Weeknights are often hectic, so quick, flavorful meals that still feel satisfying are a must. Rana is a well-known name in convenience Italian food. An Italian immigrant I follow on TikTok gives Rana his seal of approval, and that’s enough to sell me. When I spotted their mac and cheese with chicken, I knew I had to try it for science. My love of mac and cheese paired with the Rana brand made grabbing it an easy decision, but my expectations are high. The question is: will it live up to its name or end up like many of the other lackluster ready-made mac and cheese options out there?
Rana provides everything you could need to make this mac and cheese, except for the microwave, of course. You don’t need to worry about stocking up on milk and butter, and it cooks in the provided dish. This is a fantastic option if you’re cooking in a dorm, RV, or on vacation with limited supplies.
Refrigerated mac and cheese tends to have one fatal flaw: pasta left soaking in sauce absorbs excess liquid and loses its texture. Rana avoids this problem by storing their pasta and sauce separately, ensuring the texture of the pasta is protected until it gets to you. That said, the pasta isn’t completely uncooked or overly dried. Their pasta seems slightly pre-cooked or not fully dried before packaging, allowing it to cook quickly without turning into a soggy mess. That doesn’t mean the pasta is identical to homemade. Despite their best efforts, the pasta texture is still slightly soft compared to freshly cooked pasta. That’s just what you expect from a ready-to-eat dish, but Rana’s mac and cheese with chicken comes very close to what I’d love to see in ready-made mac and cheese.
I was skeptical of the chicken in this dish. It would be so easy to use those generic chicken strips with smoke flavor and coloring added to mimic grilled chicken. But this chicken did not disappoint. In fact, it was one of my favorite features of this dish. It had a great texture and definitely complemented the creamy sauce.
The prep instructions for Rana’s mac and cheese with chicken are slightly more involved than just popping it in the microwave. You’ll have to combine the pasta and sauce, microwave it covered for several minutes, stir and top with the chicken and microwave for another several minutes before letting it cool. That’s all it takes to get delicious pasta on the table.
The real magic in this mac and cheese is the sauce. While the other ingredients add balance, this sauce is rich, packed with flavor, and perfectly creamy. Its mild flavor is great if you want to bulk it up with extra ingredients to stretch it for more servings.
Presentation matters and this dish is as visually stunning as it is delicious. While other ready-to-eat mac and cheeses feel like filler rather than a real meal, Rana considered presentation when creating their mac and cheese.
My biggest complaint with these kits is that they just don’t contain enough to feed more than a couple people. The box may say it contains six servings, but realistically it’s closer to three for a full meal. The three of us ate comfortably with a side of garlic bread, but if you’re feeding more than that you’ll want to grab a couple of them. At $14/kit, this may not be the best option if you’re feeding a larger group or trying to stick to a budget.
