Frozen Friday: Lean Cuisine - Asian-Style Chicken Salad Additions

Lean Cuisine's Asian-Style Chicken Salad Additions is a frozen half-meal that you have to supply your own lettuce to complete. The package provides a sesame ginger vinaigrette, a microwaveable package of grilled chicken, edamame, pineapple, broccoli, and yellow and orange carrots, and a packet of crispy noodles.

A 7.25-ounce box goes for $3.99, which means you're looking at a sale price range of $2 to $3.

I'm not sure anything other than the chicken really needs to be warm and really not even that. Most of the Asian-style chicken salads I've eaten have been completely cold and you can buy refrigerated ready-to-eat pre-packaged salads with no fuss. The benefit of Lean Cuisine Salad Additions then is that you can leave them in the freezer for a long time, but that benefit is negated because you still have to go buy lettuce.

You don't get much chicken in one of these. There were maybe 5 or 6 serviceable, tender, small strips.

Of the produce, the most interesting flavor and texture comes from the edamame (soybeans). The rest is pretty standard for frozen food: not much flavor and slightly overcooked. The pineapple in particular was just a slight shadow of the typically sweet and tangy fruit.

The crispy noodles were just that. They're mostly for texture and add a nice crunch.

The sesame ginger vinaigrette was pretty good, if a bit more ginger-y than similar dressings. There's a good balance between sweet, tangy, and salty.

Overall, Lean Cuisine's Asian-Style Chicken Salad Additions was just okay for me. It's not much more work to buy some lettuce, dressing, and crispy noodles, and shredded chicken (if you're not inclined to cook) and make a salad yourself. Salad Additions do work well for single-servings though. You don't to worry about left overs (except for the lettuce).

Nutritional Info - Lean Cuisine Asian-Style Chicken Salad Additions (205g)

Calories - 260 (from Fat - 70)
Fat - 8g (Saturated Fat - 1.5g)
Sodium - 510mg
Carbs - 30g (Sugar - 16g)
Protein - 17g