Made By Nacho Cat Food Review 2024

If you were a Food Network fan in the early 2000s, you've probably seen at least one episode of a Throwdown with Bobby Flay. But what you may not know is in recent years, he has started serving a whole new crowd— of the four-legged variety. Made by Nacho is a gourmet cat food brand and brainchild of Bobby Flay and today we will be reviewing it! 

The last decade has seen many celeb-inspired food, health, and decor brands — some great, others not so much. We've done some digging into this brand, including its history, ingredient sourcing practices, and recipe quality, to see if it is as high-quality as it's made out to be! Let's begin!  

Made by Nacho has a solid array of cat food subranges including dry foods, several types of wet foods, treats, and food toppers. Let's explore some of these offerings more closely.

Dry Food

Made by Nacho has 7 different dry cat food options, making it the brand's largest range. The dry food offerings include 2 freeze-dried recipes, 3 bone-broth-infused recipes, a skin and coat support recipe, and a sensitive stomach recipe. Most of these recipes center around high-quality protein like salmon, turkey, chicken, and pumpkin, which is great for pets with sensitive stomachs. Each of these recipes have a named animal protein like chicken or salmon as the first ingredient, generally followed by a meat meal, and an array of grains, veggies, and probiotics.

Wet Food

Flay's Cuts in Gravy line is exactly what it sounds like — chunks of processed cat food suspended in a thickened bone broth. This line currently has 3 flavors, chicken, salmon, and beef, and is available in a variety pack, so your kitty never has to choose just one flavor! 

As always, these recipes are derived from sustainably caught and humanely raised proteins, which are the first ingredient in each of these recipes. We also like that these use a variety of meat broths instead of plain water for processing since bone broth contains added collagen and protein.

Made By Nacho's Minced & Flaked line features 10 different wet food options with flavors like Minced Salmon & Sole and Flaked Tuna & Rainbow Trout in individual serve cups and cans. The minced and flaked recipes are very similar in texture and feature small morsels of meat and fish products in a thickened broth. This line includes one grain-free option as well, the Flaked Tuna and Cod.

Pates are a favorite food of many cats, and thankfully, Made by Nacho has three canned options to suit pate lovers. These flavors include Chicken & Herring, Salmon & Sole, and Turkey & Liver. All three of these products are grain-free, but we would like to see more offerings from this line, including grain-inclusive formulas.

Treats and Toppers

Made by Nacho's Homestyle Broths with Shreds and Flakes pouches are a great option for cats who don't care for pates but need to up their water intake. This line comes in 3 flavors: cage-free chicken shreds, sustainably caught tuna and cod, and cage-free turkey shreds.

Made by Nacho bone broth is a great way to add moisture to your kitty's diet and liven up boring kibble. These come in 3 flavors: chicken and turkey (both raised cage-free) and humanely raised beef.

Flay also has 2 different treat options for kitties, including 3 flavors of Lickable Mousses (chicken, tuna, and salmon and tuna and 5 types of single-ingredient Freeze-Dried Treats with yummy flavors like duck liver, chicken breast, and ahi tuna.

Below are a few things that we like about Made by Nacho.

Sourced from farmers that use humane farming practices

One of the biggest pros of buying Made by Nacho products is you can rest assured that the meat, fish, and poultry products they use that have been humanely raised and ethically sourced. This means you'll only find cage-free chicken products, pasture-raised beef, and sustainably caught fish using dolphin- and turtle-safe practices! We love to see the pet industry to push for more transparent and ethical sourcing practices!

Offers an affordable starter kit to try out the brand's most popular offerings

We know that trying a new pet food brand is risky business since pets can be quite finicky (plus new foods might not agree with your furbaby!) A cool thing about Made by Nacho is they have a 9-piece sampler bundle that allows your pet to try all five of their best-selling products, including a 2lb bag of their bone broth-infused kibble, meal toppers, wet food pouches, bone broths, and treats for one low price.

Available on Chewy and other major retailers

We like that this brand is available through a variety of retailers, including Chewy, Petco, and Petsmart, as well as available for purchase through the Made by Nacho website.

Most recipes are not friendly for cats with poultry allergies

One downside that we've found across several Made by Nacho recipes is that most of them aren't safe for cats with poultry allergies. Even recipes with fish in the recipe name often contain chicken broth or other poultry derivatives, which are not disclosed on the front of the bag or in the recipe name. We would prefer more transparent recipe names to help prevent pet parents from exposing their pets to a known allergen.

We would love to see more variety

Speaking of protein allergies, we would love to see more novel proteins that cater to cats with allergies or food sensitivities. We would also like to see more targeted products like weight management formulas, senior recipes, and maybe even low-phosphorous foods for cats with kidney issues.

"I have owned cats for most of my 73 years but I never found a dry cat food my cats actually prefer over wet, until now. I like to feed my cats both wet and dry food and often use Made by Nachos as a topper. My cats will go for the crunchy every time! I have also tried 3 different flavors of the Nachos dry and get the same results regardless."

"I've been looking for a good healthy cat food that contains healthy grains but not may fillers or legumes. I found Made By Nacho and decided to try it out. Best decision! My cat loves it, and it's easy on her sensitive tummy. Shes hasn't thrown it up or had diarrhea at all! I've already noticed a better difference in her fur and energy level. [I] will definitely [continue] to feed this!"

"I initially tried this when I received a free bag, and my cat loved it. He has digestive issues and we sometimes give him sensitive stomach foods. I can't say this helped, but it did not aggravate his stomach. He was so interested in the food the first time I gave it to him that he was trying to open the bag himself. The kibble seemed easy for him to eat, and he seemed satisfied for a while after a serving. I have since repurchased it, but I only can recommend it if the price is in your budget."

Read more reviews on Chewy.

In 2021, Bobby Flay joined the likes of Racheal Ray as a Food Network Chef turned pet food pioneer. This company was born out of his desire to find higher-quality cat food for his orange Maine Coon, Nacho. Flay teamed up with Elly Truesdell, the founder of New Fare Partners, a food venture capital fund, to create the successful cat food line. Not only did he name the brand after his beloved ginger, but Nacho personally tested each recipe before it hit shelves up until he passed in 2023. 

Made by Nacho is part of Sonoma brands, which also owns other food and beverage brands as well as beauty brands like Krave jerky, Avaline Wines, Versed, and True Botanicals, to name a few. Made by Nacho is available through their website as well as online pet food marketplaces like Chewy and Petsmart.

As of writing, Made by Nacho has never undergone a recall, but we will keep this page updated should that change.