, a combo, and a new Doomsday Dipping Box tied to Avengers: Doomsday, which opens December 18.

The Box Is the Message

The Doomsday Dipping Box is less a meal than a coalition government: Popcorn Chicken, two Mozzarella Sticks, two tacos, seasoned curly fries, a drink, three sauces, and one blind-bagged magnet from a set of eight that snap together. Collecting all eight requires eight boxes or a very understanding friend group. The price has not been announced.

The Assemble Sauce Question

The headline act is Assemble Sauce, a brand-new sauce whose flavor the company kept secret until launch. Its running mates are Mutant Marinara, back for a limited time, and Fantastic Buttermilk Ranch, which is the regular ranch wearing a cape.

The flavor is unconfirmed, so the theories are free. The name suggests a sauce built from parts: a little tang, a little smoke, a little sweetness, each flying in from a different direction. Call it a creamy, mildly smoky team-up. The rival theory is a spicy ranch in a trench coat, since that is the one open lane on the lineup. Both are plausible. Neither is confirmed.

Loaded and Ready

Popcorn chicken is bite-sized, breaded, and under our jurisdiction. Think of the box as an arsenal: a magazine of popcorn chicken, three sauces in the chamber, and one unidentified round nobody has cleared for inspection.

Supplies are limited, with the magnets running out first. Tell your grandchildren you showed up to the dipping range fully armed, not empty-handed.