Lean Cuisine Chicken Tuscan

November 8, 2006 | Reviewer: Nicole

Price: $2.50
Serving: 1 meal, 12 ounces
Calories: 280
Fat: 9%, 6g
Sodium: 32%, 780mg
Protein: 22g
Carbs: 11%, 34g
Fiber: 19%, 5g

Lean Cuisine Website says: Grilled, herbed chicken tenderloins and freshly made linguine in a sun-dried tomato sauce accented with portabello mushrooms and marsala wine,served with hand-picked broccoli and carrots.

Lean Cuisine Box says: Chicken tenderloins and linguine in a sun-dried tomato sauce, served with broccoli and carrots.

Nicole says: Does “Tuscan” mean mushrooms? I was wondering what those little mishroom-y looking things in the picture were, but after several re-readings, I still see no mention of “mushrooms” in the meal description (on the box). “Carrots”, yes, as well as “broccoli”… strange. There are more mushroom pieces than carrot peices in this meal. Maybe, however, LC doesn’t feel the necessity to mention a large vegetable presence when it’s in the meat and noodles section. Oh, well, good thing I don’t REALLY hate mushrooms. But if I did, I’d be really unhappy right now.

The meal cooks up pretty nice - the vegetable require that a teablespoon of water be added pre-nuking, so they really come out steamed, offering a broccoli with good taste and no mushiness. The carrot peices are kind of pathetic in size - they can’t really be manipulated with a fork - and their taste is negligible.

The noodles are just a bit too soft though the sauce is very tasty, neither too watery or too thick, and rich with Italian spices. The mushrooms go well with the sauce, and also have a texture that is not too mushy, especially considering they are cooked in a factory then microwaved. There are other vegetables in the sauce, including the sun-dried tomatoes mentioned on the box.

The meal includes about 7 medium sized pieces of chicken and a couple small pieces. It came out moist and tasting of chicken, once you get past the heavy coating of sauce.

I found this meal reasonbly filling (it is from the larger “Dinnertime Selects” line - “30% more food than the average Cafe Classics.”) I also thought it was quite tasty. It totally deserves four stars.

However, I had a strange experience during heating. I arrived at the kitchen a second before another coworker, who followed me to the microwave and placed his Lean Cuisine Spaghetti in Meat Sauce next to mine to hold his place in line. I noticed that his smaller “One Dish Favorite” meal contained the same number of calories but 2.5 less fat grams than my meal. I am pretty surprised that meal that’s a good bit larger contains no additional calories. The nutrition picture is not too bad - doubling up on Vitamins A & C with the Chicken Tuscan. I’d like to know where that extra Calcium is coming from in the Spaghetti. Weird.

comments

9 Responses to “Lean Cuisine Chicken Tuscan”

foleydog on November 8th, 2006

I’ve never tried this one and may give it a go. But you’ve got to wonder about the ingredient list — what is ‘brown sauce flavor?’
MaryAnne on November 8th, 2006

You say that there is no mention of mushrooms, but it’s right in the description from LC that you posted. I’m confused…
Suzanne on November 8th, 2006

I think this blog is brilliant. As a non-cook who enjoys eating, this is the perfect food blog for me!
rashenbo on November 8th, 2006

I had to follow Suzanne’s blog to check yours out! Awesome
Abi Jones on November 8th, 2006

I have received multiple emails regarding the mushroom controversy. FYI, the box doesn’t point out mushrooms in the blurb, but it does include them in the ingredients. The Lean Cuisine website does include mushrooms in the description. I have since updated the post with both descriptions.

I generally use the official website descriptions for foods on HeatEatReview.com; they use more colorful language. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Also, people reading these comments should check out Suzanne’s blog. She’s also taking part in NaBloPoMo (as a reviewer) and she’s very funny.
Abi Jones on November 10th, 2006

Nicole-
The calcium comes from the broccoli, which is rich in the stuff.
Lean Cuisine Chicken Tuscan « on July 25th, 2007

[…] Heat.Eat.Review gave the meal 4 out of 5 stars and from the look of their picture they got waaay more veggies than I did. […]
Lean Cuisine Recall : Heat Eat Review : We Review TV Dinners, Frozen Meals, and Microwavable Foods on November 18th, 2008

[…] packages of “LEAN CUISINE CHICKEN TUSCAN” brand frozen meals. Printed on the side of each package is a production code of “8234595911” […]
Amya on November 18th, 2008

I was drawn to this because of the sun dried tomatoes. I love the things… but I had a really hard time swallowing the first bite of this- SERIOUSLY. I thought the marsala wine was overpowering.
I can’t recall ever throwing a frozen meal away because I hate wasting money, but I did with this one.