Frozen sesame chicken seems like it’s hard to get right. We’ve been on the hunt for a good one for quite some time, and even the best attempts are rarely better than mediocre.
So we have to admit that we’re a little apprehensive about trying the Lean Cuisine Savory Sesame Chicken & Vegetables today. We did actually try another sesame chicken dish from this same line earlier this year, and we thought it was competent but not amazing. So let’s see how this one goes.
First, of course, we have to cook it. This is really your standard Lean Cuisine meal as far as heating goes. Pop it into the microwave for three minutes, give it a stir, then pop it back in for another minute and a half. It’s pretty simple, and it doesn’t take an excruciating amount of time. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions straight off the box, check out our package scans at the bottom of this review.)
Unfortunately, this dish really doesn’t have a lot of flavor. It seems like Lean Cuisine really skimped on the sauce here, because we had hardly any in our dish, and nothing tasted like it had quite enough of it. It’s a shame, because this is described as a sesame ginger sauce, and that sounds really good.
The chicken has a pretty lovely texture, and the breading has that melt-in-your-mouth consistency that stir-fried chicken breading tends to get. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really taste like anything. Parts of our chicken ended up completely dry, too, because the sauce portion just wasn’t enough to go around.
Then there are the noodles, which, again, have a great consistency, but they just don’t have much flavor due to the lack of sauce.
Now, there is one saving grace here: The veggies are actually quite excellent. The broccoli has a wonderful crunch to it, and the red peppers have some peppery zing. Both types of veggies taste relatively fresh (for frozen veggies) and are rich with flavor. Especially when compared with the rest of the dish.
In fact, this is kind of strange, because the PF Chang’s Sesame Chicken has the opposite problem — the chicken is amazing and the sauce is pretty decent, but the veggies are kind of mediocre. If you could Frankenstein together a meal using PF Chang’s chicken and sauce and Lean Cuisine’s veggies, you’d really be onto something.
As is, though, the Lean Cuisine Savory Sesame Chicken & Vegetables is a kind of disappointing dish that’s made better by some decent-tasting veggies. If Lean Cuisine could have found a richer sauce — and if they could have been a bit more generous with it — this could have been a respectable bowl of food. In its current state, it’s just not worth going out of your way for.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this Lean Cuisine bowl, check out our package scans below.
