Kraft Cheesy Ramen vs. Aburasoba: Cheese Ramen Goes Mainstream

Kraft wants to put cheese on your ramen. Your college roommate got there first, with a single slice and a microwave.

On October 6, Kraft Mac & Cheese announced Cheesy Ramen, which Kraft Heinz calls the brand’s first move into a new food category in nearly 20 years. Three microwave bowls (Spicy, Chicken and Pork) are due in U.S. stores in early 2027, with April the date most outlets are reporting. So if you went hunting at the grocery store this week: not yet. The blue box is still in the box.

Kraft says shoppers already add cheese to make ramen creamier or to tame the spicy ones, and that cheesy ramen sales have doubled over the past three years, citing Circana data. In other words, a giant food company has officially noticed the dorm-room cheese slice.

What’s in Kraft Cheesy Ramen?

Per package details reported from Kraft’s product images, the Chicken and Pork bowls weigh 3.2 ounces, the Spicy bowl 3.25 ounces, and each cooks in about three and a half minutes. Kraft says all three skip artificial flavors, preservatives and dyes. For a brand famous for a very specific shade of orange, that’s a genuine glow-up.

Roughly half a day’s sodium per bowl is normal for instant ramen, not a scandal. For the build, look at Canada’s KD Cheesy Ramen Bowl: wheat noodles made with vegetable oils, a cheese sauce based on dried whey and cheddar, and a seasoning packet with dextrose, maltodextrin, salt and yeast extract. That’s the shelf-stable formula. It has to survive months in a warehouse, then become dinner with a kettle.

Cheese ramen isn’t new (or American)

Kraft is right that cheese and ramen get along. It just isn’t first. In Korea, a slice of American cheese on spicy ramyeon is a long-running comfort move. In Japan, cheese turns up on curry, on mazesoba and on aburasoba. Kraft didn’t invent cheese ramen. It’s putting it in a cup with a peel-back lid.

What is abura soba, and how is it different from cheese ramen?

Abura soba means “oil noodles.” There’s no broth. A concentrated sauce sits at the bottom of the bowl, and you toss the noodles through it until every strand is coated. It’s a dry, mixed style of ramen, closer to pasta than soup. (Longer version: what aburasoba is and how it differs from ramen.)

That’s our home turf. At Slurp Station, the Tokyo Ganso Aburasoba is a jumbo bowl of thick, chewy noodles, freshly made in store, tossed in our house sauce and topped with diced pork chashu, crispy onion, Parmesan cheese, bamboo shoots, green onions and a runny onsen egg. It’s our most popular dish, and nobody had to launch a new product category to put cheese on it.

The cheese just has a different job. In an instant bowl, cheese is the sauce, engineered to coat every noodle identically. In aburasoba, Parmesan is one voice in the choir: salty and nutty, next to rich pork, a soft yolk and the snap of green onion. You mix it yourself, so no two bites are quite the same.

Kraft Cheesy Ramen vs. aburasoba: the ingredients, honestly

No health claims here. We don’t publish nutrition numbers for our bowls, and a jumbo aburasoba is a full restaurant meal, not a 3.2-ounce cup. Comparing them by the label is like comparing a snack to dinner.

What we can compare is what’s in the bowl. Kraft’s flavor comes almost entirely from powders and a sauce built for shelf life. Ours comes from food you can see: noodles freshly made in store, diced chashu pork, an onsen egg, bamboo shoots, green onion and a grating of Parmesan. Good noodle sauce is still salty. That’s the deal.

Not a cheese person? Order any bowl without it, or try the Vegan Shoyu Based Aburasoba: kale noodles with green peas, corn, bamboo shoots, green onions and shredded nori. Aburasoba was a complete dish long before anyone added Parmesan.

Frequently asked questions

When does Kraft Cheesy Ramen come out?

Kraft says early 2027 in U.S. stores; most outlets report April 2027. Flavors: Spicy, Chicken and Pork.

What is abura soba?

Abura soba (aburasoba) is Japanese brothless ramen, literally “oil noodles”: thick noodles tossed with a concentrated sauce and toppings instead of served in soup.

Where can I get cheese aburasoba in Seattle?

Slurp Station Aburasoba, 4701 Brooklyn Ave NE in the U District. The Tokyo Ganso Aburasoba is topped with Parmesan cheese, pork chashu and an onsen egg.

How is abura soba different from Kraft Cheesy Ramen?

Kraft Cheesy Ramen is instant noodles in a shelf-stable cheese sauce, cooked in a microwave. Abura soba is a restaurant dish: noodles tossed in a concentrated sauce with toppings. At Slurp Station the noodles are freshly made in store, and cheese is one topping among several.

Is aburasoba the same as mazesoba?

Close cousins. Both are brothless, mixed noodle dishes from Japan; aburasoba is defined by its oil-forward sauce.

The verdict on cheese ramen

Will Kraft’s version be worth trying? Probably, for what it is: a fast, no-dye bowl for the dorm drawer, from a company that knows cheese sauce. Early commenters split between “gross” and “I WANT IT NOW.” Both camps get their answer in 2027.

Just don’t judge cheese ramen by the microwave alone. Slurp Station Aburasoba is at 4701 Brooklyn Ave NE in Seattle’s U District, open daily 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the Tokyo Ganso is already on the menu. See the full menu or order pickup or delivery. Kraft has a national rollout. We have a bowl and a pair of chopsticks, and we’re open today.