Don’t you hate it when a product you love seemingly changes its formulation? Many have tried, but few have succeeded.
Coca-Cola once tried this, creating a newer, sweeter soda in 1985 called New Coke. Protests and boycotts followed. In 1990, McDonald’s switched from using beef tallow to vegetable oil, which caused outrage. Campbell’s removed MSG from its soups and, despite the health benefits. And customers weren’t happy with the blander taste. A big 0 for 3 for these titans of the industry.
Time and time again, for various reasons, companies change their recipes, and it’s usually met with backlash. There’s a reason products become popular in the first place, so why ruin a good thing?
Enter Knorr: The next company to throw its hat into this ring.
Known for their easy-to-cook side dishes, Knorr is a major brand under the Unilever umbrella, raking in around $3 billion dollars in annual sales. But something is amiss with their new pastas, and TikToker Kristin (@kristin_genx_ugc) isn’t happy about it.
Did Knorr change its recipe?
In a video with 135,600 views, she ranted from her car.
“What happened to Knorr? It’s a little stupid, but not really, because I do need to eat this,” she started off. She continued with passion, “The package says ‘Since 1838,’ but something has happened in the last year or so because they don’t cook right anymore.”
Then she showcased the product in question, “This is the Alfredo one. But I’ve tried all different kinds from the same brand, and they all come out watery, tasteless… It doesn’t thicken. Ever.”
Finally, she posed all the right questions, “So is it shrinkflation? Is there not as much pasta in there? Not as much of the sauce mix? What have they done?” She then called out the company directly, “Knorr—this is not good. Fix it. Something you’ve done. Something. I don’t know what, but fix it, please.”
It’s not just her
Many in the comments felt the same as Kristin and were upset about the quality of similar brands.
One wrote: “Yessss. My son and I literally survived on these 99-cent packets in the 2000s, and we still like them—but they have changed. The pasta overcooks and it’s gummy and gross now. Two thumbs down.” Another called out Kraft, too: “Yes! That and Kraft Mac and Cheese. So weird tasting now.”
A third took it even further: “Hamburger Helper is gross, the Knorr ones all taste the same, and Kraft Mac just hits differently now.” One woman, who works in food manufacturing, offered an explanation.
“I work in a food manufacturing plant, and let me tell you—corporate sourcing will do anything to save a dollar, even if it means sacrificing quality. Then, when sales plummet, they sit around going, ‘Hmm, sales are down.’”
It begs the question: Why do companies change good products?
There are two main reasons companies change their recipes: Health concerns and cost-cutting. Neither usually draws a good reaction from the public. On occasion, companies remove certain ingredients to make their products “healthier.” But customers ask themselves, “OK, but at what cost?”
Take McDonald’s fries as an example. Once cooked in beef tallow (rendered beef fat), they had an incredible umami flavor. In 1990, McDonald’s switched to vegetable oil to appear more health-conscious. (We now know how good vegetable oils are, right?)
Naturally, customers were outraged. The new fries just didn’t…slap. Even in 2025, some folks who lived during that era talk about how McDonald’s fries used to be better—because they probably were. But to be fair, they are still pretty darn good.
Campbell’s made the same mistake when it removed MSG from the soups. While the change was meant to align with health trends, it also stripped away a key flavor bomb. Fast forward to 2025, and trendy chefs are actually recommending MSG again (check out Joshua Weissman for more on this).
After customer backlash, Campbell’s eventually put MSG back into some products.
Additionally, some big brands do a sneaky bait-and-switch. Companies quietly tweak their recipes to save a few cents per unit, thinking no one will notice. If there’s one thing the world can count on—customers always notice.
In all likelihood, Knorr’s watery pasta is the result of cost-cutting—switching to lower-quality pasta, reducing the volume of sauce mix, or tweaking the recipe just enough to shave off a few cents.
Hamburger Helper and Kraft Mac & Cheese both have likely tweaked their formulations over time to cut down on manufacturing costs. Its death by a thousand small changes—until one day, you take a bite and realize “this sucks now.”
Unfortunately, company execs care more about profit margins than your nostalgia. If an ingredient gets too expensive or a new regulation forces change, they’ll tweak the recipe to keep their P&L looking good. Once that change happens, they rarely go back—unless the backlash is big enough.
Yet, sometimes the outrage is so loud that companies have no choice but to backtrack.
When do food companies revert to the old recipe?
Coca-Cola’s New Coke disaster in 1985 remains the gold standard for corporate backpedaling. The backlash was so bad that within three months, Coke was forced to bring back the original formula under the name Coca-Cola Classic. People literally staged protests over their soda tasting differently. Had social media existed then? The Coke factory might’ve been burned to the ground.
Even better: Do you want the part that will really blow your mind? Sometimes, companies pretend to listen—but don’t actually fix anything. They say “we hear you” in a moment of publicity but change the labeling and don’t change the recipe.
Other times, companies double down and gaslight consumers into thinking nothing has changed. Cadbury once altered its dairy milk recipe to cut costs, fans complained, and the company insisted, “It tastes the same.” It didn’t.
If a company messes with a product you love, there are two potential outcomes: big enough public outrage might force a reversal. But if sales dip without a full-blown revolution, the company will probably double down and move on. like McDonald’s fries or Kraft Mac & Cheese.
In essence, Knorr’s pasta probably falls into the second category. The company will likely ignore complaints (like Kristin’s) unless sales tank. Even then, it might just slap a “NEW & IMPROVED” label on the packaging without actually improving anything.
So if you’re mourning the loss of Knorr pasta, you’re not alone. But unless Kristin wants to organize, make signs, and start marching around the Knorr HQ: Watery pasta it shall be.
Knorr did not reply to a request for comment. We’ve reached out to Kristin, too.
@kristin_genx_ugc What happened to Knorr pastas? They’re terrible now! #rant #rantoftheday #knorr #cooking #cookingathometiktoktv #cookinghacks #ugc #ugccreator #ugccontentcreator #genxugc ♬ original sound – Kristin Wallace
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