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Jul 25, 2014

Frozen Friday: Lean Cuisine vs. Smart Ones - Chicken Enchilada Suiza

Chicken Enchilada Suiza or "Swiss Chicken Enchiladas" refers to the plentiful amounts of dairy used in the dish, including a cream sauce rather than a red or green sauce. It doesn't seem like the prime candidate for "healthy" meals, but here we are.

Lean Cuisine's Chicken Enchilada Suiza comes with sour cream sauce and Mexican-style rice, while Weight Watchers Smart Ones' features a "zesty sour cream and green chile sauce with Spanish rice."

Both weigh in at 9 ounces and were $2 each on sale.

I'll start with Lean Cuisine:

The sauce was a combination of tangy, herby, and creamy with an emphasis on the tangy portion. It provided most of the flavor the the dish because the lone enchilada was almost completely devoid of flavor. The texture was mostly like paste and oddly didn't taste like anything. The only flavors I was really getting was the sauce and corn tortilla.

The accompanying Mexican-style tomato rice had bits of corn and spices, which made for a pretty good flavor combination. It didn't make up for the enchilada though.

Smart Ones goes with two smaller enchiladas and, thankfully, they had a decent spicy flavor to them, which is a huge step above nothing. There's actually a fair amount of heat throughout the meal as the rice is also spicy, but not as flavorful as the Lean Cuisine version. The rice here was tinged with more of a tomato-bell pepper mix.

The sauce for Smart Ones was more creamy and just a little tangy. It felt like a light nacho cheese and like the rest of the meal, had a good kick to it.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend either Lean Cuisine's nor Smart Ones' Chicken Enchilada Suiza to anyone I liked (at least not seriously). If push came to shove, I'd choose the Smart Ones' rendition though. Just be warned that it is pretty spicy.

Nutritional Info - Lean Cuisine Chicken Enchilada Suiza (255g)
Calories - 280 (from Fat - 35)
Fat - 4g (Saturated Fat - 2g)
Sodium - 520mg
Carbs - 51g (Sugar - 7g)
Protein - 10g


Nutritional Info - Smart Ones Chicken Enchilada Suiza (255g)
Calories - 290 (from Fat - 50)
Fat - 5g (Saturated Fat - 2g)
Sodium - 640mg
Carbs - 49g (Sugar - 4g)
Protein - 11g