We’re very excited about Stouffer’s new Urban Bistro line of frozen food. When we first saw the electric blue packaging at our local grocery store, we immediately rushed home to try the Aged Asiago Lasagna. While that was pretty good, we were also pretty curious about the Urban Bistro Spicy Tortellini Arrabbiata, which we’re trying today.
One thing we’ve noticed about the Urban Bistro line of frozen foods is that they take less time to cook than the average Stouffer’s meal. We often spend much time and words talking about Stouffer’s unusually long cook times. The Urban Bistro food has cook times that feel more in line with the average frozen food. That’s definitely not a bad thing.
And it’s true for this meal as well. Simply toss it into the microwave for two and a half minutes, give it a little stir, and put it back in for two more. That’s a total of four and a half minutes, which is considerably shorter than so many of Stouffer’s other frozen foods.
So now, let’s talk about this sauce. This is a tomato paste-based sauce, and it’s not quite as thick as we’d like it to be, but it’s also not super runny. It tastes great, with that sweeter flavor that we tend to really love, and it has a sprinkling of parmesan cheese mixed in. Of course, true lovers of parmesan are going to want to add some more, as there’s not quite enough in here for the parm-obsessed.
The sauce is also a little bit spicy, as the title of this frozen food suggests. We assume this is due to what the package vaguely describes as “spices,” so we’re not sure exactly what gives it that spice. The box lists this as a medium, but we’re much more comfortably calling it a mild. Spice-ophobes might disagree, but those looking for a spicy dish might be a little disappointed.
This is no vegetarian-friendly meal, as it’s loaded with beef. This adds a nice texture to the sauce, making it feel a bit thicker than it actually is. That’s a plus here, since, as we mentioned earlier, we think the sauce could be just a tad thicker.
The tortellini is the three-color variety, and it’s pretty good. A few of the pieces didn’t cook properly for us, leaving some of the edges a little crunchy, but we think that’s something that could have been avoided if we’d have stirred it a bit more thoroughly in between microwave sessions. When you stir this, make sure all the tortellini is covered in sauce — the sauceless pieces are the ones that didn’t cook well for us.
This meal has 380 calories (90 from fat), which is a little bit higher than we’d like, but it’s still within the realm of “reasonable, even if you’re on a diet,” so we can’t really complain. The sodium level is a bit high, however, at 790 mg.
The Stouffer’s Spicy Tortellini Arrabbiata is a pretty good frozen food. It tastes great, but there are a few simple things that could have elevated this to a whole new level of flavor. A little more spice and this would have been a spice-lover’s delight. More parmesan, and the parm-loving crowd would be in hog heaven. With a thicker sauce, the beef might not even have been necessary, and this would have been a vegetarian-friendly dish.
Yet, despite all these things, this meal still manages to be quite tasty, so it’s hard to complain.
To learn more about the nutrition content or ingredients in this Urban Bistro tortellini, check out our package scans below.
