While we’re definitely fans of meals that can be quickly heated in the microwave here at Freezer Meal Frenzy, we’ve also been impressed enough times by Stouffer’s Family Size line that we’re always happy to sit through an hour-plus wait time to test out another one if its offerings. That’s exactly what we’re doing today with the Stouffer’s Family Size Chicken Fajita, which is part of the Stouffer’s Classics line despite being a new product.
Yes, this has a long cook time. If you choose the microwave, you’ll spend 17 minutes cooking it. If you go with the recommended conventional oven method, you’re looking at more than an hour. We chose the oven, because these meals always end up better that way. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions straight off the box, check out our package scans below.)
As you can tell by looking at the image above, this comes out of the oven a bit runny. If yet it cool for a bit and give it a good stir, it does thicken up, though it never does fully shed that soup-like quality. This is runnier than it appears in the image on the box.
The white-meat chicken here is mostly alright. It’s maybe a little bit dry and doesn’t have a ton of natural flavor, but neither of those qualities is unusual for white meat. It’s not rubbery or soggy, and it doesn’t taste bad, so it’s not offensive or anything; it’s just not amazing either.
The central flavor here comes from the sauce. This sauce is a red affair, with peppers, chicken and turkey broth, and some lime juice to give it a citrus zest. It’s a pretty decent-tasting sauce, though we’re tempted to say there’s way too much of it here. We would have preferred it if there were a little bit more form to the dish overall rather than being somewhat soupy.
We should point out here that if you cook this, then put it in the refrigerator over night and reheat it later, it does end up thicker — and we think that’s a better consistency for this dish.
We also think a bit of cheese would have really elevated this, in both flavor and consistency. In fact, we’re a bit surprised by the lack of cheese here. You could always add your own, we suppose, but this really does feel like it needs some.
This has just a little bit of spice to it, but it’s barely enough to even call it a mild spice level. We don’t think spice-ophobes will go running way in horror upon sampling this dish.
There are approximately four and a half servings in this meal. If you stick with the amount recommended by the package (about one cup), you’re looking at 180 calories and 450 mg of sodium. We do think, however, that you’re more likely to have twice that amount if this is being served as a meal rather than a snack (the image several paragraphs earlier is of about half the dish in a serving bowl).
The Stouffer’s Family Size Chicken Fajita is just alright. With some cheese and a slight reduction in the amount of sauce, we think this would be a much-improved meal. As is, though, it’s certainly not terrible; it’s just kind of okay. We’d take pretty much anything in the Frontera bowls and skillet lines to this, though.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen fajita dish, check out our package scans below.
