Lean Cuisine Ginger Garlic Stir Fry with Chicken

March 26, 2007 | Reviewer: Rebecca

SRP: $3.19
Serving: 1 meal, 9 7/8 oz.
Calories: 290
Fat: 6%, 4g
Cholesterol: 10%, 30mg
Sodium: 27%, 640mg
Protein: 17g
Carbohydrates: 15%, 46g
Fiber: 16%, 4g
WW Points: 5 Points

Lean Cuisine says: Snap peas and broccoli with white meat chicken and whole grain rice in a ginger garlic sauce

Rebecca says: The first time I took a bite of chicken and it tasted strange I thought it must have been a mistake. The next time I took a bite of chicken and it tasted strange I thought “Really? The chicken tastes funny?” I purposely picked up a piece of chicken and subjected myself to yet another piece of chicken-it still tasted funny. It turns out I must be as nice as Jess claims I am because I kept thinking “no, there’s no way the chicken tastes funny. I like Lean Cuisine usually and usually the chicken doesn’ taste funny” and so kept eating the chicken. Some of it tasted good but the majority tasted strange.

I thought it could be the sauce - maybe the sauce only works with the rice and the vegetables but somehow doesn’t mix with the chicken. I’ve since decided that’s as farcical as the idea that any well respected spa would actually serve a meal like this. Because the sauce was good, it worked with the brown rice and all the vegetables. It should have worked with the chicken.

The box advertised twice as many vegetables and sure enough there were so many vegetables that I was able to smell the pepper steaming as I heated it even though they weren’t advertised on the box. There were definitely lots of \nice crispy snap peas, carrots sticks, and way more peppers than I would have expected. I can’t really tell the difference between snap peas and snow peas so I checked the box again and discovered broccoli was a featured vegetable. I have no memory of consuming the broccoli but I may have eaten them in between chicken bites. The rice was your straight up brown rice cooked in the microwave. In comparison to the strange chicken and the excess of vegetables, it hardly seems worth mentioning.

I admit that I may have just gotten a bad batch of chicken so please correct me if you have consumed this meal and gotten some tasty chicken. But extrapolating that all the ginger garlic stir fry with chickens have chicken like this, I give it one star.

This meal was sent to HeatEatReview.com by Lean Cuisine’s Public Relations company. HeatEatReview.com will always disclose the source of free products. Questions about our reviews? Check our our review policy or send us an email.

comments

16 Responses to “Lean Cuisine Ginger Garlic Stir Fry with Chicken”

Amber on March 27th, 2007

Well, that’s upsetting. I just bought this one less than an hour ago because I thought it sounded good, and it tempted me with the orange-y “NEW!” and a promise for more veggies with the same amount of work.
Tara on March 27th, 2007

Yeah, me too I bought this last night planning on eating it for lunch today… I might change my mind about that now, lets see what the specials are at the deli around the corner.
Tracy on March 27th, 2007

I’ve noticed that the new Spa Cuisine stir-fries have a strange vinegar taste to them. It’s almost an astringent effect.

This was the first one I tried, and I haven’t had any inkling to buy it again. And I normally love LC.
Next Week: New Spa Cuisine from Lean Cuisine | HeatEatReview.com on March 28th, 2007

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Andrew on March 30th, 2007

I’m actually eating this one right now and my chicken is decent. There’s certainly a little gingery action there, but the sauce isn’t really offensive. In fact it’s pretty good. Perhaps I got lucky.
Amber on April 3rd, 2007

I agree with Andrew. Since my first post, I got around to eating the meal one afternoon, and I actually found this more appealing than the average Lean Cuisine, and I will buy it again, unless the grocery store mysteriously stops selling it, which usually happens to me, because I’m unlucky like that.
Ashley on April 9th, 2007

I thought this one was really good! The chicken could use some extra flavor… a marinade, perhaps… but I didn’t find it weird in the least.
Denise on April 23rd, 2007

I have eaten Ginger Garlic Stir Fry with Chicken many times. The reason I like them is NOT the chicken but I love the vegetables and sauce. The chicken looks strange and I would not call it stir fried by any means. While the texture and appearance of the chicken is not up to LC usual standards, the taste has usually not been unpleasant. It is unusually bland and one box I bought had a slightly unpleasant taste when I ate the chicken bits alone.
The little squares do not look like chicken so I tend to view it as tofu and it does not seem so bad. But it has been bland and looks more like processed chicken than actual pieces. I will buy it again though because love the added veggies. They are very crisp and tasty!
Laurie on May 23rd, 2007

I just had this meal for lunch, and I agree that there is something off about the chicken in this one. Usually the chicken in Lean Cuisine meals is pretty good, but the texture of the chicken was weird in this meal, almost gelatinous. I ended up eating around the chicken bits because the sauce, rice and veggies were pretty yummy and surprisingly spicy.
Marv on June 22nd, 2007

The sauce is really good in this one. Spicey, tanging. I love ginger and the peppers were a bonus. And I haven’t had experience with any funny chicken. It’s your typical microwave chicken.
Lauren on October 24th, 2007

I totally disagree with your review. I had this one last night for dinner and thought it was great. It is one of my favorite frozen dinners!!!!
Becky on December 11th, 2007

I would have to agree with this post - mushy chicken just isn’t something that I like to consume on a regular basis. There is also WAY too much sauce - everything is just drenched in it. I tried it twice, didn’t like it twice…so we’ll leave it at that!
Henna on January 29th, 2008

I am having it right now. It is a bit too sweet for my taste but the chicken does not taste odd. Maybe you got a bad one. I do love the snap peas though! The rice texture is fine too, I just don’t like how watery it is.
Lucy on April 9th, 2008

So funny, I just had this the other night for dinner and actually found myself telling people about it, I enjoyed it so much! I loved the gingery flavor and the mix of veggies. There was definitely a good variety - carrots, broccoli, peppers and snap peas. Maybe they changed the formuation since the original reviews, since to be honest, I don’t remember seeing “garlic” on the box… In terms of the chicken, it wasn’t anything special - just some cubes of mostly white meat chicken. One you put some sauce on them, they were quite good. I also enjoyed the brown rice more than I thought I would. It wasn’t too gummy - it had a nice texture to it.

Maybe they have honed their recipe - this one is definitely worth a try. I would give it 5 stars!!
Marsha on June 13th, 2008

I would give this **** - I loved it!
Carol on July 22nd, 2008

I loved this dish the first time I tried it. I think it is excellent. I have purchased it several times now, and have really enjoyed it each time