Chef Boyardee Is Alive and On-Trend

Chef Boyardee is now in the shelf-stable cooking kit category with Skillet Meals, a line of easy, budget-friendly meal solutions that don’t compromise on taste. The lineup features five varieties: Beef Pasta, Cheeseburger Mac, Cheesy Italian Shells, Chicken Alfredo and Meat Lasagna. The launch represents a major milestone in Chef Boyardee’s ongoing brand revitalization under Hometown Food Co., which acquired the brand from ConAgra in 2025.

Hometown also boosted the nutrient density of its canned products with new Chef Boyardee Protein Canned Pasta. The first wave of products, featuring at least 25g of protein per can, meets a growing consumer demand for convenient, affordable and satisfying high-protein meal options. The high-protein offerings are Beefaroni, Beef Ravioli, Chicken with Rice & Vegetables, Chili Mac and Spaghetti & Meatballs.

“In just one year since acquiring Chef Boyardee, we’ve turned out meaningful innovation on a fast-paced, entrepreneurial timeline,” said Henk Hartong III, chairman and CEO of Brynwood Partners, owners of Hometown Food.

Multi-Textured Protein Bars

Since launching in 2012, Fitcrunch has challenged the notion that protein bars have to sacrifice taste or texture for nutrition. Built on the belief that “chef-crafted” extends far beyond the kitchen, the brand, owned by 1440 Foods, has created indulgent, dessert-inspired protein bars that satisfy cravings while supporting active lifestyles.

Its newest offering is Puff N’ Crunchy, which features a combination of marshmallow-like softness layered over a crisp cookie base, wrapped in chocolate and finished with crunch. Varieties are Caramel Peanut S’mores, Double Chocolate Rocky Road and Raspberry Meringue Pie. Each bar contains 18g of protein, 3-6g of fiber and 200 calories or less, delivering the indulgence of a candy bar with better-for-you nutrition that consumers can enjoy every day. The new product debuted exclusively in Walmarts in four-count boxes. Additional innovations are scheduled to launch this fall, with a robust pipeline of new offerings and partnerships planned throughout the 2027 calendar year.

Skillet Meals From the Sea

Seafood has long been underrepresented in the frozen meals aisle. High Liner Foods has set out to change that with its new Sea Cuisine Skillet Meals, a line of globally inspired, one-pan seafood meals that are ready in 15 minutes.

Each 22-oz. bag contains two servings. Mediterranean-Style Sole Pasta (22g of protein per serving) features wild-caught sole paired with penne pasta, roasted yellow and red peppers and diced tomatoes in a Mediterranean-inspired lemon caper sauce. Thai Red Curry Salmon (19g of protein per serving) is wild-caught salmon with snap peas, red bell peppers, carrots and brown rice in a Thai red curry sauce. Chili Garlic Shrimp (15g of protein per serving) combines premium shrimp with chow mein noodles, broccoli, red peppers and carrots in a chili garlic sauce.

“Sea Cuisine Skillet Meals make it easier than ever to enjoy restaurant-quality seafood meals at home,” said Anthony Rasetta, chief commercial officer. “With today’s consumers looking for options that taste great, come together quickly and are high in protein, this innovative lineup offers all the quality and convenience they want with none of the wait.”

Potato Crisps Meets Wings

Just in time for football season, two game-day favorites are joining forces. Pringles, now a Mars brand, and Buffalo Wild Wings bring the taste of three legendary wing sauces to the stackable crisp category for the first time ever. The new Pringles x Buffalo Wild Wings lineup delivers a flavor roster with a range of heat levels to satisfy every fan.

Varieties are Asian Zing, Medium Buffalo and Parmesan Garlic. The sports-bar-inspired snack flavors made their debut in July—for “international football,” the World Cup—at select retailers, and expanded nationwide in September. The limited-edition 5.5-oz cans have a suggested retail price of $2.69.

Back in summer, Pringles introduced Pringles Pop Dog Buns, a first-of-its-kind line of potato-based buns infused with the iconic taste of three fan-favorite Pringles flavors: BBQ, Honey Mustard or Sour Cream & Onion. They’re 7.5 in. long and packaged in the brand’s iconic cans for a perfect fit.

Another Frozen PBJ Enters the Fray

Welch Foods Inc. helped define one of America’s most iconic sandwiches — peanut butter and jelly — for generations with its Welch’s Fruit Spreads. Now the company is bringing that combo to the freezer aisle with the launch of Welch’s Real PB&Js.

Rolling out at select Walmart stores, the line delivers a peanut butter and jelly designed for bigger appetites, as the company’s research showed that traditional portion sizes weren’t keeping pace with the needs of today’s young adults. Made with bread packed with creamy peanut butter and Welch’s fruit spreads, the sandwiches come in Concord Grape Jelly, Strawberry Jam and an entirely new Mixed Fruit spread inspired by the brand’s iconic Fruit Snacks.

Made with no artificial colors and no high-fructose corn syrup, each individually wrapped sandwich delivers 12g of protein, is a good source of fiber and is 50% bigger than the leading national brand’s 2-oz. sandwich. They come in a six-count box that sells for $8.87.

Indian Cheese With an America Twist

Mooj Foods introduces Mooj Paneer, a 21st century formulation of the traditional Indian cheese. Founded by Ritu Sreenivasan and Munveer Rihal, Mooj is modernizing traditional paneer with a higher-protein, lower-fat dairy product designed for everyday cooking across a wide range of cuisines and consumer preferences.

Sreenivasan and Rihal felt the meatless category was missing protein-dense and clean-label options, which is why Mooj Paneer delivers 30g of protein for only 180 calories and 5g of fat per serving, making it the most protein-dense vegetarian protein source on the market, they claim, with similar macros to chicken breast. Mooj Paneer comes in three varieties: The OG, Taco Tuesday and Zesty Italian.

Mooj has been selected to participate in the second annual Midwest Dairy Accelerator, a competitive 10-week program hosted by Midwest Dairy, in partnership with VentureFuel, to help emerging food and beverage brands scale innovative products that use Midwest dairy as a key ingredient.