When you’re looking for a hearty-yet-energizing meal, it’s hard to go wrong with sausage and barley. This was the idea behind Healthy Choice’s Chicken Sausage & Barley Bowl, and they managed to pull it off in 340 calories.
Of course, our use of the word “hearty” in the above paragraph may have been a little premature, as the portion size was a bit smaller than we expected when we first saw the packaging. While the promotional image on the box makes this look like the bowl is filled to the brim, the actual portion size is a little scant. There are places where we could see the bottom of the bowl before we even started eating this.
Another complaint we have is that the garlic sauce, while delicious, comes in a serving size that’s a bit too small. Any of the ingredients that are allowed to sit in the garlic sauce while cooking tend to come out delicious, while any ingredients that sit outside the edge of the sauce will end up kind of hard and even a little crusty.
The barley is a great choice, though as we mentioned above, some of the barley comes out hard as a rock. The softer bits are amazing, but the less soft bits aren’t. Sweet potatoes are another great choice for this dish, though we must repeat the same comment we had about the barley: some of it ends up weirdly crunchy in a way that’s not appealing.
The chicken sausage is easily the highlight of this dish. It’s loaded with flavor, and it has a sweetness to it that almost reminds us of a breakfast sausage. Unfortunately, not even the sausage is immune to the lack-of-garlic-sauce problem. A couple of our sausage bits were completely ruined by this, as they were incredibly dry instead of nice and juicy like the rest of the sausage.
Healthy Choice’s Chicken Sausage & Barley Bowl could have been amazing if not for a single flaw that permeates the entire dish. This meal really needs more sauce to ensure everything heats up properly and stays nice and moist — this simple fix would easily elevate this from “just alright” to “highly recommended.” We’ve enjoyed plenty of Healthy Choice meals in the past, so we know they have what it takes to turn this one around.
We’d recommend the Meatball Marinara over this dish any day.
To learn more about the nutrition and ingredients in this microwave meal, check out our package scans below.
