Sweet & Sour Chicken: Marie Callender's Versus Banquet

It's the great sweet & sour chicken frozen dinner faceoff here: Marie Callender's versus Banquet. Which is better?

Cost Versus Size...and Other Comparisons

There are a few distinctions between Marie Callender's sweet & sour chicken and Banquet's Asian offering. One of the most notable differences is price. Marie Callender's sweet & sour chicken costs $3.39 in Central Florida. Banquet's sweet & sour chicken is selling for 88 cents at the same store.

Also of note is the size of the meals. Banquet's sweet & sour chicken weighs 8 ounces. Marie Callender's offering comes in at the relatively heftier 14 ounces.

Preparation times also differ significantly. You can fully prepare Banquet's sweet & sour chicken in about 5 minutes in a microwave and 28 minutes in a conventional oven. To cook Marie Callender's sweet & sour chicken, expect to wait just shy of 8 minutes for the meal to cook in the microwave and closer to 30 minutes in a conventional oven.

Marie Callender's Sweet & Sour Chicken: By the Numbers

So, here comes the part dieters and the health-conscious want to know more about: the food labels. Let's first take a glimpse at the back of Marie Callender's sweet & sour chicken dinner box.

570 calories

110 calories from fat

13 grams of total fat

1.5 grams of saturated fat

0 grams of trans fat

20 mg of cholesterol

770 mg of sodium

530 mg of potassium

97 grams of total carbohydrates

9 grams of dietary fiber

33 grams of sugar

17 grams of protein

Now Let's Look at Banquet's Sweet & Sour Chicken Food Label

390 calories

130 calories from fat

14 grams of protein

2.5 grams of saturated fat

0 grams of trans fat

15 mg of cholesterol

580 mg of sodium

230 mg of potassium

57 grams of carbohydrates

3 grams of dietary fiber

21 grams of sugar

10 grams of protein

Taste

What did I think about how Marie Callender's sweet & sour chicken matched up against Banquet's in the taste contest? Actually, I was rather impressed with how the 88-cent Banquet meal compared to the $3.39 Marie Callender's. In fact, both meals tasted very good.

I think the vegetables tasted less soggy in Marie Callender's offering. For some reason, Banquet's chicken struck me as a little less Asian American "authentic" than Marie Callender's. It seems like Banquet's chicken was actually their regular, ground-meat chicken nuggets mixed in the sweet & sour sauce the meal contains. Marie Callender's chicken contains a lighter-tasting breading and looked like cut fillet meat -- somewhat like one may find in a typical sweet & sour chicken meal sold at most any Asian American restaurant.

But I really can't complain, because taste-wise, Banquet's sweet & sour chicken still impressed me, especially given the 88-cent price tag.

I think the biggest factor for me came in the size of the meal. Again, notice that Banquet's meal is just a tad more than half the weight of Marie Callender's sweet & sour chicken. So, one needs to buy almost two of the Banquet dinners to equal the weight of Marie Callender's sweet & sour chicken dinner.

I am a hungry man (I'm talking about myself, not the frozen dinner brand), so I tend to buy Marie Callender's sweet & sour chicken when buying just one meal. But because of the lower price of the Banquet dinner, sometimes, I will buy the 88-cent Banquet sweet & sour chicken and then another 88-cent Banquet meal and make it my little "food court" night.

So What's the Verdict?

If value is a concern for you, Banquet's sweet & sour chicken will not disappoint.

Ultimately, though, when comparing Banquet's and Marie Callender's sweet & sour chicken dinners side by side, I have to go with Marie Callender's meal.

Why? Let's put price and size aside just for a moment. While I like the taste of Banquet's meal, I still feel the quality and overall flavor of Marie Callender's meal is superior. The meat tastes better, the sauce tastes a little lighter, and the vegetables are not as moist.

Resources:

Marie Callender's Sweet & Sour Chicken carton
Banquet Sweet & Sour Chicken carton