At Marin Country Day School in Northern Cali, Chef Jason Hull combines smoked gouda, parmesan and sharp white cheddar for a mac packed with flavor.

Traditional elbow noodles are the only thing traditional about this cool mashup from Chef-GM Don “Donny Mac” McIntosh and the Metz team at Westmont Hilltop School District.

Not stopping with a quesadilla, Donny Mac and crew created this fall and winter favorite. We could dive right in!

Working with several ideas in one delicious flatbread, Donny Mac’s version is made with cavatappi in a white cheddar sauce with roasted peppers, spinach, kalamata olives and feta.

The Metz Culinary Management team at Erie (Pa.) Public Schools makes mac ‘n cheese 3,500 servings at a time in the culinary center, which cooks and distributes food across the 22-building district. 

Also at Erie Schools, high school kids get to try a pizza-mac mashup that’s been a big hit. 

Also at Chandler USD, this cozy mac includes fall spices (nutmeg, cinnamon) and crispy bacon added to traditional mac ‘n cheese with a mozzarella base.

Black beans come to the party in this spicy, smoky mac from the Aramark team at Chandler USD.

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Aramark Chef Joe Dostilio of Fairfield University created this spicy, shrimpy mac with cotija and American cheeses, rotini, roasted jalapeno and Latin-spiced breadcrumbs.

CSU Sacramento’s Aramark team welcomes students back with Nest Fest, where mac can be topped with brisket or not, for a vegan version. 

The mac is made with cheddar cheese sauce, seasoned with smoky paprika and topped with parmesan shredded cheese, courtesy of Aramark Executive Chef Alicia Rivera at Lewisville ISD.

Rivera uses the same mac ‘n cheese to create these bites, with the help of an air fryer and a garnish of fresh parsley. 

Bring on the mac attack! Aramark Executive Chef Mark Lazo came up with this pork-tacular Sammie at Bloomsburg University, where it’s become one of the top menu items ever. 

This smoky take on mac from the mind of Aramark GM of Residential Dining Steve Lamberg has been an icon for more than a decade at Arizona State University’s Tempe campus.

American Dining Creations (ADC) Chef Jon Pye creates smoke with not just bacon, but smoked chicken, too.

Another from ADC, this football-season LTO mac goes down-home with barbecue pulled pork, cornbread croutons, barbecue sauce and green onions. 

This vegetarian menu item from ADC is amped up with the surprisingly big flavors of local microgreens. 

Chef Rashad Armstead of Oakland’s Black Food Collective created this mac with the California Milk Marketing Board’s REAL Makers program. See a video on how to make this scrumptious mac here .

And finally, some mac recipes remain secret! That’s the case with Aramark’s Jamar Ikner’s iconic mac at St. Peter’s University. Ikner can divulge, though, that he’s working on a roasted garlic mac, a caramelized onion mac and a cheeseteak mac (this just sounds like genius to us).