Award-Winning Mac and Cheese: Great Taste Awards 2025

Mac and Cheese, a favourite among chefs and restaurants, is praised by the Great Taste Awards 2025 judges. 

Each year, the Great Taste Awards celebrate the finest speciality food and drink products in the UK. It follows a rigorous blind-tasting process where products are judged by a panel of over 500 experts including chefs, buyers and food critics. In 2025, Mustard Foods has once again been recognised for outstanding flavour and quality. 

Mac & Cheese has been awarded 1-star for its generous and flavourful cheese sauce and perfectly al dente pasta. Development Chef Mons Mathew explains the secret to perfectly cooked pasta across batches: “We boil the macaroni for only one minute. It cooks further in the oven resulting in al dente pasta every time”. 

What did the judges say?

The judges praised Mustard’s Mac and Cheese, describing it as well-balanced with a rich, cheddar flavour. 

We recommend finishing Mac and Cheese in the oven, which results in a crisp and golden crust: “A homemade-looking mac and cheese, this has a generous coating of cheese sauce and an appetising browned top”.

They go on to say: “It's very cheesy on the nose and there's a strong hit of cheddar. The dish has a very balanced cheese flavour overall and the pasta is well-cooked, with a good bite to it. It looks appetising, and there's a good balance of sauce to pasta. It's not overly rich – altogether a good dish.”

Runners Up

Salsiccia Ragu fell just shy of a star, but the judges admired the high quality ingredients used: “A chunky, vibrant orange ragu with a spicy kick. Quality ingredients have clearly been used, and small pieces of pork and well-diced onions and carrots were visible. The n'duja is nicely hot, with a lasting heat… but married well with the pork.”

And finally, we took a gamble submitting an unusual dish, Persian Lamb Stew, which fell short of a star despite rave reviews: “This is an intriguing-looking dish with plenty of herbs visible, generous chunks of lamb, lots of kidney beans and plenty of sauce. On the nose, the dish delivers some subtle savoury notes… The lamb chunks are very tender and fall apart easily.”