How to Make a 2-Ingredient Dinner with This Beloved Trader Joe’s Cheese Spread

My colleague Gwynedd Stuart recently discovered that she’s deeply, profoundly in love with one of the mac and cheeses in Trader Joe’s frozen aisle. Trader Joe’s Pepperoni Pizza Mac and Cheese Bowl is a one-way ticket to heartburn town, but it’s totally delicious—it’s also not what we’re here to talk about today. Nope. We’re talking about another easy Trader Joe’s easy mac and cheese that’s lurking in the aisles of Trader Joe’s—but it’s not where you’d expect to find it.

The secret: Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar Spread

If you’re into nutty, salty cheeses and you’ve yet to try Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar, well, you’re in for a treat. It’s the store’s now-legendary blend of parmesan and cheddar and it comes in two formats: a block and a tub of creamy spread. The block you can obviously slice up for charcuterie or grate into recipes, but the Unexpected Cheddar Spread sort of gets pigeonholed in terms of uses. Like, most people are just eating this stuff on crackers, right?

Well, they’re missing out, because as some Redditors have pointed out, you can (and should) use it to make mac and cheese. How?

• Boil your macaroni noodles. Some Redditors say they boiled the noodles in chicken broth for an extra kick of savory flavor.
• Drain the noodles—and go ahead and save a little cooking liquid while you’re at it.
• Stir in a whole tub of Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar Spread. Add a little extra cooking liquid if you want it to be saucier and top it with shredded Unexpected Cheddar if you demand pull from your mac and cheese. And don’t forget the salt and pepper.

Why didn’t we think of this sooner?

Well, no use in dwelling on our failures when we could be using that time to, you know, make more mac and cheese. In fact, now we’re kind of dying to try this with our other favorite Trader Joe’s cheese spread. Savory, boozy Toscano Cheese Spread & Dip on pasta? Sign us up.