Kraft Just Launched Two New Mac & Cheese Flavors, and They’re So Good, I Can’t Pick a Favorite

Kraft’s original boxed macaroni and cheese was my first childhood food fascination. Those little tube-shaped noodles covered in that highlighter-orange cheese sauce? I could eat that stuff every single day as a kid. 

Twenty-something years later, even though I’ve got a whole world of mac and cheese out there to appreciate (I’m looking at you, creamy baked mac and cheese), there’s still something so unbelievably comforting about that classic blue box. 

Now that I’m a bit older, Kraft has seemed to have grown a bit, too, especially with its latest release of not one but two new flavors: Kraft Jalapeño Flavored Mac and Cheese and Kraft Ranch Flavored Mac and Cheese. As a self-proclaimed lover of boxed macaroni, I couldn’t be more excited. 

Kraft first introduced its flagship mac and cheese box to consumers in 1937, a true game-changer for families during the Great Depression. Since then, the brand has reinvented itself with countless flavors and shapes — including my personal favorite: unicorns!. Now, the iconic brand is putting another spin on its classic formula, cranking up the flavor with ranch and jalapeño. The 7-ounce boxes hit shelves earlier this August, and are now both available at select retailers, including Instacart. 

Let me preface this review by saying I equally love ranch just as much as I love spice. So much so that I’m that person who covers their pizza chili flakes before drenching it in ranch (I know, I’m sorry!). 

Instead of gathering my thoughts over the course of a few meals, I decided to make a pot of each at the same time and get to work. And as an already major-fan of Kraft’s original mac and cheese, I knew two things going in: It would take a lot to impress me, and that these new flavors probably wouldn’t stack up against my nostalgic feelings about boxed mac and cheese. 

But to my surprise, they were both fantastic! I could actually taste the buttermilk and melody of herbs and alliums in the ranch flavor and the jalapeño tasted just like the original version, only with a kick of spice that really enhanced the cheesy-goodness of the pasta. And most importantly, they each preserved that same comforting taste of the classic, made better with tangy, bold upgrades. 

They’re both so tasty that I was torn between whether the herbaceous ranch or spicy jalapeño was better — so in the end I did the only logical thing: mixed them together. And to no surprise, it was also fantastic! Trust me, if you’re a ranch or spice lover, you need to add one of these boxes to your cart the next time you go shopping to try them out for yourself. 

Buy: Kraft Ranch Flavored Mac & Cheese, $1.99 for 7.25 ounces at Instacart

This article originally published on The Kitchn. See it there: Kraft Just Launched Two New Mac & Cheese Flavors, and They’re So Good, I Can’t Pick a Favorite