Trying all three flavors of Cheetos Mac and Cheese

My brother keeps me in the loop on lots of interesting snack things I should test. When he sent a link to the new Cheetos Mac'n Cheese, I was definitely interested. I was only able to find one flavor at the time at my local Walmart. He found them all and shipped me all three flavors! 

There's Regular Cheetos Bold & Cheesy in the orange box. It's very appropriate that there would be a Flamin' Hot flavor too in an appropriately red box. The Cheesy Jalapeno isn't nearly as popular at the other two Cheetos Flavors, but I guess if you're going to do something like this, why not make it in three flavors. The price for these was pretty good too. Something like 95 cents a box, even here in So Cal. 

The back of the box is similar in most aspects. Similar shots of the box of Mac'n Cheese. And wow, the color of that Flamin' Hot is something. I wonder if it's really going to be that color. 

The first two promise "Creamy, Cheesy, And Oh So Easy To Love - Made with Authentic Cheesiness". The last one says "Spicy, Cheesy".

At the bottom, there are many different ways to tell you to try topping your pasta with Cheetos. 

Cheesy Jalapeno - Also try creating a MAC-Mix: Mix up your Mac by adding your own CHEETOS CRUNCHY or PUFFS topping #cheetosmachack

Bold & Cheesy - Cruncheamy: That extra-cheesy crunchy and creamy combo when you top your Mac with your favorite CHEETOS Snack #cheetosmachack

Flamin' Hot - Also try a CHEETOS Double Dare: Top your Flamin' Hot Mac with some CHEETOS FLAMIN' HOT Crunchy #cheetosmachack

Taking a look inside each of the boxes, they all have the same pasta. Guess there's just a different seasoning packets that transform each of these. I'm seeing the pasta, but it's not macaroni noodles. Is this really Mac & Cheese? Perhaps that's why they call it Mac'n.  

Over on the stove I got three different pots of water boiling. I don't have a third stock pot, so a large sauce pot will have to do. 

Drained and buttered, it's time to add the seasoning mix. I color coordinated my spatulas Green for the Cheesy Jalapeno, Red for the Flamin' Hot, and all I had was Blue left for the Original. 

First the Cheesy Jalapeno. The flavor packet looks pretty normal. 

For the Bold & Cheesy, I do see a bit of that Cheetos Orange color coming through. 

Oh wow, that Flamin' Hot powder is a very bright red. 

Mixed and ready to get some more photos. 

Here's the Mac and Cheese by itself, but you know we're not going to stop there. 

We've got to taste them with all the Cheetos Chips too! 

To go with the Cheesy Jalapeno Mac'n Cheese we'll be having these Cheetos Crunchy Cheddar Jalapeno snacks. I had to go looking for these as they were not as popular as the others. 

For the Bold & Cheesy Mac'n Cheese we'll be trying the Cheetos Crunchy snacks. 

Lastly for the Flamin' Hot Mac'n Cheese, there's the Cheetos Crunchy Flamin' Hot snacks.

Let's eat!

Give me a smile kids!

Okay, but what are you really thinking? They weren't too excited to be doing this taste test. They hear Jalapeno and immediately think it's bad. Even though the Flamin' Hot is spicier that the Jalapeno ones, and they both love the Flamin' Hot chips, they still don't want to hear Jalapeno. 

A plate with a combination of everything. Mac is right next to the chips. The colors are all decently close, but wow, that Flamin' Hot red color is ridiculous. 

The general feeling from the kids and Theresa was that the Mac was all terrible. 

I don't agree. It's not the best mac I've had (that's Napa Rose's Truffled Mac & Cheese), but for 95 cents, I'd say it's better than the blue box stuff. 

Theresa stated "I never need to put those in my mouth again. Cheetos Mac might be the worst mac I have ever tasted". 

For the chips, there's definitely a favorite. The original Crunchy Cheetos are the winner, followed by the Flamin' Hot. 

I took the #cheetosmachack and topped every single mac with their respective crunchy chips. Having the texture difference was good. 

Chi and Richard came down to give it a try too. They agreed with me. The mac isn't as bad as the others are making it out to be. 

Voting for our favorites: 

Mac'n Cheese:

1st - Cheesy Jalapeno - It's Cheesy with a bit of Jalapeno Spice to it. Richard, Chi, and I liked this flavor best. 

2nd - Bold & Cheesy - Just your standard cheese flavored mac and cheese. 

3rd - Flamin' Hot - Eh, I get that you want to make it spicy, but I was hoping for some cheesy flavor to go with it. All I'm getting is heat. My sister-in-law loved it though, saying it was her favorite, so maybe give it a shot anyway. 

Chips: 

1st - Flamin' Hot (for Joe), Original Cheetos (kids and T)

2nd - Original (for Joe), Flamin' Hot (kids and T)

3rd - Cheddar Jalapeno

So you know what this calls for? Using my favorite mac and topping it with my favorite chip! 

Do you like Cheetos? If so, maybe give this Mac'n Cheese a try!