Panera fans will no longer have to pick between their broccoli cheddar soup and their mac and cheese.
The bakery-café chain is now combining the two fan-favorite menu items into one cheesy dish, it announced on Wednesday.
Panera's broccoli cheddar mac and cheese is a mash-up of two popular menu items. (Panera Bread)
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Panera made its new broccoli cheddar mac and cheese recipe by combining two cheddar cheese sauces and simmering them with seasoned broccoli florets and julienned carrots.
“I’m obsessed with the flavor combination in our new broccoli cheddar mac and cheese,” Panera head chef Claes Petersson said in a written statement, calling the dish “insanely craveable and irresistible.”
The dish is available at Panera locations across the U.S., starting at $5.79 or as part of a “You Pick 2” selection. The chain has more than 2,100 locations in 48 states and Ontario, Canada.
The broccoli cheddar mac and cheese is also available in a bread bowl. (Panera Bread)
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Panera said it would also make its broccoli cheddar mac and cheese available in grocery store refrigerated deli sections across the country.
To celebrate and advertise the new menu item, Panera even hired Grammy-winning singer Michael Bolton to perform a rendition of his hit song “When a Man Loves a Woman” rethemed as “When Some Mac Loves Broccoli Cheddar.”
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Eduardo Luz, chief brand and concept officer at Panera, said they wanted to “do something big” for its first-ever mash-up of two menu items.
“We felt so passionately about the flavor combination that the love song almost wrote itself, and who better to announce to the world than love song legend and Panera superfan, Michael Bolton,” Luz said.
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