Ow, Ow, the Pain!

I wouldn’t have expected I’d fall down the rabbit hole of weird mac and cheese flavors. Not that I’m opposed to mac and cheese. Who doesn’t feel the desire, once in a while, to bathe in salty cheese sauce covering soft noodles? That’s a flavor combination that works, and from an early age just about every American (and Canadian, for that matter, as the Canucks from the North love their K.D.) are taught to love and appreciate mac and cheese. It’s as comforting as apple pie, and even less healthy (probably).

But as far as actually regularly eating it… that wasn’t something I did. Once in a while I’d get some mac and cheese, but I, more often than not, would use it in a casserole. I’ve shared my recipes in the past for various casseroles, and a traditional casserole (at least the way I was raised to make it) uses mac and cheese in it. Salty, savory, saucy, and good. Mac and cheese is better when it’s put into a casserole, in my head, in no small part because I can’t eat an entire box of mac in one sitting, and if you refrigerate mac it gets weird in the fridge afterwards. One day old mac is never as good as the fresh stuff.

And yet… the weird flavors that are coming along make me want to eat it anyway. Blame Cheetos, with their wildly cheesy mac and cheese. Because that stuff was so good, despite what I expected, I had to sing its praises to my sibling, and while we were at the store getting every flavor of it I could, I also saw something that caught my eye: Buldak Mac n’ Cheese. Buldak is, of course, the company known for making very, very spicy ramens. I think they’ve developed quite the reputation (and one day I might pick up a couple of flavors to taste test here). But mac and cheese? Really.

Well, clearly I had to try it, so I grabbed boxes of the two flavors my local grocer had, and now we all get to experience the wild, spicy majesty:

Carbonara Flavor

The first box we cracked open for this experiment was the Carbonara flavor. Marked as a “level three” spice on the box, I was expecting something hot but bearable. Flavorwise beyond that, though, I didn’t know what to expect. This was my first time eating anything from Buldak, so whether it actually tasted good, or had that “spicy but otherwise disgusting” flavor I’ve experienced before (see also: Popeyes x Hot Ones), I wasn’t sure.

Thankfully I can report that the flavor of this mac and cheese is actually really, really good. The carbonara flavor is sweet and tomato-y, but still with enough cheese to really balance it. It’s not too far off from the flavor of Gloop (see my casseroles article above), but in a simple mac and cheese form. I wouldn’t call it a replacement for that casserole (since I put a lot of other stuff in it to make it even better), but, aside from the spice, this flavor actually works in a pinch.

With that said, this stuff is spicy. I love spice (see also: Heat Wave Hot Sauce Expo 2026), and I can hold my own pretty well, but I have to report that this stuff really was hot. It didn’t start off too bad, but after a couple of bites I started to feel it on my tongue. By about halfway into the bowl the heat wasn’t going away, my forehead was hot, and I needed a little glass of milk to finish it out. It was very good, but probably too hot for anyone that can’t really handle their heat. It was almost too much for me.

Naturally I’m already considering getting another box. It’s like a dare, and I’ll gladly accept.

Sweet Corn Flavor

This was one weird, and not really as good as the carbonara. Not that it was bad, mind you, but after having had that really good box this one was a small bit of a let down. At first blush, when you pour the seasoning packets in and mix up the mac, it does smell good. Weird, but good, with that hint of sweet corn flavor hitting your nose. But the sweet corn doesn’t really carry through into actually eating it. It’s a little sweet, but more just salty and mac-y. The corn flavor is lost, which is a disappointment because it did smell great, it just didn’t taste like it smells.

It’s marked at a “level two” for heat on the box, and I will say that it wasn’t as spicy as the carbonara, but it was still plenty spicy. I could eat it without milk, but by the end of it I still felt pain. For anyone that doesn’t like a lot of spice, this one is still too hot for you, even if you were wanting to see what the fuss was about. And for anyone that can’t handle spice at all, even this level two box would be absolutely toxic.

Final Thoughts

In the end I generally liked what Buldak had going on. These were an interesting experiment and I’m glad I tried them. I might get another box of the Carbonara flavor at some point, maybe down the road when I feel like punishing my tongue again. But in comparison to the Cheetos boxes (which are now my baseline for good mac) they just don’t quite measure up. They’re fun as an experiment, but not something I can recommend as a regular use thing. They’re fun, but not that fun.