As far as we can tell, Stouffer’s launched the Bowl-Fulls line as a way of competing with Devour’s high-quality, high-calorie frozen meals. The Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Bowl-Full, which we reviewed not long ago, was certainly a hit around the Freezer Meal Frenzy office, so we’re looking forward to today’s review: the Stouffer’s Spicy Italian Pasta Bowl-Full.
Now, this is a Stouffer’s meal, which means it’s going to take a while to cook. In the microwave, this takes a total of seven minutes. While it’s not the longest microwave time in the Stouffer’s frozen food line (some of the single-serve lasagnas require almost ten minutes), this will definitely take longer to cook than your average frozen meal. That’s something you’ll want to consider if you plan on taking one of these meals to work with you — this is the sort of food that causes traffic jams at the microwave station.
After all that cook time, you’ll end up with a meal that is toasty hot (you’ll want to let it cool for a bit before you dig in), as well as tasty-looking.
The pasta is a crinkly, twisty radiatore shape, which is a really fun shape for this dish. Not only is it one of the prettier shapes in the pasta world, but its folds also trap sauce to ensure that every bite is loaded with flavor.
The sauce is a savory red sauce with just a little bit of a kick to it. It’s not overly sweet, and it has a strong, tomatoey flavor. We really dig it, and it’s perfect for this dish.
The sausage comes in teeny-tiny little balls, which means they don’t add a whole lot to the overall flavor profile. There are a few exceptions, where a sizeable chunk can be spotted, but those tend to be the sausage exception rather than the sausage rule.
For a meal with the word Spicy in the title, we were definitely hoping for a bit more spice. This meal as a whole is pretty mild — it’s more of a tongue-tingler than a mouth-burner. The sausage is where you’ll find the spiciness, and as we mentioned earlier, it’s pretty sparse here.
We mentioned calories earlier, so let’s take a closer look at the box. This single-serve meal contains 660 calories. Yes, you read that correctly — 660 calories. The sodium is no joke either, at 1,270 mg. This is not something you’ll want to eat if you’re on a diet.
The Stouffer’s Spicy Italian Pasta Bowl-Full is a delicious frozen pasta bowl, but it’s loaded with calories and sodium. We do recommend trying it out if you feel like having a cheat day, but we don’t think you should make this a regular part of your diet.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this Stouffer’s Bowl-Full, check out our package scans below.
