As I wrote my last review for the TGI Fridays potato skins, I mentioned I hadn’t planned on reviewing food. Shortly after, I tried a new product and immediately wanted to review it. Funny how that works, huh?

Contessa Foods is a company that claims to be “green.” I read this on the package of Orange Chicken as I as cooking and although it wasn’t a factor that lead me to make the purchase, it might affects others. Their line of frozen foods seems to consist of stir fry type entrees, especially Chinese.

Contessa Orange Chicken boasts lots of vegetables along with white rice, sauce and battered chicken akin to frozen stir fries. The first thing I notice was that the directions were a bit more complex than many stir fries, not much as it still took me less than 20 minutes to make but enough.

The chicken, rice and sauce are each packaged in a plastic bag (not very green, huh?) while the veggies – consisting of broccoli, baby corn, carrots, red peppers and water chestnuts – are loose in the big bag. Instructions say to cook the rice separately in the microwave or on the stove top.

Then, with cooking oil of cooking spray, sautee the veggies for 5 minutes, add the chicken for another 4 – 5 minutes. While doing this, thaw the sauce under warm water for 30 seconds. I found 30 seconds to be far too little time to thaw the sauce, under hot water. It might be wiser to pop the package in the microwave (watch carefully!) for a few seconds. You’re also left with a wet bag if you’re like me and forget to dry it off. All in all, I think that the water method is not the best way to thaw the sauce.

After 5 minutes of sauteing the chicken and veggies, add the sauce until it’s warm. I also added the rice, too. You’re supposed to serve them separately but since I like to mix anyway, I did.

One thing I could tell, when adding the sauce, is that it was very Asian. This is not the type of orange chicken one will get in an American Chinese restaurant. The smell of it is akin to the smell of local Japanese food that neither my husband or myself like. I suspected right away that he would not like this dish.

I was right. While it’s not bad, I suspect most Americans except a more Americanized version of this dish. I wound up eating it myself, in portions, because I knew he wouldn’t like it.

The rice and veggies were soft, the chicken was delicious and there was a pleasant spiciness without being too spicy overall. However, the sauce just didn’t do it for me. Also, since I don’t love all my veggies, I passed on the broccoli and water chestnuts; luckily there weren’t too many of them. There seemed to be the most corn overall so someone who loves broccoli might be disappointed but it would be easy to add extra vegetables to the dish.

I thought the packages of chicken and rice were pretty small and overall this dish which claims to be 2.5 servings is more like 2 and probably won’t feed a hungry tummy. It might be worth adding a side dish like spring rolls or corn soup.

If you want something really Asian, you might enjoy this, otherwise I would pass and try Contessa’s beef stir fry or get the orange chicken from a take out restaurant.