I Tried the 2 New Annie’s Mac and Cheese—Chipotle Queso and Alfredo—so Let’s Discuss

Much like your body, the boxed mac and cheese aisle at my local grocery store is a wonderland. In the past few years, it’s gone from being dominated by Kraft’s blue boxes to stocking an array of flavors and brands in brightly colored packages that are just begging to be brought home to my elder-Millennial pantry (in case the John Mayer reference didn’t do a sufficient job of aging me). 

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Annie’s has been in the mac and cheese game longer than many brands (Annie started selling boxes of mac and cheese out of her trunk in 1989!) and they’re still innovating. The brand recently released two new kid-friendly flavors, in fun shapes, to boot: Annie’s Shells & Alfredo and Annie’s Spirals & Chipotle Queso. I tried both to find out whether I need to make room in the pantry.

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Annie’s Spirals & Chipotle Queso

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Pros: I know what you’re thinking: Chipotle queso mac and cheese doesn’t sound very kid friendly, unless you have a kid who loves heat. But that’s what’s cool about this: As the box puts it, the sauce is “mild spicy,” so it has a kid-friendly whisper of heat that will make them feel like adventurous eaters without being so spicy they cry (sadly, I remember salsa making me cry at a Mexican restaurant when I was around 9 years old; milk helped). Even without spice, this has a zesty queso flavor with a little bit of smokiness that adds interest. The shape is fun, too!   

Cons: Like all powder-packet cheese sauce, this could use a little extra moisture. I added the recommended amount of milk and then another glug for good measure. The butter is optional, but I think it’s worth the extra cals if you want that good creaminess. 

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

8/10

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Annie’s Shells & Alfredo

Pros: This is a perfect boxed mac and cheese for a kid who’s just starting to try new things—wouldn’t it make you feel grownup to have elegant, understated shells and alfredo rather than the bright-orange mac and cheese that your dumb-baby siblings eat? Once again, it’s worth adding the optional butter so the sauce is a bit creamier, but go with unsalted if possible. Which leads me to the cons…

Cons: This stuff tastes salty and that’s coming from someone who loves salt. And a small quibble: If you simply dump the powder packet and milk onto the cooked pasta and stir, you are sure to find at least a few shells that are stuffed with sauce powder rather than re-constituted sauce as you eat. That’s the sort of annoying thing about tiny shells like this (and why shells are best with a creamy sauce packet rather than a powder). Anyway, you could experiment with stirring up the sauce and then putting it on the pasta if you want to avoid getting bites of salty powder.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

7/10

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