Stouffer's Chicken Quesadilla Flatbread Vs. Calfornia Pizza Kitchen's Chicken Santa Fe Flatbread

I was shopping at my local grocery store the other night and went into the frozen food aisle to pick up a quick and easy lunch, and I came across Stouffer's Corner Bistro Chicken Quesadilla Flatbread Melt. After eating the quesadilla by Stouffer's I decided to try California Pizza Kitchen's Santa Fe Flatbread Melt a few days later to compare the two.

The Stouffer's Chicken Quesadilla Flatbread Melt cost $3.99 and contains white meat chicken, roasted red peppers, poblano peppers, onions, mozzarella and cheddar cheese, cheddar cheese sauce, and seasoned flat bread.

California Pizza Kitchen's Santa Fe Flatbread Melt costs $3.75 and contains white meat chicken, reduced fat mozzarella cheese, green and red bell peppers, and onions in a Southwestern style sauce.

All of these ingredients seemed pretty normal and basic, but both flatbreads really have about 75 other ingredients. There's a lot of additives, preservatives, and other processed junk added to both.

The Stouffer's Chicken Quesadilla has 370 calories and 140 fat calories. There are 15g of total fat, 6g of saturated fat, and 40mg of cholesterol and 640mg of sodium. The chicken quesadilla also has 41g of carbohydrates, 4g of fiber, and 18g of protein.

California Pizza Kitchen's Chicken Santa Fe also has 370 calories. It has 130 calories from fat, 15 g of total fat, and 5g of saturated fat. There's 25mg of cholesterol, 630mg of sodium and 44 total carbohydrates. There are 2g of protein and 16g of protein in this flatbread.

Both the Stouffer's and the California Pizza Kitchen's flatbread melts look exactly like pizzas, except California's is square shaped. In order to cook them both you place the flatbread on the crisping tray included inside with the boxes and microwave it for 2 ½-3 minutes. When both chicken flatbreads are done you just flip one side over like a taco and eat it.

The Stouffer's Corner Bistro Chicken Quesadilla instantly reminded me of the southwestern style Hot Pockets I used to eat as a kid but it tasted slightly better. The middle outside edges of it tasted best because the bread was crispiest there, and the flavors and meat all kind of joined up there. The white meat chicken was really good, but the cheese sauce was my favorite. It's hearty and has a delicious roasted flavor that made it worthwhile eating.

But the bread was kind of blah. It really didn't have that much flavor to me, and it basically tasted like the dough used in frozen pizzas. And even though the edges were crispy, the center of the bread stayed doughy and soft and flavorless. It really didn't taste like it belonged with the other ingredients in the chicken quesadilla, it tasted too much like pizza dough.

I also thought that the vegetables in the Stouffer's Flatbread Melt were kind of lame. I mostly tasted onions because they were chopped so big and the flavors from the peppers just didn't mesh as well as they should have. It was like every individual flavor stood out instead of blending together.

The California Pizza Kitchen's Santa Fe Flatbread Melt however tasted much better to me. The crust was hard but chewy at the same time all over, and it had a flavor that reminded me of the dough burritos are wrapped in.

I also enjoyed all of the flavors in the Santa Fe Flatbread, mostly because they all blended together and no ingredient really overpowered the other. The cheese was stringy and flavorful. The onions, chicken, and peppers were all finely chopped and the Southwestern style sauce was really good. It had a salsa style flavor with a little bit of a spiciness to it. All of the flavors worked well with the flavor of the flatbread so it tasted like it a cohesive dish.

In the End...

The Stouffer's Corner Bistro Chicken Quesadilla Flatbread Melt was a decent sandwich. It didn't knock my socks off or anything because the flatbread tasted more like bland frozen pizza dough and it clashed with the other flavors. It was ok overall but I don't think I would eat it again though because it has way too much sodium and it gave me a headache after I ate it. 2.5 out of 5 stars

My favorite was definitely the California Pizza Kitchen Chicken Quesadilla Flatbread Melt. I usually don't even think frozen dinners are all that great but this tasted flavorful like real food and left me satisfied. Even though it has as much sodium as Stouffer's I didn't get a headache from eating it. So I would definitely buy this again occasionally. 4 out of 5 stars.