What Fish Are You Eating In A Wendy's Fish Sandwich?

Fish sandwiches may feel like the third wheel of the fast food world, but they have quietly become a staple, or at least a recurring limited-time offer, at almost every fast food chain, including Wendy's. For years McDonald's famous Filet-O-Fish sandwich was the go-to if you wanted a fast food fish sandwich from someplace other than Long John Silver's. Today you can stop by Hardee's, Arby's, and even Popeye's to grab some fried fish. Many of these spots, Wendy's included, only offer them part of the year, usually during the Lenten season in early spring. So you might not get enough of Wendy's fish sandwich to know what it's actually made with. Well it turns out just like McDonald's offering, Wendy's fish sandwich is made with an Alaska pollock fillet.

The Crispy Panko Fish Sandwich is also topped with American cheese, dill tartar sauce, pickles, and lettuce, and of course features its namesake breading for an extra-crispy crunch. Alaska pollock itself is a mainstay of fast food fish sandwiches, also being the fish used at Arby's, Long John Silver's, Burger King, and White Castle. This is because pollock is wildly abundant in the waters of the Pacific, making it a wild-caught whitefish that is sustainable and affordable. In fact the Alaska pollock fishery is the single largest sustainable fishery in the world, producing 1.5 million tons of pollock a year.

While the abundance of Alaska pollock is a major factor in why Wendy's uses it, that isn't its only appeal. Like other types of whitefish, a big draw of pollock is its mild flavor. It's not very fishy and offers a great blank canvas, especially when it is going to be fried and slathered in tartar sauce anyway; a deeply flavored fish would be wasted here. This is why pollock is used not just in fish sandwiches, but is popular for fish tacos and fish sticks as well.

Pollock is also an extremely nutritious fish that is low in fat. It has been named one of the 20 most nutritious foods in the world; Alaska pollock is very protein rich and high in omega-3s, while simultaneously being low in calories. Pollock even has the benefit of being safe from mercury.

All of that adds up to a pretty darn good fish sandwich, and Wendy's Crispy Panko consistently ranks near the top of taste tests for the best fast food fish sandwich. The only problem is that while McDonald's Filet-O-Fish is available year-round, Wendy's has stuck to the tradition of only releasing its fish sandwich during Lent. With pollock being so nutritious and delicious, fish sandwiches deserve to become menu staples every month of the year.