Marie Callender's Grilled Chicken Alfredo Bake

October 19, 2007 | Reviewer: Abi

Marie Callender’s Grilled Chicken Alfredo Bake Price: $2.50 on sale
Serving: 1 meal, 13oz.
Calories: 630 per serving
Fat: 60%, 39g
Cholesterol: 20%, 60mg
Sodium: 40%, 970mg
Protein: 30g
Carbohydrates: 13%, 40g
Fiber: 32%, 8g
Weight Watchers Points: 15 Points

Marie Callender says: Marie tossed al dente fettuccini with grilled chicken breast and crisp vegetables - then added rich, creamy alfredo sauce and golden bread crumb topping.

Abi says: I try to eat healthy food, so when I go shopping I look at the nutrition labels on products. I try to avoid artificial flavors and colors, and corn syrup, and things that have a not-worth-it amount of fat or sugar. This doesn’t mean that I don’t indulge (I ate a salad at the Cheesecake Factory the other day and it was not from the ‘Weight Management’ section. Also, why the heck do they call it ‘Weight Management’? Do they want people to NOT order those things? Why not just have half salads or ‘lighter options’? Was ‘Weight Management’ the only phrase available for trademark? Jeez.), it just means that I don’t need to eat a bunch of crap.

Except when it comes to frozen meals. I don’t even look at the nutrition information or the ingredients or even read the box blurbs. I just look at the names of the food and the pictures. Why? Because if I started reading about what was used to make these things then HeatEatReview would never exist.

Case in point: Marie Callender’s Grilled Chicken Alfredo Bake. First, I love that it has grilled in the title. Because grilled = healthy. Deep fried = heart attack. You could grill Twinkies and people would accept them as health food. As a counter-point to ‘grilled’ there’s the alfredo. If you’re like most red-blooded Americans you probably like Alfredo sauce. It is milk, cream, cheese, butter, and garlic. Who can resist those things? Not me and not you either. And check out that photo on the box! The alfredo sauce seems to be sparingly applied to the grilled chicken (with grill marks!) and vegetables.

This looks pretty healthy. You know, for something with a cream sauce. See all of those vegetables? But looks (and box photos) are deceptive. Once I microwaved this bad boy, I realized that underneath that benevolent layer of carrots and broccoli it was swimming in alfredo sauce. And not that awesome homemade stuff either. No, this is pure, unadulterated Marie Callender’s alfredo.

What does that mean? For one, it means that there is essentially no seasoning in the sauce itself. A good homemade alfredo involves fresh garlic. Marie Callender doesn’t go near that tastebud-searing stuff, instead sticking to the Midwesternly flavors of butter and cream. By ‘Midwesternly’ I mean bland.

Fortunately, a bit of flavor is provided by the broccoli and carrots. But if I had to rely on the vegetables to provide flavor in frozen meals then I’d be totally screwed. Shouldn’t there be something going on with the noodles? Oh, they’re just for mush, somewhat gloppy show? Great.

Pluses: Plenty of tender, “grilled” white meat chicken, a nice showing of carrots and broccoli, and a showy breadcrumb topping that makes the meal look nice but does nothing tastebud-wise.

Minuses: Thick, bland sauce, ridiculously high in calories, showy breadcrumb top[ping that makes the meal look nice but does nothing tastebud-wise.

If you’re originally from Minnesota and currently living in Louisiana and you miss the bland, calorie-laden food of your homeland, give Marie Callender’s Grilled Chicken Alfredo Bake a try.

comments

7 Responses to “Marie Callender's Grilled Chicken Alfredo Bake”

Tanya on October 19th, 2007

Marie Callender’s is one of those brands that I admit I avoid. There’s usually more than one serving in a box and the sodium or fat will get ya!
Abi Jones on October 19th, 2007

The Marie Callender Mac and Cheese is definitely a multi-serving box and I avoid most side-dish-looking items.

I think that if you’re going to tuck in to something this fat-laden, there are much better choices out there. But if you want something that comes from a microwave and has a good amount of vegetables, this isn’t a completely awful choice.
Crow on October 21st, 2007

(I ate a salad at the Cheesecake Factory the other day and it was not from the ‘Weight Management’ section. (sic)

Oh, come on, you ate a salad, and that makes you bad? You’re at the *Cheesecake* Factory. Step up to the plate, and just eat two or three enormous slices of cheesecake. Then you can degenerate yourself for bad eating habits.
Abi Jones on October 21st, 2007

@Crow - You’re right, I shouldn’t denigrate myself for bad eating habits until I’ve consumed at least 3,000 calories in one sitting. FYI - If one manages to eat the entire Cheesecake Factory Barbecue Chicken Salad -including dressing (perhaps impossible because it fills a 15-inch platter), they’ve consumed approximately 1600 calories. That means that you could eat one salad from the Cheesecake Factory OR two Hungry-Man meals, the Hearty Chicken Parmigiana AND the Sports Grill Beer Battered Chicken.
Crow on October 22nd, 2007

I guess I have no clue what the caloric content of the fare at the Cheesecake Factory. I haven’t been in many many years. Also explains why I have the same waist measurement as I did as a late teenager.
Julie on October 23rd, 2007

The more I eat Marie Callender’s the more it’s been tasting like a fatting version of Healthy Choice. Which makes sense I suppose being their both Conagra products. They both have that same lack of any use of spices.

Blah.
Heather on December 6th, 2007

I loved the Grilled Chicken Alfred Bake. I eat both Healthy Choice and Marie Calender’s….I guess I’m just weird!