Jumbo Jack Copycat Recipe: Homemade Jack in the Box Burger

To make a Jumbo Jack at home, griddle a thin all-beef patty of 3.5 to 4 oz (100 to 113 g) and season it with salt. Put it on a toasted sesame seed bun with iceberg lettuce, tomato, dill pickle chips, chopped onion, mayo-onion sauce and ketchup. This homemade Jumbo Jack takes about 25 minutes for two burgers. It’s my own copycat, not Jack in the Box’s official recipe. The chain doesn’t publish its patty weight or the formula for its mayo-onion sauce, so I rebuilt both from its public ingredient statements and its current US menu description.

What’s on a Jumbo Jack?

A Jumbo Jack is a beef patty topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles, chopped onions, mayo-onion sauce and ketchup on a sesame seed bun. That’s how the current US menu describes it, word for word: “jumbo beef patty topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles, chopped onions, mayo-onion sauce and ketchup on a sesame seed bun” (Allmenus, Jack in the Box menu, checked October 8, 2026).

Inside a Jack in the Box Jr. Jumbo Jack, the smaller version: the thin beef patty under tomato, lettuce and dill pickle chips, the same toppings as the full-size Jumbo Jack (May 2016). (Photo: Willis Lam, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inside\_Jack\_In\_The\_Box\_Jr\_Jumbo\_Jack\_(27315200085).jpg))

Jack in the Box opened in San Diego on February 21, 1951. Robert O. Peterson founded it, and the company is still headquartered there (Wikipedia). The Jumbo Jack came along in the early 1970s. The fan wiki gives 1971 and Top Secret Recipes gives 1974, and I couldn’t settle which is right. For where the chain fits in the bigger story, see our history of the hamburger.

Jack in the Box headquarters at 9357 Spectrum Center Boulevard in Kearny Mesa, San Diego, the city where the chain opened in 1951 (February 2025). (Photo: Coolcaesar, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:9357\_Spectrum\_Center\_Boulevard.jpg))

Map: Jack in the Box corporate headquarters, 9357 Spectrum Center Blvd, San Diego, CA 92123. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0)

Jumbo Jack ingredients: the official list vs. the guesswork

Jack in the Box’s official ingredient statement lists the Jumbo Jack patty as just “Beef,” with no seasoning mixed in. The rest of the build comes from that same document, the Ingredient & Allergen Statements dated July 27, 2016 (Jack in the Box PDF). The table shows what’s published and what I had to work out for this copycat.

Jumbo Jack ingredients: what Jack in the Box publishes (2016 Ingredient & Allergen Statements, US menu) next to the homemade choice: patty, seasoning, bun, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion, mayo-onion sauce, ketchup, cheese. (Table: Burger Breton, data from Jack in the Box Ingredient & Allergen Statements (July 27, 2016), Allmenus and Top Secret Recipes)

The mayonnaise in the 2016 statement is made from soybean oil, water, salted egg yolks, distilled vinegar, sugar, salt, spices and lemon juice. Any regular store-bought mayo sits close to that.

Jumbo Jack sauce: mayo-onion, ketchup and the old Secret Sauce

Today’s Jumbo Jack gets two sauces: mayo-onion sauce and ketchup. According to the fan wiki, it used to come with “Jack’s Secret Sauce” until May 1999, when ketchup replaced it (Jack in the Box Wiki). The wiki is a single fan-run source, so treat that date as reported, not confirmed.

The 2016 official statement still lists the ingredients of the Secret Sauce, though not the amounts. It contains water, tomato concentrate, high-fructose corn syrup, mustard, soybean oil, vinegar, dehydrated onion, egg yolks, raisin paste, orange purée, spices, tamarind and molasses. Raisin paste, tamarind, molasses: that reads like a tangy steak sauce, not a burger mayo. It’s not on today’s burger, so it’s not in my copycat either.

The mayo-onion sauce is the one I had to rebuild. Its name is on the current menu, but its recipe isn’t in the ingredient statement I checked. My version is mayonnaise with finely minced fresh onion and a little onion powder. The fresh onion gives bite; the powder carries the flavor into every spoonful. It’s a reconstruction, not the chain’s formula.

Homemade Jumbo Jack ingredients (2 burgers)

These quantities make two burgers and follow the same conventions as my Whopper copycat recipe, so you can compare them side by side.

Mayo-onion sauce

• 3 tbsp (45 g) mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp (10 g) white onion, very finely minced
• ¼ tsp onion powder
• 1 small pinch of salt

Burgers

• 2 sesame seed buns
• 7 to 8 oz (200 to 226 g) ground beef, 80/20, cold
• Salt
• 4 thin tomato slices
• 2 large iceberg lettuce leaves
• 4 dill pickle chips
• 2 tbsp (20 g) chopped white onion
• 2 tsp (10 g) ketchup
• Optional, for the Jumbo Jack with Cheese: 4 slices American cheese

Times: prep 15 minutes, cook 10 minutes, total 25 minutes.

How to make a Jumbo Jack: step by step

Make the sauce first, then shape thin patties a little wider than the bun, toast the bun and cook the patties hard and fast. Only the patty needs your full attention.

1. Make the mayo-onion sauce

Stir the mayonnaise, minced onion, onion powder and salt together in a small bowl. Let it rest in the fridge while you prep everything else. Ten minutes is enough for the onion to flavor the mayo.

2. Prep the toppings

Slice the tomato thin, about ¼ inch (6 mm). Tear the lettuce leaves to the size of the bun. Chop the onion finely and pat the pickle chips dry. Wet toppings make the top bun slide off.

3. Shape thin patties

Split the cold beef into two equal portions of 3.5 to 4 oz (100 to 113 g). Press each one into a thin patty about ½ inch (1.3 cm) wider than the bun, since it shrinks as it cooks. Keep them in the fridge until the pan is hot.

4. Toast the buns

Toast the buns cut side down in a dry skillet over medium heat for 45 to 60 seconds, until golden. Set them aside cut side up. Toasting keeps the sauces from soaking into the crumb.

5. Cook the patties

Heat the skillet or griddle over medium-high heat, around 400 °F (200 °C) at the surface. Lay the patties down, salt the top, and cook 2 to 3 minutes per side until well browned and cooked through, 160 °F (71 °C) in the center. For the cheese version, put one slice on each patty during the last 30 seconds and cover the pan.

Beef patties browning in their own fat on a flat griddle: the even contact that gives a Jumbo Jack-style patty its crust in 2 to 3 minutes per side at about 400 °F. (Photo: TurnOnTheNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burger\_patties\_at\_BJBF\_2026\_20260503144238.jpg))

6. Build the burger in order

Build each burger from bottom to top: bottom bun, mayo-onion sauce, patty, 2 tomato slices, lettuce, 2 pickle chips, chopped onion, more mayo-onion sauce, ketchup, top bun. I use the Top Secret Recipes build order, swapping its plain mayo for the mayo-onion sauce from today’s menu. Don’t skip the second layer of sauce: it’s what keeps the ketchup from taking over. For the Jumbo Jack with Cheese, put the second slice of cheese under the patty, so the patty sits between two slices.

How close this copycat gets to the original

Every choice below rests on what Jack in the Box has published. Where the chain says nothing, I say so.

• Beef only in the patty. The official statement lists “Beef” and nothing else, so I don’t mix seasoning into the meat. Salting on the griddle is a guess I share with Top Secret Recipes.
• A thin patty, wider than the bun. That’s the shape in Todd Wilbur’s copycat, which uses 1/5 lb (about 3.2 oz, 91 g) per burger and 2 to 3 minutes per side (Top Secret Recipes). I go up to 3.5 to 4 oz because no weight is official, and some sites say a quarter pound without citing a source.
• Mayo-onion sauce instead of plain mayo. The current menu names it. Top Secret Recipes still uses plain mayo, which I think is out of date.
• The same toppings, from the same families. Iceberg, tomato, dill chips and chopped onion all match the 2016 statement.
• Ketchup on top. The fan wiki says it replaced the Secret Sauce in 1999, and it has stayed in the build since.

What I can’t promise: the bun recipe, the exact patty weight and the sauce formula. Jack in the Box doesn’t publish any of them in the documents I could check. All the data here refers to the US market, through the current menu description and the 2016 ingredient statement.

Jumbo Jack vs. Whopper and other chain burgers

The Jumbo Jack and the Whopper share a toolkit: a sesame bun, a single beef patty, iceberg lettuce, tomato, dill pickles, onion, mayo and ketchup. The big difference is the sauce and the heat. The Jumbo Jack gets an onion-flavored mayo and a thin patty cooked fast. The Whopper is known for its flame-grilled patty, which I covered in my Whopper copycat recipe. If you’re cooking indoors on a weeknight, I’d pick the Jumbo Jack: one skillet, no grill, and the onion mayo does a lot of the work.

From the same chain, my Jack in the Box Ultimate Cheeseburger copycat goes the other way: two seasoned patties with American and Swiss cheese. For other American chain burgers, there’s the Five Guys cheeseburger copycat, the Dairy Queen Original Cheeseburger copycat and the Triple Meat Whataburger copycat. The full collection lives on the Burger Breton recipes hub.

Jumbo Jack copycat FAQ

How much beef is in a Jumbo Jack?

Jack in the Box doesn’t publish the weight of the Jumbo Jack patty. Top Secret Recipes uses 1/5 lb (about 91 g), and other sites claim a quarter pound without a source. For a homemade Jumbo Jack, 3.5 to 4 oz (100 to 113 g) of 80/20 beef per burger works well.

What sauce is on a Jumbo Jack?

The current Jumbo Jack comes with mayo-onion sauce and ketchup. The fan wiki says it had “Jack’s Secret Sauce” until May 1999, when ketchup replaced it. The chain doesn’t publish the mayo-onion sauce recipe, so the version here is my reconstruction.

How many calories are in a Jumbo Jack?

Unofficial databases put a 216 g Jumbo Jack at 520 calories, with 23 g protein, 33 g fat, 32 g carbs and 700 mg sodium (Nutritionvalue.org). I couldn’t check current official figures on Jack in the Box’s website, so treat these numbers as estimates.

Jumbo Jack nutrition (216 g, unofficial): bar chart of 23 g protein, 33 g fat, 32 g carbs for 520 calories and 700 mg sodium. (Chart: Burger Breton, data from Nutritionvalue.org (unofficial))

How do I make a Jumbo Jack with Cheese?

Add two slices of American cheese, one under the patty and one on top. Jack in the Box sells a Jumbo Jack with Cheese, but I couldn’t find its official slice count, so the two-slice build is my choice. At home, melt the top slice on the patty in the pan and lay the second one on the bottom bun.

Should I use a skillet, a griddle or a grill?

Use a skillet or a flat griddle. A thin patty needs flat, even contact to brown in 2 to 3 minutes per side, which is how Top Secret Recipes cooks it too. A grill grate works, but thin patties can stick and fall apart.

Two burger patties cooking in a home skillet: no griddle needed for a homemade Jumbo Jack, just cook them through to 160 °F in the center. (Photo: Horacio Cambeiro (Tubby3), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Preparing\_Argentine\_Friar\_Hamburgers\_in\_a\_Frying\_Pan.jpg))

What allergens are in a Jumbo Jack?

Expect egg, soy, wheat and sesame, plus milk in the cheese version. The 2016 official statement shows egg and soy in the mayonnaise. The sesame seed bun brings wheat and sesame, though its ingredients aren’t in that statement. When cooking at home, check the labels on your own bun, mayo, ketchup and cheese.

Where can I eat a Jumbo Jack?

In 2025, Jack in the Box ran 2,712 restaurants across 22 US states, plus 3 in Mexico and 2 in Guam (Wikipedia). It came back to Mexico in February 2024 with a restaurant in Chihuahua. I couldn’t verify whether the Mexican menu serves the Jumbo Jack the same way, so this recipe follows the US version.

A Jack in the Box restaurant in Stockton, California, one of about 2,712 US locations serving the Jumbo Jack (July 2025). (Photo: TaurusEmerald, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jack\_in\_the\_Box\_Stockton,\_California.jpg))