Zaxby’s is great, and they have 900 locations to attest to that fact. But those locations are concentrated in just 18 states, so it’s not surprising if you haven’t been to a Zaxby’s joint just yet.
But if you do happen upon a Zaxby’s when you travel (or a location opens near your home, if you’re incredibly lucky), then you need to hightail yourself to it. And when you do, make sure you get the best that the Zaxby’s menu has to offer (view all meals at Zaxby’s). That means ordering the items on this list:
Spicy Signature Sandwich
The original Signature Sandwich was Zaxby’s contender for the chicken sandwich wars, and there’s no denying that its flavor is great. It’s actually a simple sandwich, as the quality of the chicken shone definitely shone through. Zaxby’s didn’t try to compensate for mediocre chicken by hiding it behind a horde of different ingredients. They simply put the chicken in within a buttery potato bun, and put in some sliced pickles along with the iconic Zax sauce.
The problem was that at some point, the sandwich gets boring. It’s just too plain, and halfway through the sandwich you might be wishing for something more. And Zaxby’s solved that problem nicely, simply by switching the original Zax sauce with the spicy Zax version. And that really made a difference.
The extra tanginess and spiciness of the new sauce really brings everything together, from the premium chicken, sliced pickles, and buttery potato bun. It’s not too spicy at all to overwhelm the other ingredients, but it’s spicy enough to make it really interesting.
Blue Zalad
Zaxby’s offers quite a few salads (which they “Zalad”) and that’s fine. Sometimes we at least want to try eating healthy, even if we’re at a fast-food joint and fast-food salads tend to contain lots of calories and sodium. Try any Zalad you want, but you should probably go with the Blue Zalad first.
Like the other Zalads, you’ve got lots of veggies here. This version comes with red cabbage, Roma tomatoes, carrots, and a variety of mixed greens. It also the fried onions that provide that satisfying crunch to eats bite. These ingredients can satisfy your appetite, even though the salad itself only has 680 calories.
Then you add chicken to top the salad, and here you have several options to pick from. You can go with garden, blackened, or buffalo chicken, and each one is covered in flavorful spices.
But the bleu cheese here is the difference maker. It provides that tangy taste and creamy texture that can actually have you enjoying a salad at last.
Spicy Zax Sauce
At this point, you already know how the spicy Zax sauce made a huge difference with Zaxby’s Signature Sandwich. But the truth is that it really enhances every fried food you might want to dip into this liquid gold. It’s tangy and spicy, but the spice isn’t overwhelming at all as it’s a creamy sauce.
It works great as an addition to any other sandwich you might get from the menu. Add it to your Texas toast. Dip your fries into it. And obviously, it works nicely with the chicken fingers as well.
Cajun Club Sandwich
If you find yourself tired of fried chicken and you want a different sort of chicken for your sandwich, then you should try the Cajun Club Sandwich. It features blackened chicken that’s not quite your regular sort of blackened chicken, and it sure is packed with flavor.
That flavor comes from the Cajun spices covering the chicken, and it doesn’t hurt that the other ingredients in the sandwich really enhance the overall flavor. It comes with American cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and bacon, along with some ranch sauce on the potato bun.
This is quite a light sandwich, so it’s a great choice if you don’t want something too heavy. At the same time, it should still sate your appetite. If you’re feeling hungry when you order this, then you can always add a side of crinkle fries to make sure you’re not still hungry at the end of your meal.
Texas Toast
This may seem like an overly basic menu item to make it to the top ranks of the Zaxby’s menu. But it really is that good. And admit it, just how often do you get toast at any other fast-food restaurant? You don’t get toast because you want to reserve some stomach space for tastier items. But at Zaxby’s, the Texas toast is one of those tastier items.
Let’s start with the fact that this isn’t your ordinary toast of bread. The cut is quite thick, and that means you won’t find pathetic, soggy slices of toast. Then they cover the toast with a terrific garlic spread that makes it great enough to match with the other menu items you might be ordering. But even on its own, it’s really that good.