Specially Selected Fall Harvest Macaroni & Cheese

EDITOR’S NOTE: We bought and reviewed this in the fall of 2024. Aldi is selling the exact same harvest mac & cheese the week of September 10th, 2025, for the same price of $2.99 for 9.75 ounces. 

It’s that time of year when Aldi showcases all kinds of fall-themed foods, ranging from pumpkin loaf cakes to apple cider donuts to maple leaf creme cookies. I see a lot of sweets this time of year, but it can be harder to find savory fall-themed foods outside of traditional things like fresh butternut squash or acorn squash in the produce section.

This week, Aldi is selling something savory for fall that caught my eye: a boxed mac and cheese kit with a sauce consisting of cheddar cheese, pumpkin, and butternut squash. I picked up a box to serve as a dinner side this week.

The box states this features “ridge elbow macaroni with a savory pumpkin, butternut squash and cheddar sauce.”

Specially Selected Fall Harvest Macaroni & Cheese is an Aldi Find. What that means is that this is only in stores for a short time. Each store gets just one shipment. After that sells out, it’s gone unless Aldi decides to bring it back next year. If this is sold out at your local store, you can’t order it online from Aldi.

We buy Aldi products for review using our own funds. I paid $2.99 for a 9.75-ounce box at my local Aldi at the time of publication. That comes out to about 31 cents per ounce. One box has three 3/4-cup servings, so that’s about $1 per serving.

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains wheat and milk.

The full ingredients list includes enriched pasta, cheddar seasoning, tomato powder, pumpkin flakes, butternut squash granules, Romano cheese, salt, onion granules and powder, carrot powder, sugar, garlic powder, and spices.

One 3/4-cup serving has 340 calories, 4.5 grams of total fat (6% DV), 2 grams of saturated fat (10% DV), 960 mg of sodium (42% DV), 61 grams of total carbohydrates (22% DV), 1 gram of dietary fiber (4% DV), 7 grams of total sugars, less than 1 gram of added sugars (1% DV), and 13 grams of protein.

The box has directions for preparing this on the stovetop. You will need the following ingredients:

• 1 package Specially Selected Fall Harvest Macaroni and Cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Bring a medium pot of water (about 8 cups) to a rolling boil. Stir in the pasta and boil for 10-12 minutes. Drain completely and return pasta to warm pot. (Do not rinse.) Add 1/2 cup milk, 3 Tbsp. of butter, and seasoning packet. Stir over low heat until thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

Some family members were skeptical about this, since not all of them like squash. Just about everyone thought this was “okay” to “yummy” once they tried it, with some people going back for seconds.

The noodles are thick and have a gourmet look and texture to them. The sauce is savory and cheesy, with notes of squash. You can see the little bits of pumpkin “flakes” and butternut squash “granules” in the sauce. It’s not an entirely smooth sauce in terms of consistency, but it’s not chunky either. It’s a little on the salty side, which is not surprising considering one serving has more than 900 mg of sodium.

I liked this enough that I did pick up another box or two before it sold out at my local Aldi.

The Verdict:

Specially Selected Fall Harvest Macaroni & Cheese features hearty ridged elbow macaroni noodles with a sauce that includes cheddar cheese, pumpkin, and butternut squash. Even our taste testers who don’t care for squash liked this. It’s a good savory option to help balance all the fall-themed sweets such as donuts, cupcakes, cookies, and breads that Aldi sells this time of year. Just be aware this is not a low-sodium food.