9 Hacks For A Better Filet-O-Fish Sandwich At McDonald's

The Filet-O-Fish was the first non-hamburger sandwich to grace the McDonald's menu way back in 1965 when it sold for a mere 29 cents -– and this fish sandwich has got quite the history. First of all, it was originally created to boost business for a franchisee from Cincinnati, Ohio, whose restaurant was located in a Roman Catholic neighborhood — nobody was buying burgers on Fridays (back then, Catholics couldn't eat meat on Fridays). Franchisee Lou Groen wasn't having it and convinced McDonald's to get a whitefish sandwich on its menu that would be appropriate for Lent. However, to even get on the menu, it had to defeat what was essentially a pineapple and cheese sandwich (also known as the "Hula Burger") in popularity, which it did with ease. How could it not? The combination of that crispy Alaskan pollock fish filet, American cheese, and tangy tartar sauce inside a bun is a classic McDonald's treat.

And while it feels almost sacrilegious to make changes to such a classic sandwich, sometimes you gotta switch it up. As it turns out, there are many ways to elevate the good old Filet-O-Fish without sacrificing its essence. Our hacks prove that there's nothing wrong with adding a few more ingredients to a near-perfect fast food favorite. And for the sake of convenience, all of these versions can be ordered straight from McDonald's itself. Here are nine ways to elevate the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish.

Adding bacon, lettuce, and tomato to your Filet-O-Fish and turning it into a BLT of sorts is a proven internet hack that has become very popular, especially on TikTok — and for good reason. It's seriously tasty. In fact, it should probably be its own menu item at McDonald's. The bacon is flavorful, complements the fish patty, and adds a pleasant crunch. The lettuce and tomato add their own crunchiness as well as a lightness that really upgrades a regular Filet-O-Fish sandwich.

This was a good sandwich. Sometimes when bacon is added to a burger, it can be a little too much, but when it's added to fish, it feels (and tastes) less aggressive. The two meats worked well together without being overwhelming or canceling each other out, and the sandwich had just the right amount of veggies. It was Filet-O-Fish adjacent while tasting entirely like its own thing. Overall, the BLT Filet-O-Fish is a near-perfect McDonald's hack. As a bonus, it can be conveniently ordered through the McDonald's app — all you have to do is add bacon, lettuce, and tomato.

Adding pickles to the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich is a simple hack that truly perfects the experience. In fact, after tasting this version of the sandwich, we are convinced that it should come with pickles regularly. Chances are if you're a fish sandwich person, you're also a pickle person, and nothing complements a fried fish sandwich quite like a whole bunch of pickles.

First of all, the flavors of the sandwich align with each other seamlessly. The addition of more dill flavoring gives it an extra punch of flavor and tastes super good with the fish patty and tartar sauce (which is already pretty dilly). Plus, the crunch is just so satisfying — it's just what the Filet-O-Fish was missing. Be sure to ask for extra pickles, though, because if you just ask for a regular amount of them, you'll probably only get, like, two. That's what happened to us, but, luckily, we had a jar of pickles on hand (as one does) and piled some more on.

For the ultimate fish and chips experience at McDonald's, try adding fries inside your Filet-O-Fish. Sure, one might look at this hack and think of it as "just stuffing fries inside of a sandwich," but it's so much more than that. Obviously fries complement fried fish — that's just culinary science. But this sandwich in particular feels special. It sort of tastes like something we used to order at Long John Silver's back in the day (and it's always a pleasant blast from the past to remember Long John Silver's).

If you're in the mood for fish and chips on the go, shove those fries into your Filet-O-Fish, and enjoy all of the flavors all at once. Want to take it up another notch? Request a slice of lemon from McDonald's, and spritz a bit of lemon juice on top of those fries. To utilize this hack, you'll (obviously) have to order a regular Filet-O-Fish and a small fry, and combine them yourself, as McDonald's, unfortunately, does not offer an option of shoving a bunch of fries into its sandwiches. (Maybe it should. Just saying).

Another way to make your Filet-O-Fish taste like fish and chips would be to add salt and vinegar chips to your fish sandwich instead of fries -– but sadly you would have to provide your own chips.

Adding cole slaw to a fried fish sandwich is a no-brainer, but unfortunately that's not technically an option at McDonald's. Lucky for you, we've got a hack for that (more or less). Ask for extra lettuce to be added to the Filet-O-Fish with the tartar sauce layer. It's not quite coleslaw, but it makes for a good alternative.

It is important to make sure you ask that the lettuce be assembled next to the tartar sauce, otherwise employees might do what they did with ours, which was add tartar sauce to the bottom of the sandwich, put the lettuce on top, and have them separated by the fish and cheese. We ordered the sandwich with extra tartar sauce as well, which you absolutely do not need unless you enjoy your sandwiches to have an exorbitant amount of sauce on them (aka a squishy mess). The regular amount of tartar sauce will do just fine paired with the extra lettuce.

For a simple switch that changes everything (in a good way), try ordering your Filet-O-Fish sandwich with Big Mac sauce instead of tartar sauce. Now, there really isn't any comparison between the two sauces — one is not better than the other, really. They are both equally good on the Filet-O-Fish, which makes sense because they're pretty similar: They're both mayonnaise-based with notes of that sweet, sweet relish. That said, Big Mac sauce on a Filet-O-Fish is very, very good.

If you'd like to take this hack even further, ask for an extra pump of Big Mac sauce on your Filet-O-Fish sandwich. According to former corporate McDonald's chef Mike Haracz, the apparatus used to add sauce to Big Macs dispenses less sauce in a pump compared to the one used for tartar sauce. The extra pump ensures the Filet-O-Fish resembles the original when it comes to the fish-to-sauce ratio. Unfortunately, you do have to order this hack in person, as the app does not allow for this particular sauce substitution.

Get your vegetables in — as much as possible at McDonald's, anyway — by adding tomato and lettuce to your Filet-O-Fish. This version of the sandwich is essentially the BLT hack but without the bacon –- and it, too, is pretty dang good. The toppings add a welcome freshness to an otherwise veggie-less menu item as well as a much-appreciated crunch. The addition of tomato and lettuce also create an airiness to the sandwich that leads us to think, you know what, maybe the Filet-O-Fish should come with veggies regularly. We'd certainly order this again.

Our only recommendation for this sandwich would be to not eat it directly after eating the BLT Filet-O-Fish (as we did) because, in that case, you just really miss the bacon, and it taints the experience. Bacon has that effect on things, though, so it shouldn't be too surprising. This specialized Filet-O-Fish can be ordered directly from the app.

About a year ago, a McDonald's menu hack was circulating online about a gargantuan concoction called the "Land, Air, and Sea sandwich." This was, essentially, a sandwich that combined three sandwiches: the Big Mac, the Filet-O-Fish, and the McChicken. Now, this isn't an actual menu item –- you have to buy all three sandwiches separately and assemble the specialty sandwich yourself by simply adding the fish and chicken patties into the Big Mac. So, we did.

This certainly elevates the Filet-O-Fish sandwich ... physically, that is. This sandwich is as tall as a building (okay, not really) and near impossible to fit in your mouth. Interestingly enough, when you combine the different McDonald's patties into one sandwich, it doesn't taste like one of them in particular. It just tastes like you're eating three sandwiches at once. The taste is quite literally just McDonald's. That said, after taking one bite, I wanted to take more bites — the huge tower of a burger was calling to me like a siren's song. That's the power of McDonald's for you.

Here's an idea: Add chicken McNuggets to your Filet-O-Fish. It's oh-so-simple ... and completely delicious. Think about it: Chicken McNuggets? Great. Filet-O-Fish? Great. Both, together? Yes, please! This is definitely a hack that involves buying both items and combining them yourself, but it couldn't be easier — just get a four-piece order of chicken McNuggets, and add couple of them (or however many you can fit) on top of the fish patty.

Does this just taste like you're eating two McDonald's items at once? Yes, absolutely. But guess what — it really works. Neither meat overpowers the other, and it's a very balanced sandwich. It's got a good ratio of protein to bread, and that ratio is a lot of protein and not a lot of bun. Plus, chances are that you've got a couple chicken McNuggets left over that can be eaten as a post-sandwich treat. And let's face it. There's nothing better than the phrase "extra chicken McNuggets."

Surf and turf, anyone? Try upgrading your Filet-O-Fish by adding a beef patty, turning it into a surf-and-turf-style sandwich a la McDonald's. This was another McDonald's branded hack from 2024 that required customers to buy multiple menu items and assemble the sandwich themselves. And like its counterpart, the Land, Air, and Sea sandwich, the Surf and Turf was quite literally a tall order, combining the double cheeseburger and Filet-O-Fish, with the bun in the middle like a Big Mac.

We opted to try this hack with a single patty from a hamburger and no middle piece of bread and found that even when there's only one beef patty, it sort of overpowers the fish patty. The combination just tastes like a big hamburger, which isn't necessarily a complaint — it's still McDonald's, after all. If you're in the mood for a bunch of protein (and are a fan of surf n' turf situations), this could be a great hack for you. Just remember that you'll need to buy both sandwiches and assemble the mega sandwich yourself.