We taste-tested 13 brands of frozen mac and cheese you’re likely to find at your local supermarket. To find the very best one, we sampled each without knowing which was which. Our winner is Trader Joe’s, but we also crowned one other runner-up. You can get our runner-up delivered to your door with Amazon Fresh.
I make macaroni and cheese at least once a week. It’s always a hit, and my family gobbles it up baked, stovetop-made, or air-fried. (Air frying is the best way to heat up leftovers, I promise.) Though I try to make it from scratch whenever I can, there are busy weeknights when that simply isn’t possible—which is when the frozen stuff comes in handy. The question is: Which is worth buying?
To find the best frozen mac and cheese, our editors taste-tested 13 widely available brands. We heated them according to package directions and sampled them in random order, without knowing which was which. We then tabulated the results and crowned an overall winner, along with one other worthy runner-up.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
The Criteria
Mac and cheese should be rich and creamy, with a pleasant tang from the cheese. The sauce should be smooth and velvety—not split or gritty—and the pasta should be tender but not mushy. Mac and cheese should be nicely seasoned but not overly salty, and most importantly, it should taste like real cheese. (Bonus points if it’s aged, with a complex nuttiness.)
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Overall Winner
Joe’s Diner Mac ‘n Cheese (Trader Joe’s)
Add this to the list of products our staff loves from Trader Joe’s. “Decent cheesy flavor,” wrote our editorial director, Daniel, who liked the crispy bits of pasta. “Actually tastes a bit like cheese,” our associate visuals director, Amanda, noted. Similarly, our visuals editor, Jessie, appreciated that they could taste “some funkiness from real cheese,” and remarked that it could pass for “real food.” Though this mac and cheese could’ve used more salt and sauce, we all agreed it’s a good frozen option for a quick weeknight dinner.
Runner-Up
Beecher’s “World’s Best” Mac & Cheese
Our tasters liked the savory, garlic-forward flavor of the sauce and appreciated that this mac and cheese tasted distinctly of real cheese. “Not bad, savory,” Jessie wrote, while Daniel called out the garlic flavor, and used the word “decent” for this one too. (If you follow our taste tests, you know that “decent” is high praise from Daniel.) Our associate editorial director, Megan, was a fan of this one, noting a “nice nuttiness,” though she did mention that it might not appeal to people looking for a “classic” mac and cheese. While our editors enjoyed the flavor of this mac and cheese and liked that the noodles weren’t overcooked, we were less enthusiastic about the grittiness of the sauce.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
The Contenders
- 365 by Whole Foods Market Mac & Cheese
- Amy’s Macaroni & Cheese
- Banquet Mac & Cheese
- Beecher’s “World’s Best” Mac & Cheese
- Bob Evans Mac & Cheese
- Homebake Homestyle Mac & Cheese
- Joe’s Diner Mac ‘n Cheese
- Kraft Deluxe Original Cheddar Mac & Cheese
- Lean Cuisine Classic Macaroni & Cheese
- Marie Callender’s Vermont Cheddar Mac & Cheese
- On-Cor Macaroni & Cheese
- Stouffer’s Mac & Cheese
- Wegmans Macaroni & Cheese
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Key Takeaways and Conclusion
Frozen mac and cheese is typically made with cooked pasta, milk, cheese, and butter. Many products also include various artificial and natural flavorings, such as butter flavor and cheddar cheese flavor. Annatto and turmeric are frequently used for coloring. Some brands contain thickeners, stabilizers, and emulsifiers—such as guar gum, xanthan gum, sodium citrate, potassium citrate, and/or whey protein concentrate—and may also incorporate lactic acid, a preservative that enhances the cheese’s tanginess.
Our winner, Joe’s Diner Mac ‘n Cheese from Trader Joe’s, is made with four cheeses: cheddar, Havarti, Gouda, and Swiss. Though it has 11 ingredients, it has a much shorter ingredient list than many of the brands we sampled. It’s thickened with flour and pregelatinized rice starch and seasoned with little more than salt and “spices.” Our runner-up, Beecher’s “World’s Best” Mac & Cheese, is made with two cheeses—cheddar and Jack—and flavored with chipotle purée, apple cider vinegar, dehydrated garlic, and a blend of herbs, including rosemary, thyme, sage, and bay leaves.
Our tasters detected some bitterness in several of the mac and cheeses we sampled. Many of those products contain soybean oil, an ingredient that can go rancid when oxidized or heated past its smoke point. Neither our winner nor runner-up contains soybean oil, so while we can’t be certain this is the cause of the bitterness we noticed, it’s worth considering choosing a product without it.
Our Testing Methodology
All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets, ranking the samples according to various criteria. All data is tabulated, and results are calculated with no editorial input to provide the most impartial representation of actual results possible.
