We have something of an affinity for the El Monterey brand. While we can’t attest to the quality of all of their items (some of them are downright offensive), El Monterey’s line of cheap frozen burritos got us through our broke college days. Without those easily heatable, affordably priced burritos, we don’t know what we’d have done. We suppose we’d have lived off dry ramen and hot dogs.
But our beloved El Monterey does more than just burritos. We really enjoy their quesadillas, and we’ve also found some decent items in their enchilada line. Today we’re digging into the El Monterey Beef, Bean & Cheese Flavored Chimichangas.
These are easy enough to cook in the microwave or the oven. We typically use the microwave, but we also like to thaw them overnight before heating. This isn’t recommended by the instructions, but we think they turn out better that way. (If you want to see the full cooking instructions, check out our package scans at the bottom of this review.)
So how do these taste? Well, first off, you should know that these are no high-quality food. They’re your bottom-shelf variety of frozen burrito — err, chimichanga. Secondly, we’ve never been a fan of the texture of El Monterey’s chimichanga tortillas. They have a flakiness that we just don’t like, especially considering they get a little soggy.
But aside from those gripes, these are pretty much just okay. They’re passable if you’re broke and hungry, but they won’t satisfy a craving for a high-quality burrito (or chimichanga).
The beef is ground really small and it has a strange chalkiness to it, while the pinto beans are nothing special. The cheese here works really hard, and that manages to save the whole chimichanga. Now, the package is not 100% committed to calling this a cheese (note the term “cheese flavored”), but it’s apparently a processed cheddar of some sort. Whatever you choose to call it, it lends some much-needed flavor to an otherwise bland batch of chimichangas.
A single chimichanga will set you back 270 calories (110 from fat) and 330 mg of sodium. That’s not too bad, but we have a feeling you’ll want to eat two of these to knock down a strong hunger. That means those numbers become much less palatable.
The El Monterey Beef, Bean & Cheese Flavored Chimichangas are nothing special, but they’ll do in a pinch. There are worse ways to load up on cheap calories, and these will tide you over if you’re broke and hungry.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for these frozen chimichangas, check out our package scans below.
