We have a strange kind of appreciation for the El Monterey brand of frozen Mexican-inspired foods. We know these are designed to be budget-friendly, calorie-packed meals for when you’re broke and hungry and just need something that tastes reasonably decent. We’ve been in that boat before, and El Monterey’s burritos were one of the foods that got us through that.
So we were kind of startled to come across the El Monterey Kickin’ Queso Potato, Beef & Queso Flavored Burritos in the freezer aisle of our local Target. The brightly colored package with a cool graphical treatment for the words “Kickin’ Queso” really caught our eye, and it seems maybe a little edgy and off-brand for the folks at El Monterey.
Needless to say, we were curious. So we picked up a package, headed home and popped a couple into the microwave. Yes, you can cook these in the oven if you’d like, but we’ve never found that to do much to improve El Monterey’s burritos. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions, check out the package scans at the bottom of this page.)
We should point out that the package states “Queso Flavored” rather than something like “Queso Loaded,” which means you shouldn’t expect these to be goopy with melty cheese (like the Red’s Organic Cheese Quesadilla Burrito). A majority of the filling is refried beans and mashed potatoes, with just a bit of cheesiness to the flavor. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you’re expecting a burrito that’s dripping with queso, you might be disappointed.
Still, we found the flavor to be quite good, though in a late-night-gas-station kind of way rather than a gourmet sort of way. Still, that’s what we expect from El Monterey, and they deliver the goods here.
We’re going to be honest, these are actually quite a bit spicier than we were expecting. Sure, the package is red and yellow with flames around the words “Kickin’ Queso,” but we figured that was just a marketing thing. Well, these burritos are actually pretty spicy. These probably won’t impress champions of the Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin’ Challenge, but even so, these are some of the spiciest frozen burritos we’ve tasted so far.
Earlier we mentioned something about El Monterey burritos being “calorie-loaded,” but that;s not necessarily true here. With 210 calories per burrito (60 from fat), these have fewer calories than quite a few of the competitors. The sodium level, however, is really low, at just 300 mg per burrito. If you eat two of these, you’ll still be consuming less sodium than the average frozen meal. Now, we’re not going to try to say these are healthy or anything like that, but there are certainly far worse things you could be eating.
The El Monterey Kickin’ Queso Potato, Beef & Queso Flavored Burritos are on par with a late-night trip to Taco Bell, only with the added benefit of being extra spicy. Some people might think this description is an insult — it’s really not, but it’s a useful phrasing because anyone who sees that description as insulting is probably outside the target audience for these El Monterey burritos.
Perhaps the fact that we feel the need to explain this means we ourselves have become frozen food snobs…
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for these frozen burritos, check out our package scans below.
