Frontera Tinga Taco Bowl Review

Frontera Tinga Taco Bowl

We’ve tried Frontera’s bowls before, and we definitely weren’t disappointed. So we were curious to dig further into this frozen food lineup and see what the other offerings are all about. Today, we’re checking out the Frontera Tinga Taco Bowl.

Frontera tends to put the name of Rick Bayless on their frozen food packaging, which is quite bold. Apparently, the great Rick Bayless is confident enough in the quality of these bowls that he’s okay with this. And, having tried this, we can see why he would be; this is no generic frozen food.

Let’s just start with the chicken. This is some fan-freaking-tastic chicken. It’s juicy and rich in flavor, and many pieces have a healthy amount of gristle to them. There’s also a pretty generous amount of the stuff mixed into this bowl. We recommend mixing the chicken down into the tinga sauce before you eat it, because the sauce complements the chicken extremely well. We think these two flavors might be soulmates.

Frontera Tinga Taco Bowl

Rounding out the mix are some fire-roasted veggies. The bell peppers are especially good, and this is where that smoky flavor comes through the strongest. There are also onions onboard, but those stood out to us less. They certainly aren’t bad, but they don’t quite pack that flavor punch that the bell peppers do. They’re a bit more subtle –not bland, mind you, just subtle, which we assume is what they were going for. (This does have the name of a famous chef on the box, after all, which makes us disinclined to believe any of these choices were accidental.)

Some meals are content to offer a simple serving of white or brown rice and call it a day. That’s definitely not the case here; this bowl contains a mix of brown rice, white rice, red rice, and amaranth. It’s also not a huge focus here. While many dishes use rice to pad out the meal and make it seem more filling, this meal uses it to add a bit of texture and accentuate the flavor of the tinga sauce. It’s a delicate balance, yet this taco bowl pulls it off excellently.

The box gives this meal a mild spice level. We feel pretty much the same way about this meal as we did about the Frontera Barbacoa Taco Bowl: this doesn’t seem spicy at first, but the spice level builds as you eat it. By the end, we definitely felt our sinuses clearing out.

This meal is surprisingly low in calories. At only 260 calories, this fits comfortably into the diet-friendly category (and it’s one of those items that will help you fit comfortably into your skinny jeans). It has 590 mg of sodium, which is slightly lower than your average frozen meal, but that doesn’t make this a low-sodium frozen food by any means.

The Frontera Tinga Taco Bowl packs a lot of flavor into a low-calorie package. This is good enough that we wouldn’t be surprised to find it at a restaurant. Rick Bayless approves, and so do we.

To learn more about the nutrition content or ingredients in this frozen taco bowl, check out our package scans below.

Frontera Tinga Taco Bowl

Frontera Tinga Taco Bowl

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