Food Review: Trader Joe's Mango Chili Chicken

When we took my aunt paddling, I thought it would be fun to do a picnic when we were done.  I already had meals planned and this new Trader Joe's product was on the menu.

Please forgive the rushed phone pics as I was like a whirling dervish trying to time everything and remembering to take pics with each step.

Here are the heating instructions.  Note there are none for a microwave so I have to assume it would not be a good idea to attempt that for quality's sake.

While the chicken was baking, I did what it said and filled the pot I was going to use to cook the sauce out of packet with hot tap water.  *I DID NOT turn on the burner!*  Just to be clear.  :-)

When it was all thawed, I emptied the packets into the pot and turned it on low to simmer.

When the chicken was done, I dumped it in with the sauce and mangoes.

I gave it a toss and added a little cut scallions because I needed some color.

Now this is where you would dump it over rice or riced cauliflower, etc but I had other plans.  I crammed as much as would fit in my little food thermos. (affiliate link)   I think it's 16 oz.

I had ice cream pint containers that I thought would be perfect for bowls and wrapped foil around the outside to help retain heat after it was hot.  (Pictured is the TJ's Rice Medley in the frozen section of brown rice, red rice and barley)

I heated up those hot packs for casserole carriers in the microwave, put them in the expandable casserole carrier and crossed my fingers everything would still be hot when we were ready for it.

My aunt doesn't like Chinese food so I made her a healthy wrap with some tri color quinoa (she probably hid recoiling in horror when I said quinoa...LOL), melted gruyere and BBQ chicken in a low carb wrap.  I wrapped it in foil as well and threw it in with our stuff.

Three hours after it had all been made (maybe slightly longer?), I unwrapped our stuff hoping for the best and that shizz had steam coming off of it!!  I was ecstatic!

The verdict?  It's definitely best served immediately after being heated in the oven if you want that crispy texture of the chicken.  After steaming for 3 hours, the sauce all soaked in the breading but honestly, we didn't mind that because it was like having Chinese leftovers.  Neither of us thought it was remotely spicy so don't let the word chili scare you.  I thought at first the sauce tasted a little weird on it's own but when mixed with the chicken, it was really good.  It paired perfect with their rice medley too but would be equally good with their riced cauliflower if you want to saute it with some frozen peas or something like that.

I forgot to take a pic of the nutritional info but here it is:

Nutritional Info per serving (about 4 servings per bag):  Calories 250 per serving  Fat 9g  Sat fat 2g  Chol  85mg  Sodium 220mg  Carbs 27g  Fiber 4g  Protein 16g  Vitamin A  8%  Vitamin C 40%  Iron 4%

*This post contains affiliate links.
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