Food Brand Crossovers That Left Us Uneasy

Without a little culinary experimentation, we'd never have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (Shoutout to whoever first thought, "Hey, what if I smooshed these two together?") Who knows, a creative food brand crossover could become the next PB&J. But fair warning — it's probably not one of the crossovers on this list.

This list tries to stomach the food brand crossovers that left us uneasy. The menu includes ice cream with cheese, cheese with candy, candy with cookies, and cookies with soft drinks. Bagels and bacon are mixed with sugary cereals and, IHOP pancakes become potato chips. Just the idea of some of the crossovers on this list might leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Many of these brand collaborations were designed to grab attention — and hey, they succeeded because here we are still talking about them. Unfortunately, that sometimes contributes to the uneasy feeling these creations leave us with — gimmicky, over-the-top flavor collaborations that prioritize marketing shock value over genuine culinary innovation aren't always appetizing. But they are, nonetheless, entertaining — so let's dig in!

Skittles is no stranger to flavor controversy — just ask the green Skittle, which sparked an uproar back in 2013 when it swapped the beloved lime flavor for green apple. The scandal rocked candy aisles everywhere, but after years of fan outrage, Skittles made amends by bringing lime back and even rolling out an all-lime pack in 2021. For many candy lovers, balance was restored to the universe.

Just when we thought Skittles had returned to its senses, the summer of 2023 came along and things got...weird. Skittles dropped a limited-edition bag of all-yellow candy. But this wasn't a sunny lemon flavor celebrating summer vibes. No, this was a bag of mustard-flavored Skittles — specifically, French's Classic Yellow Mustard.

This unexpected collaboration between Skittles and French's was a quirky way to celebrate National Mustard Day. The promotion even featured the "Mustard Mobile," which cruised the East Coast to hand out fun-sized packs of tangy, mustardy Skittles. It was all part of French's quirky tradition of going all-in for their favorite condiment's big day — previous celebrations included Mustard Ice Cream and Mustard Donuts. Clearly, French's is on a mission to prove that mustard can go anywhere. (We'll let you decide if it should.) As for Skittles, let's just hope there aren't any brands looking to collaborate with them on National Moldy Cheese Day (mark your calendars for October 9th). We really don't need to taste that color of the rainbow.

Ice cream and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese — both creamy and delicious. But does that make them a good combo? Van Leeuwen Ice Cream teamed up with Kraft to find out, debuting Kraft Macaroni & Cheese flavored ice cream in shops and online during the summer of 2021. Enough people liked it — or at least wanted to try it once — that the flavor quickly sold out. It later returned as part of Van Leeuwen's exclusive partnership with Walmart, where ice cream flavors like Kraft Macaroni & Cheese rotated through stores nationwide.

Defenders of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese ice cream point to other desserts as proof that sweet and cheesy can coexist — look at the success of cheesecake, cream cheese frosting, and mascarpone gelato. But let's be real — there's a world of difference between velvety mascarpone and the neon orange dust that defines Kraft's cheese sauce. And yes, that very dust is part of the ice cream recipe.

Van Leeuwen prides itself on simple ingredients, and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese ice cream is no exception. The short ingredient list is just cream, milk, cane sugar, egg yolks, and Kraft cheese sauce (the list in that cheese sauce gets a bit longer). If that combo of sweet cream and savory cheese powder leaves your mouth watering, try a copycat Kraft Macaroni & Cheese ice cream recipe. Tear open some cheese packets and get churning — after all, life's too short to stick to vanilla.

Hormel Black Label Bacon decided to go big for its first-ever co-branded bacon, pairing the sizzling breakfast classic with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. It's savory, sugary, salty, and cinnamony — that's not a word, maybe because there are no words for Black Label Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bacon.

Mashed's review of Hormel's Black Label Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bacon called it "a bizarre symphony of cinnamon and salt." Sure, sweet and savory have always been a classic duo. But rubbing thick-cut bacon with Cinnadust seasoning blend is like asking Mozart to conduct the crackling sounds of Rice Krispies. You could, but it's a bit peculiar.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bacon sizzled its way into select Walmart and Kroger stores in September 2024. If you missed this unique brand crossover (or maybe dodged it on purpose), don't worry. You can recreate a sweet bacon vibe at home. Just take this crispy brown sugar bacon recipe, add a pinch of cinnamon, and enjoy the symphony of flavors!

At first glance, Dr. Pepper imagery on the Coffee Mate bottle seems strange. Is this a Dr Pepper-flavored creamer for coffee? Tossing a 23-flavor soda into your morning cup of joe sounds weird, to say the least. But then again, Coffee Mate has a history of experimenting with flavors. We've seen Coffee Mate Kit Kat, Abuelita Mexican Hot Chocolate, and even Kahlúa & Crème. But wait — take a closer look at the bottle. It also says "Coconut Lime." Huh. If you haven't had your morning coffee yet, this might take a second to compute — this Coffee Mate isn't for your coffee. Nope, this is for your Dr Pepper. Welcome to the world of dirty soda.

Dirty soda jazzes up soft drinks with cream, flavored syrups, and sometimes fruit. And it's had more than 15 minutes of fame, with #dirtysoda splashing its way through millions of TikTok views. Coffee Mate took notice, eyeing an easy way to help soda drinkers make Dirty Dr Pepper, a fizzy drink with coconut, lime, and cream. Just combine Coffee Mate Dirty Soda Coconut Lime with your Dr Pepper, stir, and sip! #easy

Not everyone's sold on spiking their soda, of course. For every #dirtysoda fan on TikTok, there's someone with their plain Dr Pepper. And coffee drinkers are left brewing in confusion when they see coffee's perfect mate palling around with soda.

Compartés Chocolatier and Velveeta make an odd food brand crossover. They both excel in their fields, but they're playing different games. One is chocolate. The other is cheese. One is a high-end, gourmet product often gifted by none other than Oprah herself. The other is a budget-friendly option available at Family Dollar. One luxuriates in fresh, seasonal ingredients from local farmer's markets. The other is famous for its, um, creatively engineered ingredients like maltodextrin, sodium alginate, and modified food starch.

On the other hand, both brands focus on delicious foods with a melty quality, so why not put them together? You might be able to come up with a few reasons, but apparently, Compartés Chocolatier and Velveeta couldn't. And so, the chocolate cheese truffle was born.

TruffVels, as they're known, are white chocolate truffles infused with Velveeta. They're shaped like pasta noodles from Velveeta Shells and Cheese. Launched in May 2023, Compartés sold packs of five TruffVels for $24.95. Wondering what to make of these gourmet chocolates stuffed with a processed cheese product? The real question might be why make them in the first place?

During the COVID-19 virus, many of us spent more quality time with candy than with other people. So, in 2021, Pepsi leaned into the vibe with the #HangingWithMyPEEPS social media sweepstakes. To enter, you had to share a photo of yourself hanging out with Peeps Marshmallow Chicks, and Bunnies. And what could you win? A set of three 7.5-ounce mini cans of Peeps-flavored Pepsi. A little quirky, a lot gimmicky, but it worked — it created a buzz louder than a sugar rush on Easter morning.

Since only a select few got to taste the fizzy prize, Pepsi brought the limited edition flavor back in 2023. This time, it was a wider release, perhaps betting on the idea that everyone deserves the chance to sip liquid marshmallows at least once. The new launch featured sunshine-yellow 7.5-ounce mini-can multipacks, along with 20-ounce bottles.

And about the taste? Well, as one might expect from anything labeled "artificial marshmallow flavored cola," it was sweet. Pure, unadulterated sweetness. Some who tried it even uttered a feeble shrill (aka, a peep). Pepsi has explored a lot of creative flavors, like Pepsi Lime, Pepsi Zero Sugar Gingerbread, and even Pepsi Café (cola plus coffee). But Pepsi Peeps? Drinking something that tastes like marshmallow roadkill? I'll stick to plain Pepsi, please.

Yes, Oreo belongs with a beverage. But that beverage is milk, not Coca-Cola. For years, Oreo's packaging has made this abundantly clear: "Milk's favorite cookie." The bond between Oreo and milk is so strong it's a relationship worthy of serious scientific inquiry. Scientists dedicated weeks to figuring out the perfect amount of time to dunk an Oreo. And yes, they used milk for their experiments, not soda. So when Coca-Cola and Oreo announced a partnership in 2024, you can imagine the milk industry shouting, "Uh ... Got Milk?"

The brand collaboration gave us limited-edition drinks and cookies. Coca-Cola Oreo Zero Sugar was a fizzy drink blending Coca-Cola and Oreo flavors. The Oreo Coca-Cola Sandwich Cookies featured a Coca-Cola-inspired creme filling with popping candy sandwiched between a chocolate cookie infused with Coca-Cola syrup and a red-colored Golden Oreo cookie. These novelties hit store shelves globally. Even 7-Eleven, Inc. joined in on the fun, offering Coca-Cola Oreo Zero Sugar Slurpees at 7-Eleven, Speedway, and Stripes stores nationwide.

Reactions were .. mixed. The food brand crossover made some snackers uneasy and overly defensive of milk. Others dove in enthusiastically. Even Mashed's review of Oreo Coca-Cola Sandwich Cookies and Coca-Cola Oreo Zero Sugar called it "the pairing of your dreams." But for others, it's the stuff of nightmares — the kinds that make you get out of bed for a warm glass of milk and a handful of Oreos.

In the spring of 2024, Oreo and Sour Patch Kids sandwiched their brands into limited-edition Oreo Sour Patch Kids cookies. It's hard to feel uneasy about either of these beloved brands. Oreo is the most popular cookie of the 21^st century, pulling in nearly $3 billion in worldwide annual revenues. It's found in over 100 countries and has been around for over 100 years.

Sour Patch Kids are, indeed, just kids in comparison. They've been stirring up trouble since 1985, quickly becoming a movie theater staple. Now those sweet-and-sour kiddos are a favorite, both in and out of the theater. In Mashed's ranking of 36 popular sour candies, Sour Patch Kids took the top spot.

But the most popular cookie and the best sour candy don't necessarily belong in your mouth at the same time. It's unclear if Oreo even wanted this to happen. The cookie company's press release hinted that Sour Patch Kids were up to no good, calling them "mischievous" and suggesting they were "they're taking over...America's favorite cookie." The Oreo Sour Patch Kids cookies might have been less of a brand collaboration and more of a hostile takeover. The cookies infiltrated stores and invaded pantries nationwide until supplies ran out. But old packages are still available on the secondary market. Just proceed with caution. The built-in sourness means there's no way to tell if these cookies have gone bad.

With the popular philosophy that breakfast isn't just for breakfast, IHOP has spread like syrup across a plate and is now found in all 50 states. For a limited time, IHOP was found in bags of Lay's potato chips. Breakfast during snack time, why not?

Lay's is quite the prankster, trolling us with Instagram posts of fake flavors like watermelon and Korean corn dog. But when Lay's announced IHOP Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity chips in early 2024, it was no prank. The bag adorned a seal proclaiming, "World Famous Breakfast Flavor." They featured "strawberry-topped pancakes with syrup & bacon naturally & artificially flavored potato chips." Yes, a mouthful.

For a long time, Lay's was famous for a slogan it launched in the 1960s: "Betcha can't eat just one." With these IHOP chips, though? Some snackers were more than willing to take that bet. Heck, some didn't want to eat even one. Sure, fruit-topped pancakes, syrup, and bacon are great together on a plate. But attempting to recreate this multi-component breakfast experience into a single potato chip format? One can almost hear the boardroom conversation: "We've conquered breakfast. We've conquered chips. Why not create something that makes people question both?"

Just in time for the back-to-school frenzy in 2024, Thomas' Breads and WK Kellogg Co. formed a study group and came up with Thomas' Froot Loops Mini Bagels. The brand crossover infused savory, pre-sliced bagels with sweet, fruity crunches of Froot Loops cereal. Available in packs of 10 for a limited time, the creation hoped to solve one of life's smallest dilemmas — bagels or cereal for breakfast? But if the answer is Thomas' Froot Loops Mini Bagels, it might be better to skip breakfast altogether.

In describing the taste of these bagels, Redditor @Kutleki in the subreddit r/StupidFood says, "You know when you walk into the bathroom after someone's used a ton of hairspray and you first breathe in? Somehow that's what these taste like." So, if you were getting ready in the morning and the smell of hairspray made your stomach growl, Thomas' Froot Loops Mini Bagels might have been your perfect morning match. But anyone who liked Froot Loops was better off just eating Froot Loops.

In 2021, Hidden Valley Ranch partnered with mixologists Whiskey and Rosemary to create the RanchNog Kit. The $50 box made the perfect gift for adults on the naughty list. Inside, you'd find two glasses, a gold jigger, Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning packets, and a recipe card for a festive cocktail that no one asked for but everyone talked about. As Hidden Valley's press release described it, "this ranchified take on the iconic — sometimes polarizing drink — marries the creamy, slightly sweet elements of eggnog with the savory, cool and herby flavors of ranch." Polarizing? Yeah, like the South and North Pole.

A traditional homemade eggnog recipe uses eggs, sugar, whipping cream, whole milk, and sometimes booze. Holiday feuds erupt over the best secret ingredients — almond paste, coconut milk, orange liqueur? But you could travel back to the very first Christmas and still not hear anyone suggest adding ranch seasoning to the mix.

RanchNog really isn't just eggnog with ranch seasoning sprinkled in to be fair. It's a distinct drink, crafted with mezcal, maple syrup, freshly pressed ginger, whipping cream, egg white, rosemary, cinnamon, nutmeg, and, of course, Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning. That ingredient list is a bold departure from Mrs. Claus's eggnog, and the thought of sipping the ranch-infused drink might make even the jolliest of elves a bit uneasy. Still, it might be worth trying. So when the season is right, lift a glass of RanchNog and say, "Bah humbug!"