Kraft Mac & Cheese is known for its blue box, but the brand is taking its signature cheesy flavor somewhere it has never been before — the ramen aisle. Today, Kraft announced Kraft Cheesy Ramen, marking the brand’s first entry into a new category in 20 years. The new lineup will come in three flavors which are spicy, chicken, and pork, all expected to be available in early 2027. The brand also says that other flavors would be coming soon.
The decision to launch this new product comes as cheesy ramen continues to grow as a food trend. According to Kraft, the cheesy ramen category has doubled in growth over the past three years. Adding cheese to ramen has become a popular customization, especially for spicy noodles, where the cheese can create a creamier texture and help balance the heat. Kraft Mac & Cheese is now turning that customization into a product of its own.
Kraft has been thinking outside the box.
Although Cheesy Ramen is a new category for Kraft Mac & Cheese, experimenting with unexpected products isn’t new for the brand. In 2021, Kraft teamed up with Brooklyn-based Van Leeuwen Ice Cream to create a limited-edition Kraft Mac & Cheese-flavored ice cream. The product combined Kraft’s familiar cheesy flavor with Van Leeuwen’s ice cream and was released worldwide on National Macaroni & Cheese Day.
The very weird combination got plenty of attention and became a major talking point. The ice cream did get mixed reactions, but received enough attention to sell out quickly. Because of this launch, Kraft has continued to experiment with its products ever since. In 2024, the brand introduced Everything Bagel Mac & Cheese after many fans actually requested the flavor through its “Fan Favorites” program. Kraft also said it was using consumer feedback, social media trends, and fan suggestions to develop new flavors. In 2025, Kraft introduced a limited-edition Pizza flavor which was able to combine two familiar comfort foods into one box. Then, this past year, the brand introduced Restaurant Edition, featuring flavors inspired by restaurant dishes, including Parmesan Pesto, Romano Cacio e Pepe and Monterey Jack Caramelized Onion.
With Cheesy Ramen, Kraft is taking their experiments even further by moving beyond new mac and cheese flavors and entering an entirely different food category.
Ramen and cheese has been around for years.
Kraft may be entering the cheesy ramen category for the first time, but the combination itself isn’t new. Ramen and cheese have been paired together in recipes for many years now, especially as a way to make instant noodles creamier and balance the heat of spicy ramen. By 2014, the combination was already appearing in recipes and packaged ramen products, showing that cheesy ramen was becoming a familiar way to customize instant noodles.
Why is Kraft making ramen?
The new product fits into a larger strategy Kraft has used to keep its classic brand fresh: taking a familiar product and giving consumers a new way to enjoy it. Over the past few years, Kraft experimented with odd flavors and collaborations. Cheesy Ramen is the next big step for Kraft to experiment with. It gives Kraft an opportunity to enter into a growing trend while they can still rely on the flavor that made the brand recognizable in the first place.
Kraft Cheesy Ramen is still months away from hitting the shelves. Considering how much attention the brand’s previous and unexpected creations have received and how long people have been combining ramen and cheese together, Kraft’s latest experiment may not be as strange as people may think.