Made by Nacho review

Many celebrities have product lines and many celebrities have pets, but I don't know if I can name many famous people whose pets have a line of products. However, iconic chef Bobby Flay's cat, Nacho, inspired an entire line of premium (and reportedly delicious) cat food. So, as a cat parent myself I was curious how well the food lived up to the hype.

Is it actually worth buying cat food crafted by an award-winning (human food) chef? My expectations were high (Bobby Flay literally has an entire series where chefs try to make food better than him)—and ultimately, Made By Nacho fell flat. Here's why.

Made by Nacho

Bobby Flay released a line of cat food—but is it any good?

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What kind of food does Made By Nacho sell? 

Made By Nacho is a cat food brand that creates nutritionally balanced and delicious meals for cats. To meet your furry friend's needs, the brand selects high-quality proteins such as cage-free chicken and sustainably sourced seafood, combining them with ingredients that naturally appeal to cats.

All recipes are made in the USA, and whenever possible, ingredients are sourced from North America, including cage-free chicken, turkey, and Marine Stewardship Council Certified (MSC) or wild-caught fish like tuna, cod, salmon, and whitefish. Made By Nacho's food meets the nutritional standards established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) and the brand offers a wide range of food options, including grain-free and grain-friendly recipes.

How I tested Made By Nacho

I have two cats: Soba (male, under a year old) and Rayla (female, three years old). They're cuties who love their mealtimes, so I wanted to try a range of Made By Nacho products to see what stuck and what didn't. Rayla has what I call a "refined palate" and usually only eats one type of wet food, so I didn't count it against the brand if she turned up her nose.

Ultimately, I tested the Minced Can Variety Pack, Salmon Cuts in Gravy, Minced Chicken with Liver (for kittens), and Freeze Dried Ahi Tuna snacks.

What I liked about Made By Nacho

My cats liked it

The biggest win with Made By Nacho's food is that my cats actually ate it. It took a few days to transition Soba over to eating only the brand's food (half a can of wet food morning and night), but once he was eating it, I could swap the flavors without any problem. Rayla was pickier, as expected, but she tried some of the minced wet foods and liked the Ahi Tuna snack bites.

The brand offers subscriptions and is available at major retailers

Made By Nacho offers a Subscribe & Save option for most of its cat foods, as well as rewards for shopping with the brand repeatedly. Subscription models are increasingly popular because it guarantees you won't run out of your pet's food and have to make a last-minute trip to the grocery or pet store.

In addition to purchasing Nacho's products directly from the brand, you can shop its products at Chewy, Amazon, and select pet stores local to you. Find them using the Store Locator.

What I didn't like about Made By Nacho

The feeding instructions don't make sense

With cats at two different stages of life, I'm careful to feed them appropriately. Normally, this means more wet food for my kitten along with a consistent feeding schedule for both cats. I was accustomed to feeding Soba half a can of wet food morning and night, so I used that guideline along with his food's kcals to compare to Made By Nacho's suggestions.

However, the recommended serving sizes on the brand's food was inconsistent and outright confusing. For example, the Salmon packets suggested feeding 2-3 pouches per day, but they have 70 kcals a pouch (though the pouch has a similar amount of food as the 90 kcal can I compared against) and to give twice as much food to kittens. Following those instructions, my cat would have eaten four pouches a day, making the 12-pack last only three days. The pouches had quite a bit of food and gravy, so I opted to use one per meal here and there to make sure Soba got enough to eat. If your cat is over eight pounds, you'd go through these pouches even faster based on the serving recommendations.

Similarly, the Minced Chicken recipe recommends feeding cats over 11 weeks 1 or more cans per pound of body weight each day. So my seven-pound cat would eat... seven cans in a day?! I suppose the instructions assume you're not feeding your cat anything else, like dry food, but something definitely seems off with Made By Nacho's feeding instructions.

Some food came without labels

The Minced Chicken wet food for kittens came in gold cans without any labels: no identification for the flavor, no nutritional charts, and not even a stamp on the box signifying which product was inside. By process of elimination, I identified the food as the kitten wet food and used the Made By Nacho site to figure out the portion sizes. But for the price, I would expect the cans to have some marking about what they are, and it made storing the food more difficult to make sure we kept them separate from Rayla's food (hers had labels though).

Should you (and your cat) try Made By Nacho?

Maybe.

I'm on the fence here. On the plus side, my cats liked the flavor of Made By Nacho's wet foods and freeze-dried snacks. But more practically, the feeding instructions are confusing for cat owners, and if you follow the recommended serving size you'll be using up a 27-pack of cans in a few days which isn't cost-effective, and may not be good for your kitty cat either.

If you do try Made By Nacho's food, I suggest doing your own research about how many kcals your cat needs each day to determine how much food to give, or ask your vet!

Made By Nacho cat food