Sometimes, we re-review frozen meals when they’ve been given a substantial makeover (or even when the box has changed a little bit). This isn’t the case with the Lean Cuisine Chicken Tikka Masala. No, while Lean Cuisine claims this is a new and improved version of the dish, we’ve actually never reviewed it before.
Normally, we’d be comparing the new and improved version against the old one. But since we never actually tried the old version of this frozen meal, we can’t do that. What we can do, however, is try this out and see if we like it, which is exactly what we have planned for today.
First, we must cook this, and that’s as easy as can be. Simply pop it into the microwave for five minutes, then let it cool for a minute before digging in. That’s all there is to it. (You can read the full cooking instructions straight off the box by checking out the package scans at the bottom of this review.)
Right away we have to say that this sauce is really good. While it’s not as good as, say, Deep Indian Kitchen’s take on this same meal, it’s still a lot better than we were expecting. It has a lovely flavor, with coconutty undertones. It’s not spicy, and there’s a bit of a weird aftertaste, but neither of those are dealbreakers here because the main flavor profile is really good.
Lean Cuisine’s chicken can be hit or miss, but this stuff is actually surprisingly high in quality. It’s juicy and not gristly at all, and it melts in your mouth a little bit. Plus, it soaks up that lovely sauce, which really brings out the flavor. Lean Cuisine really surprised us with this chicken portion.
The downside, of course, is that the chicken and sauce portion is only about a third of this dish’s contents. The rest is filled up with a painfully mediocre rice. This stuff is bland and extra watery, and there’s not enough sauce to cover it up. There are peas and carrots mixed in, but they’re not enough to make up for the quality of the rice.
As far as nutritional content, this is about what you’d expect from Lean Cuisine. It contains 300 calories (which is pretty diet-friendly) and 670 mg of sodium (which is slightly below average for a frozen meal). This is a relatively guilt-free meal (unless you’re trying to reduce your sodium intake, in which case you should be avoiding frozen meals altogether).
The Lean Cuisine Chicken Tikka Masala is already an improved version of this dish, but we think it could stand another round of revision. While the chicken portion is surprisingly good, the bulk of the meal is a mediocre rice. It’s kind of a bummer, because this is a meal that was on its way toward greatness, but the rice is bad enough that it stopped it dead in its tracks.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this Lean Cuisine frozen meal, check out our package scans below.
