Frozen Friday: Safeway Select - Moroccan Style Chicken

Safeway Select's Moroccan Style Chicken is a frozen entree featuring roasted white meat chicken in a "Moroccan recipe" tomato sauce with lentils, brown rice, corn, spinach, and feta cheese.

A 9.25-ounce box was $1.99.

Safeway Select is the store brand for Safeway and Vons supermarkets. Moroccan Style Chicken sounded an looked a bit fancier than I usually encounter in the frozen food aisle so I decided to give it a go. It certainly impressed.

First off, the finished dish actually looked a lot like the picture on the box. Secondly, and more importantly, it was good. Really good.

The chicken was tender and juicy without being mushy. The sauce was just lightly seasoned and imparted a nice flavor to the chicken without being too excessive or heavy.

Surprisingly, the spinach figured quite prominently in the dish (I'm used to spinach just being there for show) and was well met by the feta, lentils, and corn. The feta provided a creamy bite, the lentils a grounding earthiness, and the corn a resilient sweetness. Interestingly, I didn't catch much of the telltale nuttiness of the brown rice but didn't miss it with all the flavors going on here. Tying it all together was a bit of lemony tanginess.

Overall, Safeway Select's Moroccan Style Chicken hit it out of the park for me. I can't say I've eaten any Moroccan food to compare it to, but on its own, it was delicious as well as interesting. In my experience, store brands tend to be more hit-or-miss than the more prominent brands, but this was definitely a hit.

Nutritional Info - Safeway Select Moroccan Style Chicken (262g)

Calories - 290 (from Fat - 90)
Fat - 10g (Saturated Fat - 3.5g)
Sodium - 840mg
Carbs - 31g (Sugar - 3g)
Protein - 18g