In our unending search for low-calorie frozen pasta dishes, we recently checked out the Smart Ones Fettuccine Alfredo but were disappointed. While it weighed in at a mere 250 calories, it just didn’t have enough flavor to win us over. So today we’re trying out the non-vegetarian version, the Smart Ones Chicken Fettuccine.
This does have a few more calories than the vegetarian-friendly version of this meal, at 300 (40 of those from fat), but that’s really not all that bad for a pasta-based meal. This is also a Weight Watchers product, and the box values this meal at 8 SmartPoints.
The instructions say to cook this in the microwave for about three and a half minutes, then take it out to stir it a bit before tossing it back in for another 90 seconds or so. We should advise you to really stir this good during this step, because otherwise the noodles tend to stick together in a big sticky noodle clump. In fact, even with a pretty substantial amount of stirring, we still found some unappealing noodle clusters.
The chicken is actually better than we expected. It looks a little pale and sickly, but it actually has a lot of flavor. It can get a little crusty around the edges, but the centers are typically nice and juicy. We actually enjoyed it far more when we pulled it out of the meal to eat it separately than we did when we mixed it into the noodles.
The sauce tastes like it’s supposed to have flavor, but it’s a very weak flavor that sort of lingers in the background. There’s some garlic in the sauce that we assume is supposed to hide the fact that this is so bland, but it doesn’t really help much at all. There’s also some parsley and black pepper, but we’re pretty sure those are there for looks more than anything else. They do pretty this thing up, and the pepper tickles the back of your throat a bit if you’re into that.
Now, this sauce is actually bland enough that you can taste the noodles. The noodles aren’t bad, but they’re nothing special either. We’d prefer they were buried in a rich, flavorful sauce.
The Smart Ones Chicken Fettuccine just isn’t for us. While we appreciate the low calorie count, we prefer frozen meals with a bit more flavor than this one. If you want a better tasting version of this meal (though it’s loaded with calories), check out Stouffer’s Fettuccini Alfredo.
To learn more about the nutrition content or ingredients in this Smart Ones fettuccine dish, check out our package scans below.
