We recently had (and really liked, though I have not
finished the review yet) Trader Joe’s Chicken Picatta. Since that went over so well at our dinner
table, we decided to grab this Chicken Marsala.
Both products are pre-cooked and ready to eat – they just need to be quickly
heated. They are found in the refrigerated
(not frozen) food section.
The label on this chicken marsala says it contains 2
servings. However, when you open it up,
it is one big chicken breast/cutlet. While
that is 2 servings for US (we are rather small humans), I think for many people
they would not consider it big enough for 2 people. We just cut the chicken in half and plopped
it on plates.
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| Here is the package - it looks better on here than it did on our plates |
I think the mashed potatoes in this dish are better than
the chicken. The breading on the chicken
has a lot of what tasted to me like rosemary and the strength of that overpowered
the other flavors. The sauce was good
but not what I expected as “marsala”. To
be honest, my favorite thing on my plate was the left-over spinach from going
out for dim sum at a Chinese restaurant earlier in the day…
David liked this product better than me. He thought the chicken was good, the breading
nice and soft. He liked the rosemary. He said the sauce was, “Lovely with a lot of
mushroom taste in it, and the mashed potatoes that go with it are a perfect
compliment, particularly with the sauce poured over the top.”
We had a discussion about the marsala sauce. We both expected it to be more “wine-ish” and
less “chicken gravy-ish”. When I look at
photos online of chicken marsala it all looks darker than the sauce that comes with
this dish. Something just didn’t taste
right…
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| See how the sauce is sort of tan/gray and dull looking? No marsala excitement. And this is "one serving" - so half a chicken breast (this was before I ate any) |
All of that being said, this is a very easy, convenient meal in that you just bung it in the
microwave. But Trader Joe’s sells many
other quick to prepare meals that are much
tastier than this one. I would go
with a different one if I were you.
The
packaging for this chicken marsala boasts that this dish “replicates a
restaurant experience at a fraction of the price”. I would concur with the “fraction of the
price” part but not the “replicates a restaurant experience” part. This doesn’t taste like something from a
restaurant, not a restaurant I would return to anyway. The box even says, “Who needs a restaurant
when dining in tastes this good?”. Well if all Trader Joe’s food tasted “this
good” (which is middle of the road and sort of boring) then I WOULD need a
restaurant.
David liked it better than me, so this won’t get a
horrible rating. But it won’t be in our
fridge again if I do the shopping.
Price – $6.49
Rating – 3.25
