One Of The Best New Fast Food Items In August 2026 Is This Pizza Chain's Mac And Cheese

August often feels like a crossroads for fast food venues, with summer specials still lingering while hints of fall flavors wait in the wings. That leaves a sliver of time for introducing things like old-school comfort foods, albeit dressed in new attire. One dish in particular comes from a chain known for pizza — yet there's no crust, pepperoni, or tomato sauce anywhere in sight. It's Pizza Hut's Triple Cheese Mac, a new oven-baked mac and cheese that debuted in mid-July.

This creamy baked rendition of ever-loved mac-and-cheese appeared in our Tasting Table roundup featuring 14 of the best new fast food items of August 2026, where it joined new offerings from stalwarts of the industry, including Taco Bell, Jimmy John's, Culver's, and more. It's rich and creamy with a notable cheese pull, which comes from a somewhat non-traditional combination of ingredients. The Triple Cheese Mac is built around cavatappi, the short, corkscrew-shaped pasta that is one of the best types of pasta for homemade mac and cheese. It offers plenty of curves for cheese clinging from white cheddar, Parmesan, and Pizza Hut's mysterious "signature pizza cheese." The whole thing is baked until the top browns and bubbles with cheesy goodness. 

Pizza Hut describes it as a side or add-on instead of a full entree, and it's promoted at a price of $6 at participating restaurants, with prices and availability subject to variation by location. The Triple Cheese Mac arrived as part ot the Throwback Value Menu, which includes familiar Pizza Hut staples such as Personal Pan Pizza, breadsticks, cinnamon sticks, and Stuffed Crust, and another newcomer, S'mores Sticks. The complete promotional menu starts as low as $3 for the personal-size pizza. 

Though it's lumped in with the throwback theme, Triple Cheese Mac is actually a first-time Pizza Hut offering. Along with others on the Throwback Value Menu, it's only slated for a limited-time run. There's no revealed end date as yet, so it's best to check local menus before dashing over for your comfort-food fix.

This dish sounds cozy and nostalgic, especially with the double-dip of childhood Pizza Hut memories for many customers. But how does the Triple Cheese Mac actually taste? Early reactions lean positive, but there's also some online debate over things like texture, serving size, and price. In one Reddit discussion, a customer who initially questioned whether the serving looked small later said they really enjoyed the pasta and would order it again. Another commenter in the same thread considered the quantity reasonable and strongly preferred Pizza Hut's version to Domino's mac and cheese. 

Over on the Pizza Hut employee subreddit, someone thought all the added cheese was a little excessive, while another enjoyed it but found the consistency somewhat too soupy. Another user was more enthusiastic, recommending the dish even though initially being skeptical of the looser, saucier texture. A reviewer from The Impulsive Buy was especially impressed, giving the Triple Cheese Mac a rating of 9 out of 10, mentioning the pleasing contrast between the browned cheese on top, the stretchy layer underneath, and the thicker, creamy sauce coating the pasta. White cheddar came across as the most noticeable of the three cheeses, and the reviewer found the portion filling enough to work as a meal. If you'd like to try your hand at making a version of this dish at home, feel free to build it around one of these 10 decadent mac and cheese recipes.