Smart Ones General Tso’s Chicken Review

Smart Ones General Tso's Chicken

We’ve been looking for a good frozen General Tso’s dish for a while now, but we still haven’t found one we really like yet. Sweet Earth’s General Tso’s Tofu is pretty disappointing, and Healthy Choice’s General Tso’s Chicken is underwhelming at best. We were hoping that the Smart Ones General Tso’s Chicken would be the meal that breaks this losing streak, because Mr. Tso simply deserves better.

Plus, at only 300 calories (70 from fat), this is a meal we don’t have to feel guilty about. It’s also a Weight Watcher’s product, and it’s valued at 9 SmartPoints.

Unfortunately, we’re going to have to keep looking. Smart Ones’ General Tso’s Chicken is a pretty mediocre frozen meal.

The sauce is probably the most disappointing part of this dish. It tastes mostly like a fake soy sauce. It was sweetened up and had some garlic added, but the overwhelming undertone to the whole thing is a plasticy flavor that leaves a bad aftertaste.

Smart Ones General Tso's Chicken

That’s a real bummer, because Smart Ones is pretty generous with their sauce. This is no skimpy sauce portion; it just doesn’t taste very good.

The chicken portion is made up of tiny little chicken nuggets — our dish came with four of them. They taste alright, but their consistency isn’t great. They’re a bit too chewy — it’s a problem that’s supposed to be mitigated by the sauce, but it isn’t. The sauce just makes the outside soggy while the inside remains overly chewy. The contrast only makes these even more off-putting than they already are.

The veggies are nothing special here. You’ve got broccoli and red bell peppers, and neither of them tastes very fresh. They’re also mixed in with the sauce, so you can’t enjoy them sauce-free, which would probably be a slight upgrade.

The rice is surprisingly the best part of the dish. It’s not loaded with flavor, but it’s also not covered in sauce. And on its own, it doesn’t taste bad.

We really wanted to love Smart Ones’ take on General Tso’s, but it’s just not very good. It looks like our hunt for a great frozen Tso’s dish will have to continue. The calorie count is nice, but there are plenty of frozen dinners with fewer than 300 calories. There’s no reason to compromise with this mediocre meal.

If you’re interested in learning more about this frozen Asian meal, check out our package scans below.

Smart Ones General Tso's Chicken

Smart Ones General Tso's Chicken

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