Sometimes, adults crave mac and cheese but feel like it’s forbidden because it’s just a kids’ meal. So they add some ground beef, replace the cheese sauce with a tomato-based sauce or broth, slop it into a bowl, and call it goulash. All of a sudden you’ve got a macaroni dish that’s very adult — though your kids will probably love it too. Lean Cuisine throws its macaroni-shaped hat into the goulash ring with its Classic Macaroni & Beef.
Of course, with Lean Cuisine’s flavorful tomato sauce, this frozen food tastes more like a red pasta than a true goulash. That doesn’t mean we’re complaining; we actually love the way this tastes. It may look a little watery when it comes out of the microwave, but the sauce actually thickens up if you let it cool for a few minutes before eating it.
Many frozen meals skimp out on the meat content, but that’s not the case here. This dish is loaded with large chunks of ground beef, and crumbles of it spread through the sauce so there’s at least a little bit of beef in every spoonful (or forkful, if you’re eating it that way instead). To sweeten the deal, there are chunks of vine-ripened tomato scattered about as well.
Our only complaint is that the noodles are a bit soggier than we’d like, but that’s not a huge deal when the rest of the dish is so great. Besides, the noodles don’t taste bad or anything; we just thought they could have been a tad firmer.
Even so, Lean Cuisine’s Macaroni & Beef is one of those meals that had us scraping the bottom of the dish to get every last bite. It’s delicious.
If you’re interested in learning more about the nutrition or ingredients of this dish, check out our package scans below.
