Review: Starbucks - Herbed Chicken and Manchego Cheese Sandwich

Starbucks' Herbed Chicken and Manchego Cheese Sandwich features shredded chicken breast tossed in a chimichurri sauce, shaved manchego cheese, and a red pepper-almond spread on a soft ciabatta roll. It's part of the Mercato line that they're rolling out and, as a hot item, they toast up the sandwich for you in store.

It cost me $7.75 for one.

The Herbed Chicken and Manchego Cheese Sandwich is pretty small in size considering the price point but the ingredients seem to all be of high quality. This is more of a light lunch rather than a hearty meal on its own.

Getting the sandwich toasted in store results in a nice, crispy crust on the ciabatta that maintains a pillowy crumb; it stands up well to the filling without ever being too bready. The chicken is tender, thoroughly shredded, and evenly distributed so that there were no bare bites during eating.

The chicken is coated liberally in the chimichurri sauce, which is not tangy like than the traditional chimichurri with which I'm familiar. However, it does have a nice, flavorful herbiness and a hint of spice to it thanks to the inclusion of jalapenos. It's mild enough that it offers more of a zip than true spiciness. The red pepper-almond spread is Starbucks' take on a romesco sauce and tasted more prominently of peppers and tomatoes and is fairly light on the nuttiness. Combined, the two sauces give the sandwich a hefty dose of flavor.

Unfortunately, I could taste very little of the manchego due to the strong sauces. Manchego is a fairly subtle cheese to begin with and its mild nuttiness was completely lost in the shuffle. It mostly just provided some nice gooey-ness to the sandwich.

Overall, I enjoyed the Herbed Chicken and Manchego Cheese Sandwich quite a bit. It was a flavorful, well-executed, and a reasonably-portioned meal but is a little on the pricey side.

By Renee.

Nutritional Info - Starbucks Herbed Chicken & Manchego Cheese Sandwich (175g)
Calories - 430 (from Fat - 150)
Fat - 16g (Saturated Fat - 5g)
Sodium - 1150mg
Carbs - 47g (Sugar - 2g)
Protein - 22g