Best Frozen Mac & Cheese Ranked
Bon Appétit conducted a taste test of eight frozen mac and cheese brands, revealing three top picks worth stocking in your freezer. Their roundup covers everything from nostalgic classics to chef-approved, gourmet versions, helping you find the best blend of creamy, cheesy comfort for busy nights. Comfort food discussions blend home-cooked Sunday feasts with restaurant-worthy dinners inspiring steakhouse and Italian meals at home.
The earliest recorded recipe for a dish resembling macaroni and cheese dates back to 1769, but the combination of pasta and cheese appeared in Italian cookbooks as early as the 14th century. The dish's journey to American prominence is often credited to Thomas Jefferson, who, after a trip to France, served a "macaroni pie" at an 1802 state dinner. A version of the recipe appeared in the influential 1824 cookbook "The Virginia House-Wife," which called for just three ingredients: macaroni, cheese, and butter, all layered and baked. However, it was the Industrial Revolution and the establishment of the first American pasta factory in 1848 that made macaroni more widely accessible and affordable. The game-changer for mac and cheese's popularity was the introduction of Kraft's boxed dinner in 1937 during the Great Depression. For just 19 cents, a family of four could have a meal in nine minutes, and its popularity soared during World War II rationing when two boxes could be purchased with a single food stamp. In 1943 alone, some 50 million boxes were sold. The transition to a frozen staple came as more women entered the workforce in the 1950s, increasing the demand for convenient, ready-made meals. Companies like Stouffer's, which began as a restaurant chain, started offering frozen versions of their popular dishes, including macaroni and cheese, to meet this growing consumer need. Stouffer's even supplied frozen meals to NASA for astronauts returning from the Apollo 11 mission.
