Banza Vegan Cheddar Chickpea Mac & Cheese: Nutrition & Labelgrade B (75/100)
B 75 / 100 — A genuinely better boxed mac and cheese: chickpea pasta delivers real plant protein and fiber that wheat pasta can't, and the dairy-free cheese sauce keeps saturated fat low. The honest catch is sodium — 371mg per dry serving, and that's before you salt the cooking water.
🛒 Buy on Amazon →The short answer
Banza Shells + Vegan Cheddar is a chickpea-pasta mac with a dairy-free “cheddar” sauce — and as boxed mac goes, it’s a genuinely better-macro version of comfort food, not a health food. A 64 g dry serving has 7.7 g protein, 3.8 g fiber and 141 calories (USDA FDC 2756179). The protein and fiber come from the chickpea-and-pea-starch pasta — refined wheat mac delivers roughly a quarter of that fiber and no legume protein — while the sauce, built from sweet potato, coconut-oil powder and nutritional yeast instead of dairy, keeps saturated fat down at 0.6 g. It earns B (75/100): strong on fiber, sugar and saturated fat, held back almost entirely by sodium — 371 mg per dry serving, and that’s before you salt the cooking water.
Why the B
| Dimension | Grade | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protein density | C+ | 68 / 100 | 12 g per 100 g — well above wheat pasta, but the sweet-potato sauce dilutes the chickpea base, so density is moderate, not high |
| Ingredient quality | B- | 74 / 100 | 21 lines, but mostly real food: chickpeas, sweet potato, pumpkin, nutritional yeast, paprika. The coconut-oil powder and gums are processing aids; no maltodextrin, no artificial dye, no dairy fillers |
| Saturated fat load | A+ | 95 / 100 | 0.6 g per serving. Skipping dairy is what earns this — a real-cheese mac runs several times higher |
| Sodium load | D | 41 / 100 | 371 mg per dry serving (~580 mg per 100 g), pre-salting. The cheese powder leans on salt to replace what fat and dairy would do. The grade’s ceiling |
| Sugar load | A+ | 100 / 100 | 1.3 g, occurring naturally in the sweet potato and pumpkin. No added sugar |
| Fiber | B- | 72 / 100 | 3.8 g per serving — a real edge over wheat mac. The chickpea pasta carries nearly all of it; the sauce adds little |
The panel splits cleanly down the middle of the box. Everything good — the protein, the fiber, the low saturated fat — traces to the chickpea pasta and the decision to skip dairy. The one weak number, sodium, traces to the sauce, where sea salt is doing the savory job that butter and cheese do in a conventional mac. Under-salt the pasta water and the rest of the panel stands on its own.
The sauce is the salt: this box vs. plain Banza pasta
The single most useful comparison for this product is Banza against itself — the same brand’s plain chickpea penne, with no sauce. Normalized to 100 g of dry product so the serving sizes line up:
| Per 100 g (dry) | Vegan Cheddar (this) | Plain Banza penne |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | ~12 g | ~23 g |
| Fiber | ~6 g | ~9 g |
| Sodium | ~580 mg | ~80 mg |
| Saturated fat | ~1 g | 0 g |
Adding the cheese sauce roughly halves the protein density (the starchy sweet-potato base displaces chickpea gram-for-gram) and multiplies the sodium about sevenfold. That’s the whole trade laid bare: the pasta is where the nutrition lives, and the sauce is where the salt comes in. If you want the cleanest macros, cook plain Banza and sauce it yourself; if you want a 9-minute box that still beats wheat mac on protein and fiber, this is a fair deal — just go light on the salt you add.
The cooking caveat most reviews bury
Chickpea pasta does not behave like wheat shells, and the box doesn’t warn you loudly enough. It softens faster — the window between al dente and mush is short — and it foams aggressively as the chickpea starch releases, so an unwatched pot boils over. Two habits fix it: pull the shells a full minute before the box time and taste, and skim or stir down the foam rather than walking away. Overcook it and the shells turn pasty and the sauce gets gluey, which is the most common knock in reviews — and it’s a technique problem, not a fault in the product.
Who it’s for
This is the right box for someone who already eats boxed mac and wants to upgrade the macros without giving up the format: vegan, gluten-free, more protein and fiber than wheat mac, less saturated fat. Eaten as a full box it’s a plausible plant-based lunch near 19 g protein and 10 g fiber. The shopper who should pause is anyone on a tight sodium budget — at 371 mg dry, before the pasta water, this isn’t a low-salt food, and that’s the one line on the panel worth respecting.
Ingredients
Chickpea pasta: chickpeas, pea starch, tapioca, xanthan gum. Vegan cheese: sweet potato, coconut oil powder (coconut oil, high oleic sunflower oil, gum acacia), nutritional yeast, sea salt, pumpkin, tapioca, annatto extract, turmeric extract, paprika extract (color), lactic acid, citric acid, paprika, xanthan gum, organic natural flavor, onion, garlic. (Verbatim from the USDA Branded Foods entry, FDC 2756179.)
Where to buy
Affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The Labelgrade score is independent of affiliate relationships. More.
🔬 Compare this product side-by-side with any other →
Quick Facts
Per serving · 64 g (dry)
00857183005878See how this fits your day — protein calculator · macro calculator
Full nutrition facts
| Nutrient | Per Serving (64 g (dry)) |
|---|---|
| Calories | 141 |
| Protein | 7.68g |
| Total Fat | 2.56g |
| Saturated Fat | 0.64g |
| Total Carbohydrates | 24.3g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3.84g |
| Total Sugars | 1.28g |
| Sodium | 371mg |
Scope: This page applies specifically to Banza Shells + Vegan Cheddar Chickpea Mac & Cheese (5.5 oz (156 g) box — about 2.5 servings) · UPC 00857183005878. Other sizes, flavors, or formulations may differ.
How this fits each diet
Each score is computed from the same USDA nutrition + ingredient data, against the published rules of each diet. They tell you "does this food fit this diet" — not whether the diet is right for you.
contains animal-derived ingredients
contains no listed meat or fish
no wheat, barley, rye, or malt detected in USDA ingredient list
Frequently Asked Questions
How much protein is in Banza Vegan Cheddar Mac & Cheese?
7.7 g per 64 g dry serving (USDA FDC 2756179), or about 12 g per 100 g. The chickpea-and-pea-starch pasta carries the protein; the dairy-free sauce adds almost none. A full 5.5 oz box (about 2.5 servings) lands close to 19 g.
Where does the protein come from if there's no dairy?
Entirely from the pasta. The first ingredient is chickpeas, backed by pea starch, and that legume base is what puts protein and fiber on the panel. The 'cheese' sauce is sweet potato, coconut-oil powder, nutritional yeast and pumpkin — it does flavor and color, not protein. So unlike a real-cheese mac, none of the protein here comes from the sauce.
How does it compare to plain Banza chickpea pasta?
Per 100 g dry, plain Banza penne runs about 23 g protein, 9 g fiber and 80 mg sodium; this sauced box runs about 12 g protein, 6 g fiber and 580 mg sodium. The sweet-potato sauce roughly halves the protein density and multiplies the sodium about sevenfold. That's the price of convenience: the pasta is the nutrition, the sauce is the salt.
Is it really vegan, and gluten-free?
Both. There's no milk, butter or cheese — the sauce is built from sweet potato, coconut-oil powder, nutritional yeast and pumpkin. And because chickpea pasta contains no wheat, it's gluten-free. That combination — vegan, gluten-free, and higher in protein and fiber than wheat mac — is rare in a boxed mac. Don't confuse it with Banza's dairy-cheese versions.
Why is the sodium graded D?
371 mg per dry serving (~580 mg per 100 g) — about 16% of the FDA daily limit, and that's before you salt the pasta water. Going dairy-free means the sea salt in the cheese powder does the savory work that fat and cheese would otherwise carry, so the salt is doing double duty. It's the single reason the Labelgrade is B and not higher.
Does chickpea pasta cook the same as regular mac?
Not quite — and it's worth knowing. Chickpea pasta softens faster and slides from al dente to mushy in a smaller window than wheat shells, and it foams more, so the pot can boil over. Pull it a minute early, stir, and skim the foam. Overcook it and the shells go pasty; that's the most common complaint, and it's a cooking issue, not the product.
How many servings are in a box, and what does a full box come to?
The 5.5 oz (156 g) box is about 2.5 servings at the 64 g listed size, but plenty of people eat half or the whole box as a meal. A full box is roughly 19 g protein, 10 g fiber and about 350 calories — a reasonable plant-based lunch, with sodium climbing past 900 mg accordingly.