Review: Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken Meal

Frozen meals are getting diverse in their offerings these days. Lean Cuisine continues to offer an array of Asian-themed meals. Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken is an entry in the Lean Cuisine line of frozen food I've tried and enjoy for its mellow but distinctively Asian flavor. Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken brings together grilled Thai chicken tenderloins and rice. A red-colored sauce splashes the Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken meal with flavors of coconut, cilantro, basil, red peppers, ginger, and other dynamic flavors.

Preparation

Simply place the Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken tray into your microwave and cook your meal on High for 6 minutes. After the meal stands in the microwave for about 1 to 2 minutes, you may remove it from the oven and enjoy your Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken.

If you plan to cook your meal in a conventional oven, preheat the oven to 350 degrees first. Once your oven is ready, place the Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken tray on a cookie sheet and then put the cookie sheet in your oven for 35 minutes.

After you have removed the cookie sheet from the oven, let your Thai chicken meal stand on the cookie sheet for 1 to 2 minutes. Your meal is now ready to eat!

Flavor

As I mentioned earlier, the Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken meal has a mellow flavor. Having not eaten many Thai meals in my life yet, I really didn't know what to expect for flavor or spiciness, but must say I was a little surprised at how relatively mild the flavor is for this take on Thai chicken. There is really little - if any - "heat" to comment on for the Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken meal.

In fact, the prevailing flavors in the sauce (outside of red pepper) seem to be cilantro and coconut. I found this flavor combination a little out of my usual realm at first (as I don't have much cilantro, and I typically don't eat coconut in my entrees). However, I came to appreciate the flavor combination with each successive bite. Overall, the quality of the meal is good, and the rice provides a nice, bulky base for the Thai chicken.

Unfortunately, I am not talented enough with chopsticks to enjoy the meal the way the Lean Cuisine box has the Thai Chicken pictured - complete with chopsticks! I guess I'll need to practice eating with chopsticks.

Nutrition

One of the most important things the Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken has going for it in the health category is its low number of calories. A whole 9-ounce Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken meal has just 290 calories. The cholesterol count is decent at only 30 milligrams (mg), and there are 2 grams of dietary fiber in this meal. Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken also offers 30% of daily recommended Vitamin C. Not bad at all.

The only area that appears a little worrisome for some people is the 560 mg of sodium - that's 23% of the average recommended intake, but that might be a little too high for comfort if you're on a low or very low sodium diet.

Here are a few more numbers from the back of the Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken carton:

Calories from Fat 60
Total Fat 7 grams
Saturated Fat 2 grams
Polyunsaturated Fat 3 grams
Monounsaturated Fat 1.5 grams
Potassium 690 mg
Total Carbohydrates 39 grams
Sugars 7 grams
Protein 18 grams
Vitamin A 15%
Calcium 15%
Iron 8%

Resources

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Lean Cuisine Thai Chicken carton