Frozen Friday: Trader Joe's - Butter Chicken

Trader Joe's Butter Chicken is their take on the Indian dish featuring chicken in a tomato and butter sauce. It comes with basmati rice on the side.

$3.49 nets you a 12.5-ounce box.

There were maybe about 5 decent pieces and the rest were little bits. It didn't come out that tender, but retained the stringy chicken texture that a lot of frozen food meal lack. Taste-wise, I was expecting a bit more flavor from the chicken, but maybe it was covered up by the sauce.

The sauce, oddly enough, brought to mind a spicy, slightly-different take on spaghetti sauce. I mean I supposed they're both tomato-based, but it wasn't quite what I was thinking it'd taste like. I don't know... it didn't taste very "Indian" to me (not that I've plumbed the depths of Indian cuisine or anything).

The rice turned out well enough. If you've never tried Basmati rice, it's narrower than most rices and delivers a different mouth-feel as a result. It tends to dry out easier than other types of rice, but carries the sauces in Indian cuisine quite well.

Overall, Trader Joe's Butter Chicken was just okay and left me a little disappointed. I think I'll stick with their Channa Masala.

Nutritional Info - Trader Joe's Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice

Serving Size - 1 Cup (250g)
Calories - 270 (from Fat - 70)
Fat - 8g (Saturated Fat - 4g)
Sodium - 940mg
Carbs - 33g (Sugar - 2g)
Protein - 18g