Big Daddy Mac Mix

For a while now I've been using Hoosier Hill's cheddar cheese powder if I want to make a cheese sauce for whatever noodles I want (usually ramen). It's not really designed for the purpose, though, and doesn't quite produce the classic Kraft flavor profile I'm looking for, although it's darn good. Last year Kraft introduced a shaker of their own signature orange powder, and it was amazing, but it was also short-lived. So I thought I'd finally give this a try. This review is based on the strength of one use, but suffice it to say I'm thrilled with it. I made two packages of ramen without the flavor packet (that's way too much ramen for one person by the way—learn from my delicious mistake!), and I scaled down the recipe on the Big Daddy box to 3/4: so that's 1/4 cup powder, 3 tbsp. butter, and 1/4 cup of milk. I did save a little of the water, but not a lot. This was perfect for covering two packs of ramen, so for one pack, just use 2 tbsp. powder, 1 1/2 tbsp. butter, and 2 tbsp. of milk. This had a very classic blue-box flavor for me, even more than I'm used to getting from Kraft anymore. In a way it reminded me of that certain indefinable something my grandmother's mac & cheese had. She was making the same blue box, but hers was somehow better despite having all the same ingredients. It tasted just right and was scrumptious, and didn't have a big clumping problem like I get with the cheddar powder. However, I expect the lack of clumping was because this was a fresh package and that will change in the future; if so, sifting works just fine. So I'm excited to use this on other pastas as well whenever the mood strikes me to have that great blue-box experience but with a different noodle. And ramen cooks really fast, so I'm sure I'll still use it mostly for that. Update: I've used this quite a few more times now and I have discovered it can clump a bit if you try mixing it the same way you would a normal Kraft mac & cheese box. The powder seems to do better when you're mixing it into a warm liquid. If you mix the sauce in the same pot as the pasta, I suggest scooping pasta to the side, putting the cheese powder down, adding the butter and milk, and letting it hang out a minute or two while the milk warms up a little. Also I've discovered this doesn't work well for large pasta, unless you do something to thicken it; it's really best with small noodles. I still love the flavor and it hasn't clumped up yet in the container like the cheddar powder normally does. Update 2: Three years later, I've reordered this product multiple times. This is a staple in my pantry. I use it for ramen & cheese a lot, but sometimes I'll also add it to other cheese sauces to pump up the flavor and add extra emulsification power. It's also great on potato chips: throw some chips in a plastic zip bag with a bit of this powder, and shake it up for cheesy chips. This is more versatile than the plain cheddar cheese powder, I always make sure to have plenty on hand.

I'm almost too old for Easy Mac buuut who cares. I add this to Easy Mac at the moment. I initially purchased this for a cheese themed party and of my 10 item order that was to be a next day delivery NONE of it arrived next day. In fact 1 item was Oos so they canceled 5 items and everything else shipped late.... this arrived 2 days after said event and though I tried to cancel them, that didn't work. I didn't bother reaching out to find out what they could do because it was all food and non returnable. So i decided id just keep it and try to make the most of it. I add it to my easy mac which is lacking that cheesy flavor and hope to make my own mac with noodles and milk, butter, etc in the near future when I'm not surviving off girl dinner. I really like the flavor and size of the container. Idk How long it will last but i look forward to trying other flavors they have!!!

Decent “Kraft cheese” replacement. Used with protein pasta. The flavor is pretty close but does have a different tang than Kraft. It’s not my favorite but my family seems to enjoy it. Like that it’s dye free. Nice packaging.

I bought this expecting to have to add some salt or alter the instructions to make it taste the way I want. And although I did add some salt (via the salty pasta water) I did not need to alter the recipe or instructions to make this taste just like the box mac and cheese I wanted. Also it’s pretty amazing as an add in for other recipes. Like I made a tuna salad and added some of this cheese mix in with it and it was absolutely amazing. Don’t get me wrong this didn’t make average tuna salad gourmet or life changing but it was definitely a much appreciated bonus to mundane tuna salad. It also added some depth of flavor to my ramen broth when I made instant ramen and added a lil of this mix in. 10/10 recommend. As long as you use it for what it is. Cheese POWDER, it’s not going to make anything creamy or taste like melted cheese. But if you’re a fan of box mac and cheese you’ll love this

Best cheese out there. Tastes great like Kraft. Just wish it came in a bigger jug.

Pretty good! After reading the reviews I thought it would be better, but it’s not bad! The writing/ instructions are tiny so I had to google them. Pretty tasty though

A little expensive but SO GOOD. Tastes just like the old school Kraft version!

Purchased to add more flavor when making my poor man’s hamburger helper (browned ground beef mixed with Kraft Mac and cheese). I really couldn’t tell the difference between this and the Kraft powder, which is a good thing in my eyes. Basically, the same color, taste, etc. I’ll buy this again!

If you grew up eating KD in the 90's this is a real nostalgia trip. This is REAL. CHEESE. Kraft changed the formula years ago to a 'dairy' based product, but it's not real cheese. KD has tasted like garbage for years now. This tastes like the CLASSIC Kraft Dinner you grew up with. My tips: Add salt. They went light on the salt for this powder and that's good for people who need lower sodium. But to get the REAL taste of classic KD, be sure to get generous on the salt when preparing. I usually use about 4TBSP of the powder, plus a little milk and butter and of course, salt. Another tip: Mix the powder with the softened butter FIRST to help cut down on clumping. Then add the milk, while stirring slowly. Add hot pasta and you're done! IF IT'S BLAND: You either didn't a) use enough salt, and/or b) didn't use enough powder. Add more powder for a stronger taste!

After seeing all those videos on Facebook re: bugs in KD noodles, I decided to try this mix instead of buying maggots from Kraft. The container is smaller than I expected and it calls for 1/3 cup powder for each cup of dry noodles so I was thinking "well this isn't going to last long". Tonight I made 2 cups of macaroni with this sauce mix. It was delicious! So much better than Kraft Dinner. My four year old ate his bowl full in record time. I was super impressed. It's worth the money and I will definitely buy this again. I cooked the noodles then drained them. Added the butter. Stirred. Mixed the cheese powder with milk then added it to the buttery macaroni. Stirred. Added pepper and a bit of garlic powder on top. It was awesome. 5 stars for sure. No bugs in sight!

I am... was a kraft dinner addict... I would keep 5 boxes of original, shapes, sharp cheddar, 3 cheese and extra creamy at home... however a couple of months ago, they started to taste very bad... I thought I had a bad batch but more and more box would end up being bad... So I had to search for alternative... I got my first jar of this brand today (because the KD one is taking forever to arrive) and I couldn't wait to try it out :) I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the taste and smell of this cheese powder. It is NOT KD (obviously) but it still has a very nice and mellow taste. The powder was kinda hard to mix with pasta, as others noted it would clump together a lot... (I tried it directly with some margarine and did not use milk), so i ended up with a couple of clumps sticked to the bottom of my "pasta pot".. (sorry I am french and do not have a large cooking vocabulary) I will try in the next few days making a sauce with margarine and milk next time... But even as is, the taste was really good so It will be nice experimenting over the next few weeks to find out the best way to make cheese pasta. Hope it helps someone in a similar situation to give it a try :)

No flavour whatsoever

I can't eat good ole' KD so I bought this to see if I could make something similar myself. It tastes very similar, but is actual cheese powder - and burns to pots like cheese if you're not careful. It clumps pretty badly if applied directly to pasta so I always mix with milk in the pot first and then add the noodled. I'll definitely be buying more when this is done.