Review: Trader Joe's - Chicken Chow Mein

Trader Joe's Chicken Chow Mein is a frozen meal featuring noodles, vegetables, chicken, and a soy-based sauce.

A 20-oz bag was $5.49.

I prepared this in the microwave for convenience but you can also heat it in a pan.

The noodles were surprisingly al dente as I'm used to chow mein noodles being a bit more tender. It's not a knock on them though as I enjoyed the texture.

The vegetables consisted of bell peppers, broccoli, onions, and carrots. In typical frozen vegetable fashion, they were quite mushy, particularly the bell peppers. There was a decent amount of flavor to the veggies though.

The chicken was lightly salted and a bit firm rather than tender. There wasn't all that much of it to go around but the pieces were of a decent size.

The sauce delivered much of the flavor for the Chicken Chow Mein. It was salty and sweet but lacked a savory depth that left it feeling a little flat.

Given the lackluster sauce, I found myself less than impressed with Trader Joe's Chicken Chow Mein. Their Shiitake Mushroom Chicken and Kung Pao Chicken are much better bets at this price point (although you'll have to add noodles yourself). If you do get this, I recommend using less of the included sauce and adding in some oyster sauce and sesame oil as I found it added that missing savory element.

Nutritional Info - Trader Joe's Chicken Chow Mein
Serving Size - 1/3 of package
Calories - 200 (from Fat - 15)
Fat - 1.5g (Saturated Fat - 0g)
Sodium - 960 mg
Carbs - 39g (Sugar - 6g)
Protein - 9g