Is there ever a bad time to eat a plate of enchiladas? We’re sure there is, but we can’t think of one off the top of our heads. We really love enchiladas. Of course, not all enchiladas are created equal. For example, the Trader Joe’s Chicken Enchiladas are great, while the Lean Cuisine Cheese & Bean Enchilada Verde is a real bummer of a frozen meal.
Today we’re trying the Red’s Chicken & Cheddar Enchiladas. Now, the Red’s brand has some real winners in its lineup, so we were hoping these would be a tasty Mexican-inspired treat.
While you can certainly cook these in a conventional oven (there’s even instructions on the box for this), the package actually recommends heating these enchiladas in the microwave. We decided to use the “preferred” cooking method and nuke these guys. The cooking instructions are pretty simple. Just poke some holes in the wrapping and toss these into the microwave for five and a half minutes. Be sure to let them cool for a minute or two, as they’ll come out pretty toasty.
In the past, we tried Red’s Organic Cheese Enchiladas, and we noted that the tortilla shells were a bit too chewy. We’re not sure we’d repeat that complaint here; the tortillas were a little mushy, but we didn’t find them to be chewy this time (except for at the ends).
The chicken inside these enchiladas is kind of generic-tasting. This was probably the biggest disappointment for us. There were chunks of chicken inside, and some of them were a bit hard, while others just didn’t have any flavor. Some of the meat was a bit stringy, which we actually like for an enchilada filling, but some of it was just diced up into cubes. No one should ever put a cube of chicken inside an enchilada.
These enchiladas are swimming in a red sauce, which has a little bit of a burnt flavor to it. We found that to be a tad bit off-putting. The sauce is pretty spicy though. This is the type of spicy that doesn’t hit you in the mouth so much as in the back of the throat. These guys burn on the way down the ol’ hatcharoo.
The absolute best part of this entire meal is the dribbling of melty cheddar cheese that sits on the top of everything. Red’s really throws together a mean cheese combo, and this cheese is mind-bending.
The back of the packaging claims that a full box is a single serving. Now, Red’s Organic Cheese Enchiladas tried to pass off each enchilada as one serving. That’s just not the case here. Two enchiladas contains 400 calories (170 from fat) and 910 mg of sodium. This is not a meal for dieters, and it’s certainly not a meal for anyone who’s trying to watch their sodium levels.
Red’s Chicken & Cheddar Enchiladas failed to impress us. They’re halfway decent, and the cheese portion is unreal, but overall, we just didn’t like these as much as we’d hoped. There are plenty of better enchiladas on the market, including the Devour Chicken Enchiladas Suiza and the Amy’s Roasted Poblano Enchilada. Plus, Stouffer’s Chicken Enchiladas are way better than we would have expected. Simply put, it’s no trouble at all to find enchiladas that top the Red’s Chicken & Cheddar Enchiladas. We just can’t recommend these with any enthusiasm at all.
To learn more about the nutrition content or ingredients in these Red’s enchiladas, check out our package scan below.
