The 17 Best Fast Food Mac And Cheese, Ranked

Mac and cheese is probably one of the most widely beloved dishes ever invented. Who can resist its rich, creamy goodness? Sometimes it's made on the stovetop, sometimes it's fresh from the oven, and sometimes, it comes from a fast food restaurant. While pasta dishes are rarely found in such establishments, some chains make an exception for this tried-and-true favorite. They serve mac and cheese alongside their burgers, fries, and milkshakes — but it doesn't always measure up to those grab-and-go classics. Rubbery noodles and gloppy cheese are common problems, to say nothing of the way a heat lamp can dry out even the moistest cheese sauce.

But all is not lost when it comes to fast food mac and cheese. In fact, some chains do a spectacular job serving up the beloved dish. You can even find genuine innovation in the world of fast food mac and cheese, particularly when it comes to adding unique sauces, toppings, and meat into the mix. Today, we're celebrating the chains that do right by this iconic dish. These are the 17 best fast food mac and cheeses, ranked from the merely tasty to the absolutely scrumptious.

Ordering mac and cheese at KFC is a roll of the dice. You might get a golden bowl of dairy-rich deliciousness, or you might get something a whole lot more disappointing. This averages out to something decent, but not worth getting in the car for on its own.

At its best, KFC's mac and cheese is one of the most impressively flavorful around. It doesn't just taste cheesy — its cheesiness has layers. Sharpness, milkiness, and even a subtle smokiness are all present in the best bowls. The worst, however, are dried-out, tough, and weakly-flavored. What's the reason for this gulf? We can only speculate, but many Reddit users hypothesize that the smaller servings have been sitting out under a heat lamp for way too long. If you can get your hands on freshly-made KFC mac and cheese, you should count yourself lucky. If you can't, consider opting for something else entirely.

Chick-Fil-A's mac and cheese is a fickle thing. Sometimes, it's a delicious triumph of dairy and starch. While many other fast food chains' stabs at the beloved dish are merely creamy, Chick-Fil-A's distinguishes itself by being baked. This results — ideally, anyway — in a crispy crown of blistered cheese and noodles. As anyone who loves mac and cheese knows, this is a highly desirable trait. Moreover, Chick-Fil-A doesn't settle for a generic cheese sauce: As their website details, their noodles are swathed in a blend of Parmesan, cheddar, and Romano cheeses.

Sounds pretty fabulous, right? A lot of the time, it is — but not always. As aficionados on Reddit have discussed, Chick-Fil-A's mac and cheese doesn't always impress. "It varies day by day," u/OohSweetPotato noted. "It's not nearly as consistent as the other items on the menu. Some days you get Mac and cheese that tastes like nothing, and then some days you get Mac and cheese that makes you want to strip down naked." This unpredictability keeps Chick-Fil-A's mac and cheese from achieving a higher spot on this list. However, its occasional brilliance — and the fact that the chain takes the time to bake the dish — still manages to impress.

Mr. Chicken's menu is bursting with Southern favorites like fried okra, corn nuggets, and chicken livers. Mac and cheese is there as well, nestled among the chain's hearty sides, and it doesn't disappoint. This is a distinctly regional take on the beloved dish. Where other establishments favor lighter cheese sauces or toss in a handful of bright green broccoli, Mr. Chicken's mac and cheese is ready for a church potluck in Macon, Georgia. The sauce is thick, clinging to every single noodle. The macaroni is robust, being both a bit thicker and larger than many other chains'. The flavor is big, bold, and cheesy with a capital C.

All in all, this makes for a very tasty mac and cheese. If you're ordering it alongside anything else on the menu, however, you might want to consider clearing out the rest of your day: You're in for a major food coma. This can be either positive or negative, depending on your point of view. If you want a seriously rich eating experience, Mr. Chicken's mac and cheese ensures satisfaction. If you don't want to organize your day around digestion, then you might want to order the mac and cheese unto itself, or opt for a different establishment entirely.

Boston Market's mac and cheese distinguishes itself with one major departure from the standard recipe: It's not actually mac and cheese. Specifically, it features no macaroni — here, the noodles are rotini, a tightly curled spiral shape. This is such an excellent choice, it makes you wonder why more recipes don't make the swap. While macaroni can become thickly coated with cheese, rotini gets positively loaded with it, each blade of its spiral holding onto as much sauce as possible. This makes every mouthful more flavorful, enhancing the entire mac and cheese experience.

This is a major point in Boston Market's favor. Unfortunately, their cheese sauce keeps this innovative take on mac and cheese from absolute greatness. It's not bad, granted — being smooth, creamy, and distinctly cheddar-flavored — it's just not particularly great. You won't mind this all that much as you scoop cheese-soaked rotini into your mouth — the shape swap goes a long way towards impressing even the most jaded mac and cheese fan. But you probably won't be thinking about it once you've finished your meal.

Slim Chickens' mac and cheese is solid stuff. Both its noodles and cheese sauce are noticeably more robust than many competitors, making this a truly filling side. The cheese is especially impressive: It's lusciously textured, being both creamy and silky, and boasts multifaceted cheese flavor. We can't say for sure what varieties are used, but notes of cheddar, edam, and Parmesan are all in play here, which makes for a seriously delicious experience.

But Slim Chickens has also sold other kinds of mac and cheese. Their Tender Mac and Cheese Bowl, which has only been available for limited stretches of time thus far, comes in two forms: the Original Tender Mac and Cheese Bowl and the Buffalo Tender Mac and Cheese Bowl. The former consists of mac and cheese, torn chicken tenders, and a flavorful topping of cheddar and Monterey Jack. The latter brings buffalo and cayenne ranch flavor into the mix, along with fried and green onions. Both varieties are absolutely irresistible. Somehow, the chicken tenders never become soggy, which allows their crunchy breading to play deliciously off the velvety cheese sauce. The buffalo bowl's tangy dressing takes it to a new level of delectability; its hint of spice cuts especially well through the chicken and noodles. This is mac and cheese on a whole new level, and all we can do is cross our fingers and hope it'll be back for another stretch of time soon.

Church's Texas Chicken serves down-home food. This is never more apparent than on their menu of sides: Crispy fried okra, biscuits glazed with honey butter, and golden apple hand pies are all on offer here. Their mac and cheese is, as you might expect, a comfort food classic. Unlike most chains on this list, they take the time to sprinkle each serving with cheddar and stick it in the oven, resulting in a golden-brown top of delectably broiled cheese. This home-style approach makes it stand out from the pack — but it isn't what lands it a relatively high spot on this list.

Beyond being baked, there isn't one particular element of Church's mac and cheese that makes it stand out. That's not to say nothing else is impressive about it — rather, everything is. This dish simply fires on all cylinders. The cheese sauce is full of vivid flavor, the noodles are soft without being overcooked, and the overall texture is deliciously varied. Smooth sauce mingles delightfully with tender macaroni and crispy cheese; no element overpowers the other. This is culinary harmony in the Texan tradition, and representative of the menu's overall strength. Mac and cheese might not be in the chain's name, but it's impressive enough that it definitely could be.

Noodles & Company is the only noodle-specific restaurant on this list. It's no surprise, then, that their mac and cheese is some of the best around. First off, they don't just offer one type of mac and cheese, but four. Their Wisconsin mac and cheese is the standard recipe, blending elbow macaroni with a cheddar and Jack cheese sauce. Then there's the buffalo chicken mac and cheese, which brings Parmesan chicken, straight-up Parmesan, spicy buffalo wing sauce, and green onions into the mix. Their barbecue chicken mac and cheese adds grilled chicken, jalapeños, and barbecue sauce to their Wisconsin bowl. Finally, their gluten-sensitive pipette mac and cheese brings cheesy goodness to gluten-restricted diners' plates.

All of these takes on mac and cheese manage to impress. The barbecue chicken bowl is a zingy delight; the tangy barbecue sauce plays beautifully off the creamy cheese and hearty chunks of chicken, while the jalapeños add a delicious jolt of spice and freshness. Similarly, the buffalo chicken mac and cheese is a tasty marriage of dairy-based richness, electrifying spice, and fresh onions. Gluten-free eaters will appreciate the gluten-sensitive mac, which doesn't cut corners on flavor, texture, or satisfaction. But the humble Wisconsin mac and cheese still manages to be the star of the show. It's simply everything you could want out of a bowl of mac and cheese, from its pleasantly al dente noodles to its glossy cheese sauce.

Arby's mac and cheese is like a comet: It's brilliant, it's beautiful, and it's something you can only enjoy for a limited amount of time. The long-running chain has tried out a few different varieties over the years, and all of them have been strong. The loaded chicken bacon ranch mac and cheese, which landed in restaurants in winter 2022, is perhaps the most spectacular. It combines mac and cheese with chicken nuggets, bacon bits, and peppercorn ranch sauce. That's a whole lot of flavor packed into a single bowl, but it never becomes an inedible mish-mash of flavor and texture. Rather, the cheese and ranch sauce blend beautifully, while the chicken and bacon bring satisfying heartiness and enjoyably varied texture.

Yet, Arby's standard white cheddar mac and cheese still manages to outshine this over-the-top dish. It's pretty basic to the naked eye, consisting of macaroni noodles and a paler-than-average cheese sauce. But one bite makes it clear that this is an all-time great mac and cheese, and it's all in the white cheddar. This distinctively tangy cheese simultaneously cuts through the meal's richness and brings it to the fore, making it taste even more decadently creamy. The robust noodles do a wonderful job of trapping the delicious sauce and never taste overcooked, like so many other fast food mac and cheeses. How good is this mac and cheese? Let's just say you should consider setting a Google alert for "Arby's mac and cheese," to make sure you don't miss out next time it comes around.