While a vast majority of the frozen food we review here at Freezer Meal Frenzy comes in a single-serving option, we do dabble in larger portion sizes occasionally. With the Stouffer’s brand in particular, we like to compare single-serve meals against their family-sized counterparts to see if we can spot any differences.
Now, if the Stouffer’s Family Size Chicken Marsala doesn’t look completely familiar, that’s probably because it had a slight name change since the last time we tried it — they removed the words and Mushrooms from the title. We compared this family-sized meal against the Chicken and Mushroom Marsala, and it seems roughly the same. The family-sized version still has mushrooms in it, so we’re not sure why they don’t call that out on the package. It’s also been moved from the Creative Comforts line to the Classics.
Now, we compared the ingredients lists, and there are only some miniscule changes between the two. We have a feeling this is only due to the fact that they listed “chicken broth” on the single-serve meal while they listed out the ingredients of that chicken broth on the family-sized version. It’s probably not enough to be worth even calling out.
The real difference, then, is in the way it’s cooked. Sure, you can cook the single-serve meal in an oven, and you can cook the family-sized version in the microwave, but we really feel like the bigger version is meant for the oven while the smaller version is perfect for the microwave.
The reason the cooking method is important here is because of the consistency. While the microwaved version ends up a little watery, the sauce in the oven version comes out thicker. The latter is definitely the better of the two.
Now, that sauce is very good. It’s a savory, brothy marsala wine sauce that has a noticeable hint of sweetness to it, and that sweetness really makes this dish stand out as a whole. It’s especially good when combined with the succulent white-meat chicken, which would be a little bland on its own but really pops with the addition of the sauce.
There are some mushrooms here, but they’re few and far between, unfortunately (perhaps this is why the word Mushroom was removed from the title).
The majority of the dish, of course, is fettuccini noodles. They’re fine, if a little soggy, but they’re nothing special on their own. It’s a good thing that Stouffer’s paired them with the marsala wine sauce, then, because that makes them a real pleasure to eat.
According to the package, there are about four servings inside. If you only eat a quarter of the tray, you’ll be consuming 230 calories (50 from fat) and 690 mg of sodium. We do think it’s realistic, however, to eat about half in a sitting (the image above shows what half a tray looks like in a serving dish). That bumps those numbers up to 460 calories (100 from fat) and 1,390 mg of sodium. Keep that in mind when you go in for seconds.
The Stouffer’s Family Size Chicken Marsala is a great way to load up on fettuccini noodles soaked in a delicious sauce. We would have loved some more mushrooms in the dish, but that’s our only real nitpick with this family-sized frozen dinner.
Also, be sure to cook it in the oven, because it’s just better that way.
To learn more about the cooking instructions, nutrition content, or ingredients for this Stouffer’s family-sized marsala, check out our package scans below.
