Lean Cuisine’s microwavable sandwiches usually surprise us. (Check out our reviews of the Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom Panini or the Chicken Club Panini.) While it seems like a sandwich heated up in the microwave should turn out soggy, Lean Cuisine includes crisping trays with their sandwiches that seem to work wonders in preventing soggy sandwich syndrome.
While this foldable solution can be a bit awkward — the box isn’t always easy to fold — it usually works. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Philly-Style Steak & Cheese Panini, the crisping tray isn’t enough to fend off the sogginess caused by heating up ingredients like steak and bell peppers in the microwave. If you heat this up per the instructions on the packaging, you’re going to have a soggy sandwich.
But if you can get past the “sog factor,” this is actually a pretty decent sandwich.
You start by heating up two halves on the included crisping tray, as we mentioned above, then you squash the whole thing together into one singular sandwich.
The bread crisps a little bit along the outer edges, but the middle stays pretty damp. As for taste, the bread actually has a nice toasty flavor.
The steak is better than we expected. It’s nice and juicy, and it has a rich flavor. And its topped with red and green bell peppers, onions, and cheddar cheese sauce, with a little bit of mozzarella tossed in for good measure. The blend of ingredients here is pretty much perfect.
We do have to point out that this meal is less filling than we’d hoped. The sandwich is pretty small, yet at 330 calories (80 from fat) we’re hesitant to eat more than one in a sitting.
So what’s our final verdict? While it’s a little soggy and less filling than we’d hoped, Lean Cuisine’s Philly-Style Steak & Cheese Panini is still a pretty great tasting sandwich. We’d be interested in taking a second shot at it to see how it turns out in a traditional oven.
To learn more about the ingredients and nutrition of this microwavable meal, check out our package scans below.
