12 Chef Boyardee Products, Ranked

I'm a big fan of canned foods. They're one of the most shelf-stable pantry items (you can keep canned goods for months before actually using them), and they're usually pretty inexpensive — which is great when you're trying to make your grocery dollars stretch a bit further. Canned foods, like Chef Boyardee's line of products, are usually super easy to prepare, as well, which is ideal for those nights when you just can't be bothered to cook something from scratch.

That being said, not all canned foods are created equal, including popular canned pasta varieties. In fact, while Chef Boyardee was a big part of my childhood (as it was for many others), I don't generally buy or eat the brand's products an adult. Even though the ultra-cheap canned pastas tend to turn me off, I decided to put my prejudices aside to try out 12 different Chef Boyardee products.

After heating and taste-testing 12 different Chef Boyardee products, I ranked them from worst to best. Texture, sauciness, and meatiness were all taken into account during the ranking process. And while some of these Chef Boyardee products were better than I expected, others were so much worse than I'd anticipated. Take a closer look to see where your favorite Chef Boyardee product landed on this list.

There's just something about spaghetti rings (like SpaghettiOs) in a runny tomato sauce that feels nostalgic. Having grown up with this widely-enjoyed canned food, there's a special place in my heart for these types of products. But at the same time, I can't even begin to try and convince myself that Chef Boyardee's Mini Spaghetti Rings and Meatballs tastes anything close to decent.

The spaghetti rings are so tiny that they essentially disintegrate as soon as you start to stir the mixture. They have absolutely no form, and melt in your mouth without even creating a perceptible textural experience. To make matters worse, there's not that many spaghetti rings in the can; rather, you're just going to get a lot of sauce with this product. That sauce is thin and soupy, too, which is probably not what you're looking for in a canned pasta. Add in the fact that there's barely any meat in the mix, and it's a no-brainer why this product takes last place in this ranking.

Although I've had plenty of previous experience with Chef Boyardee products in the past, I'd never tasted the brand's Mac & Cheese canned option, so I was hopeful. After all, mac and cheese is such a basic recipe that you'd think it would be hard to mess up — even in canned form. Unfortunately, I was wrong, and this mac and cheese had barely any flavor at all. Quite frankly, if you didn't see the yellow cheese sauce, you may not realize there's any cheese in the can, which is largely responsible for this coming in second-to-last.

But the worst part of this product is the fact that the pasta is incredibly soft and gummy. Since you're not working with many ingredients in mac and cheese, it's crucial that the macaroni has a good texture, which absolutely did not happen here.

Since making macaroni and cheese from scratch can be a lot of work, it's understandable if you don't want to deal with all those steps. However, there are much better mac and cheese options on the market than this canned item. You might have to boil some water, but it's worth it to avoid the Chef Boyardee version of this cheesy, kid-friendly dish.

When you think of a basic pasta dish, what comes to mind first? If you're American, there's a good chance that you jump directly to spaghetti and meatballs. It's a classic pairing that almost always works, delivering a delicious combo of pasta and meat in every bite. But spaghetti and meatballs that come in a microwaveable cup should probably raise some alarm bells for any true pasta lovers. At least, they should when it comes to Chef Boyardee's Spaghetti and Meatballs, which is not a delicious experience.

The soft and stringy texture of the spaghetti is the main crime here, as it lacks the slight firmness you expect from well-cooked pasta. The meatballs are also quite sad, and they barely even exist, requiring you to dig through layers of pasta just to find a morsel of meat.

Now, this product isn't as bad as the two lower-ranked entries. If nothing else, it contains a normal amount of sauce (unlike other entries that were basically swimming in tomato soup). But I could also never recommend this to anyone who's actually tried real spaghetti and meatballs before, so it still comes near the bottom.

Want some beef ravioli on the go? Chef Boyardee has you covered. Of course, you're probably better off waiting until you get home so you can make yourself a proper ravioli meal. But this option is ready to take with you when you're seriously pinched for time. Unfortunately, the brand's beef ravioli isn't going to deliver the filling, wholesome meal you might imagine it would.

The Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli is mostly comprised of sauce. That wouldn't be a problem if the sauce were actually flavorful or enjoyable. However, the sauce is too thin and has a slight sweetness to it, meaning you're left with what's essentially inedible tomato juice once the ravioli are gone.

Still, the ravioli is plumper than you may expect, and is packed with a decent amount of meat. Though the texture isn't necessarily great, and the beef isn't particularly flavorful, I was just happy that I wasn't getting empty pasta pockets with no real meat to be found. This may not be the worst Chef Boyardee product in this lineup, but if you ask me? It's not worth trying, either, hence it's bottom-half placement.

This was the one Chef Boyardee product I felt most hopeful for. While Italian food doesn't seem like it should be canned, Cheesy Burger Macaroni sounds exactly like something that would feel at home in a can. Imagine my disappointment, then, when I opened this stuff up and realized it was merely some sort of weird hybrid monster of mac and cheese with tomato sauce.

The sauce can't really decide if it wants to be cheesy or tomato-y, which makes it a bad version of each. There's not enough cheesiness there to yield a creamy texture, but the tomato sauce just tastes flat, with a runny texture that's far from appetizing. The pasta doesn't really earn it any points, either, as it's far softer than it should be (like many other Chef Boyardee products on this list).

All that being said, though, the meat isn't terrible. It may be largely flavorless, but it also adds a firm texture to the recipe, which elevates it just slightly into the middle of this list. While I wouldn't buy this stuff again, it's at least possible to consume it without issue if you're really pinched for time or money.

It can be hard to find substantial meals in a can, and Chef Boyardee products are no exception. If you eat a lot of these products, you'll likely find yourself getting hungry again a few hours later. So if you're looking for something that may fill you up a bit more than normal canned pasta, consider checking out Chef Boyardee's Overstuffed Beef Ravioli. As the name implies, the ravioli in this recipe is packed with tons of meat — far more than you' normally expect from ravioli.

Given that, this Chef Boyardee canned product is actually kind of filling ... as long as you don't care too much about its flavor, that is. In fact, the beef really has no flavor at all, and the can mostly contains sauce. The pasta is too soft and gummy, as well, with a result that's not very tasty or texturally interesting.

There's no denying that when you just need to get some cheap food in your stomach, this product will get the job done better than the lower-ranked Chef Boyardee products. But if you care about flavor more than bulk, there are also better options from the brand to seek out.

As I stated before, if you have the option to make spaghetti and meatballs at home or purchase them from a restaurant, then you should go that route if you're craving pasta. However, Chef Boyardee's Jumbo Spaghetti and Meatballs isn't the worst option the brand offers, and it can fill that urge.

Now, the pasta is definitely sad and limp, and about as far from al dente as you could ever possibly get. But the meatballs are, in fact, jumbo-sized, so you're getting a decent amount of meat with this product. Plus, unlike a lot of the other options, this Chef Boyardee item isn't too saucy, which makes it more appetizing, and helped it rank in the middle of this list.

I'd advise adding other ingredients to the mix to make things more delicious (which is a good idea for many of these list entries). For example, adding some frozen peas or broccoli to the pot while it's heating up can provide a bit of nutrition, while sprinkling some Parmesan or parsley on top of the finished dish could make it a bit more appetizing.

If you ask me, cheese ravioli isn't that exciting most of the time. This is true whether you're grabbing a fresh batch from the refrigerated section at the grocery store or a can of Chef Boyardee's Cheese Ravioli in Tomato Sauce. The fresh version will absolutely taste better, but it's also unlikely to blow you away with any complex flavors. On that note, this canned product is undeniably bland, with pasta so soft that it fell apart as soon as I poured it into a bowl. But it's also much less offensive than any of the lower-ranked Chef Boyardee products, so it comes in fifth.

In some ways, because there's so little going on in this product (it's essentially pieces of pasta floating around in soupy mixture alongside small bits of flavorless cheese), it's hard to hate. It may not taste good enough for me to suggest you seek it out if you're looking for an appetizing meal. But if you're seriously trying to save some time and money, it's hardly the worst thing you could possibly eat.

Chef Boyardee has a lot of vague, beefy products to choose from, so I was somewhat surprised to see its Overstuffed Italian Sausage Ravioli on the shelf. Surely, I thought, it would have more flavor than the beef version of the same thing — and it is a bit more flavorful than its beefy counterpart, technically speaking. While it's not a significant difference, this variety definitely tastes like it potentially contains more spices (even if the meat itself remained rather flavorless). Since these raviolis are undoubtedly overstuffed, too, you'll get a decent amount of meat with every bite.

Now, it may be good enough to rank just outside the top three. But I also have to admit I had the same problem with this product as I do with countless other Chef Boyardee products: It's just too saucy. That wouldn't be so bad if the sauce were thicker or had some chunks of vegetables in it. Unfortunately, though, it's just runny and almost reminiscent of tomato soup.

This product may not a standout or super appetizing overall. But if you're looking to eat Chef Boyardee, this is one of the better options available.

Is Chef Boyardee's Lasagna anything like an actual lasagna? No, of course not. After all, a classic lasagna is a layered pasta dish, which is quite difficult to pull off in canned form. With that in mind, this product really just involves lasagna-shaped noodles in some sauce with a bit of meat. Now, anyone expecting actual lasagna is going to be disappointed here. But if you keep an open mind and remember how much you're paying for a can of this stuff (not much), you might enjoy it more than you assumed you would, helping it rank third.

For one thing, though the pasta isn't firm enough, the texture isn't as bad as a lot of other Chef Boyardee products. Those rippled edges make it slightly more appealing than the more texturally lacking shapes I encountered while working on this ranking. There's not much meat, but there's enough to ensure you at least get a small taste of it. The sauce is kind of soupy, as expected, but that actually kind of works here. The result is a soup-like product that doesn't really lasagna, but is one of the least offensive Chef Boyardee products on this list.

There's something about mini versions of foods that makes them more appealing, which is exactly what's going on when it comes to Chef Boyardee's Mini Beef Ravioli and Meatballs. The little raviolis aren't any more flavorful than the normal-sized ones featured in other products, but their small, bite-sized appearance somehow makes them more fun to eat than their standard-sized counterparts. But what really sets this product apart — and earned it a spot so high on this list – is the meatballs.

Those large meatballs break up the otherwise pasta-heavy dish, offering a more interesting texture than almost all of the other products in this ranking. Of course, there are still plenty of problems with this canned item, like the weird runny texture of the sauce, the lack of any real flavor in the meat, and the sad softness of the pasta. But it's still significantly better than most other Chef Boyardee products you'll find on store shelves, so it comes in second.

Truthfully, the term "Beefaroni" elicits a deep sense of disgust and dread whenever I see it. So I was surprised to find Chef Boyardee's Beefaroni was actually the best (or least offensive) product from the brand that I tried.

Now, the pasta was once again too soft, but the fact that it's a denser, more compact noodle allows it to retain its firmness better than the other pasta shapes I sampled. There's a squishiness to these noodles that feels unintentional, as well, yet it's somehow kind of comforting — like something you'd enjoy when you're not feeling your best and just want something easy (and genuinely unhealthy) to eat to lift your spirits. And as with seemingly every Chef Boyardee product, the sauce was lacking. But its thickness makes it more edible than the runnier sauces found in the lower-ranked products.

There are also some decent-sized meat chunks included in the recipe; you're not getting a lot of meat here, but for the price point, it's not a bad amount of meat. Even if I don't find Chef Boyardee's Beefaroni all that appealing, if I had to choose one product to eat over all the others on this list? There's no question this would be this one.

These Chef Boyardee products were selected based on what was available at my local grocery store. While I tried to stick to cans, I chose microwavable cups when cans weren't available. I heated each of these products up in the microwave — whether they came in a can or cup form — then ate each product by itself. No other ingredients were added (although most of these entries would taste better if you decided to incorporate some fresh ingredients into the mix).

The criteria for this ranking included texture of both the pasta and meat, the quality of the sauce, and overall balance of flavors. Products that had a firmer, more al dente pasta, thicker sauce, and better overall flavors ranked higher than those that did not meet those standards.