We’ve found a lot of really great items in the Stouffer’s line (such as the Grandma’s Chicken & Vegetable Rice Bake and one of the best frozen alfredo dishes we’ve ever tried), though we’ve not yet ventured into their Fit Kitchen sub-line.
Well, folks, that changes today, as we’re checking out the Stouffer’s Fit Kitchen Chicken with Cashews Protein Bowl. This powerhouse of a meal boasts 22 g of protein.
While many of Stouffer’s meals take a long time to cook, this meal has a pretty average cook time. With five and a half minutes of microwave time, this is certainly not the shortest cook time we’ve seen, but it doesn’t even compare to, say, a Stouffer’s lasagna. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions straight off the box, check out our package scans at the bottom of this review.)
The chicken is decent. It’s a white-meat affair that’s not amazing, but we also had no real issues with it. Sometimes, the chicken in frozen meals can be dried out or gristly, and neither of those problems show up here. When you add just a bit of the sauce, though, the flavor combo is elevated to new heights.
Unfortunately, the sauce is scant here, ending up mostly in the background of the flavor palate. It’s a great-tasting sweet sauce; there’s just not enough for it to really stand out. And that’s a shame, because it’s the best part of this meal.
The bulk of the bowl, of course, is a brown rice and quinoa blend that’s quite lovely, texture-wise. The flavor is muted, though enhanced a bit by the sauce (which is also muted due to the small portion size).
There are some cashews in here, and those are pretty lovely as well. We expected them to be crunchy, but they’re actually not. They’re firm, but soft enough to lack any real crunch at all. We actually enjoy this, but crunch enthusiasts will be disappointed.
And then there’s the veggie blend, which includes carrots, broccoli, red bell peppers, and chili peppers. The chili peppers are the only real surprise here, though we didn’t really find a substantial amount in this dish.
The calorie count is pretty high, at 420, and the sodium level is really high, with 940 mg of sodium in this bowl. All that protein comes with a price, it would seem.
The Stouffer’s Fit Kitchen Chicken with Cashews Protein Bowl is a decent meal with a great sauce. Unfortunately, there’s not enough of that sauce for it to really stand out, meaning the meal as a whole ends up being pretty average. It’s not bad, but there are certainly better ways to power-pack your diet with protein.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen protein bowl, check out our package scans below.
