Bulk Up The Filet-O-Fish By Piling On One Of McDonald's Other Best-Selling Items

Despite the rapid pace at which most fast food restaurants seek to release innovative new menu items, consumer appetites for novelties are never fulfilled. There is always a hunger to find something new and unknown, be it a secret menu ordering hack or simply combining two known favorites into something fresh. In the case of McDonald's Filet-O-Fish, the latter is what you need. Turn a run-of-the-mill sandwich into something altogether different with the addition of a few crispy McNuggets.

So-called "fin-and-feather" dishes have plenty of precedent on restaurant menus, often as a slightly more affordable angle on the traditional surf and turf, but rarely do such combinations make it to the drive-thru window. According to one reviewer at our sister-site Chowhound, this duo has legs — and wings and fins, too. Assembling the sandwich is as simple as ordering a four-piece McNuggets alongside your sandwich before cramming as many as you can fit underneath the top bun — though you'll probably struggle to fit more than a couple.

Per the taste tester's experience, the two menu items kept their unique character through the pairing, with the dish essentially tasting like "eating two McDonald's items at once" — which is about what we'd expect. That said, it worked. Equally delicate in flavor and aroma, neither of the breaded and fried meats took the spotlight from the other, creating a balanced sandwich. Plus, not needing the whole box of McNuggets to fill out the sandwich either means that you can split the four with a dining partner or whet your appetite with the pair before the main course.

Now, there is no reason that you can't construct this sandwich exactly as described above. However, given that you are ordering McNuggets, you already have an extra sauce coming your way, so it may be worth considering how that could improve things. Although it works well with chicken in terms of flavor, tartar sauce is generally limited to dressing fried fish, so you might want to request the sandwich sauce-free. From there, keep it simple with just mayonnaise, give it a drizzle of Asian-inspired sweet-and-sour flavor, or even douse it with a packet of the chain's Buffalo sauce.

In terms of other additions, it might be worth looking at some of the international Filet-O-Fish styles, particularly those from Northern Europe. The Norwegian Filet-O-Fish variant, the Fish McFeast, comes decked out with all of the traditional burger toppings, such as lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles. All of this may be a lot for that tiny, steamed bun, but it is one option to turn this simple sandwich into something quite deluxe.

If that particular combination of McDonald's menu items doesn't exactly fit your palate, the secret menu is always expanding, and your next favorite fast food meal might be just one clever idea — or scroll through social media — away. Another longtime Filet-O-Fish secret menu item is the "Air, Land, and Sea Burger," a sandwich featuring beef, chicken and fish patties, that is eye-catching, but in truth is more splash than substance. Or there's the unhinged secret menu McChicken mashup that uses fried chicken instead of buns around a Big Mac. If this fish-and-nugget sandwich really tickles your fancy, swapping out the Filet-O-Fish bun for chicken patties could be the next move.

Static Media owns and operates Tasting Table and Chowhound.