Lean Cuisine just can’t seem to decide what to do with their Ricotta Cheese & Spinach Ravioli. We reviewed it back when it was part of the Marketplace line, and again after it had been moved to the Origins line with a fresh new look. We now spotted a third version of this meal, which is currently part of the Features line, but we don’t have a lot of faith that it’s going to stay there for long. This is a rambunctious, antsy little meal, it would seem, preferring the nomadic life to one of rooting in any one place.
But since it moved once again, we figured it was time for another fresh take. We do want to keep current as much as we can here at Freezer Meal Frenzy, so we’re interested in seeing if the changes here are more than just cosmetic.
And at a glance, it does seem like something’s changed. This contains 250 calories now, which is down from the 310 of the old versions. And looking at the ingredients list, a few things have moved around. So this is clearly a revised formula.
Now let’s dig in. We usually talk about the cooking instructions here, but since this is the third time we’re reviewing this particular meal, we’re just going to blast straight into the good stuff. If you’re curious about cooking, though, you can scroll to the bottom of this review and check out our box scans.
We noticed right away that the pasta is much larger this time. In fact, it’s so big now that there only ended up being six pieces of ravioli in the entire dish. Plus, the pasta also ends up a little bit dry on the edges, because now there are frills where there used to be none.
Of course, we suspect that this smaller ravioli quantity might be a factor in that lower calorie count — despite the larger size of the pasta itself, it does seem like the overall portion size is smaller than before. We were still a bit hungry after eating this.
When you bite into one of the now-larger pieces of ravioli, you’ll notice that the insides are actually green. That’s because they’re jam-packed with spinach. They do have a bit of ricotta cheese inside too, but these do have a pretty strong spinach flavor to them. If you’re into spinach, that’s a good thing. If not, well, why would you buy a dish with the word Spinach in the title?
The sauce is still a sweet tomatoey affair. It’s not a gourmet sauce, but it’s still a good one, and we think the sweetness actually works really well with this particular dish.
Now, one thing that was true of the previous versions is that in both cases, we enjoyed it. We’ve always thought this was one of the better options in the Lean Cuisine line, and it really does seem to be pasta dishes — especially ravioli dishes specifically — that the brand excels at. While we don’t like this quite as much now, we still do think it’s really good overall.
The Lean Cuisine Ricotta Cheese & Spinach Ravioli is still a good frozen meal, but it has taken a couple steps backward since the last time we tried it. We still love the sauce, and the filling is great, but the larger pasta and smaller portion size doesn’t work for us. We’re not sure why Lean Cuisine took this back to the drawing board, because it certainly didn’t need tampering with in its previous form.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen meal, check out our package scans below.
