17 Marie Callender's Frozen Bowls, Ranked From Worst To Best

Marie Callender's is probably best known for its pies, which the bakery has been serving up for nearly a full century. But over the years it's also carved out a niche in the frozen meal department, with a wide array of microwavable bowls for the hungry American on the go.

So do Marie Callender's frozen meals live up to the reputation of its pies? And which of the seemingly endless frozen meal options should you choose? Is the Pulled Pork Mac and Cheese better than the Fried Chicken Mac and Cheese or the Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese? Should you get the Chicken Teriyaki or Chicken Parmigiana or Chicken Alfredo? The decision fatigue is real.

To help, I have sampled 17 different Marie Callender's frozen meal bowls and ranked them. So the next time you stare into the existential abyss that is the frozen food aisle, you'll know just which Marie Callender's bowls you should get — and which you should avoid.

I'm a big mashed potato guy. I love me some mashed potatoes. I'd venture to say that I might like mashed potatoes more than anyone since Dee Dee Sharp. So listen to me now as I impart this hard-won wisdom: This ain't it, dawg.

This concoction came with brown gravy and onions piled on top of the mashed potatoes, along with corn, parsley, and mozzarella. If that sounds like someone was attempting to hide the mashed potatoes rather than highlight them, well, B-I-N-G-O. The mashed potatoes were gummy and gray, with a paste-like texture, while the fried chicken lost its crispness in the microwaving process.

This bowl also included among the preparation instructions an injunction to "rearrange [the] chicken." It seemed weird at first, but if you think of it like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, it suddenly made sense.

Both in concept and execution, this was a bit of a head-scratcher. The mac and cheese made sense, but microwaving fried chicken just ruined the best part of fried chicken. I wanted that crispy, crunchy exterior that comes from a good frying. What I got instead was a slightly damp layer of breading, which left the result closer to a kids frozen chicken nugget. All it needed was to be cut into the shape of a pterodactyl.

For all of that, the mac and cheese part of the dish was fine. If you're a mac and cheese fan, you've probably had worse; you've definitely had better. For someone hungry, it will do. The presence of the fried chicken, though, didn't elevate the dish so much as drag it down. And, since Marie Callender's has better mac and cheese frozen bowls without the chicken, there's no real reason to buy this one.

Since Buffalo Wings were invented back in 1964, they have become a nationwide favorite. Marie Callender's Buffalo-style Chicken Mac & Cheese Bowl combines that love with mac and cheese for a frozen meal bowl they call "super creamy with a little kick!"

Very little kick, it turned out. The Buffalo flavor was far too tame; I found myself searching for the spice, and only finding the mildest possible twinge in the back of my throat. This is a dish that needed bold Buffalo flavor to liven up what was otherwise a broadly bland eating experience. The mac and cheese was uninspired, eating like a dollar store Kraft box, while the chicken and the dollop of mozzarella on top were both just okay at best. And at 580 calories and 26 grams of fat, the highest of any of the bowls I tried, it needed to be more than just okay.

The Grilled Tomato Four Cheese Ravioli Bowl is simple in both concept and execution: Several small ravioli smothered in a marinara sauce. It doesn't aspire to anything more than that, which is good, because I found its achievements to be even smaller than its ambitions. Though there were indeed some small chunks of tomato visible in the sauce, they were few and far between, which might help explain why the flavor of the marinara was so bland. Additionally, despite the touted presence of ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, and Romano, the cheese flavor was barely noticeable.

Instead, to my surprise, the pasta itself was the most forward flavor and texture in the dish. And, while it was fine, having ravioli that tastes primarily of dough is not what I was hoping for. This wasn't a meal to savor, it was something designed to shovel down when there's no time for a real lunch break. Forgettable.

Chicken Alfredo is a standard, a classic. Creamy cheese, some pasta, and some chunks of chicken. No surprises, right? Wrong, says Marie Callender's! This isn't just chicken Alfredo, it's Cajun-style chicken Alfredo. But, could it deliver on the promise of more than just another run of the mill chicken Alfredo dish?

The answer was a resounding meh. Yes, the Alfredo sauce did have some Cajun seasoning in it. This gave the dish a slightly different flavor profile than your bog standard chicken Alfredo dish. It didn't necessarily elevate the bowl, however. Slightly spicier didn't translate to better in this case. It remained at its heart a perfectly average microwavable frozen bowl of chicken Alfredo with rigatoni. It was less a love letter to the bayou than something you put in your face when you're too tired to even order out. The "Cajun" tag ultimately was a promise of something it couldn't quite deliver.

Compared to other Marie Callender's frozen meal bowls, the Classic Spaghetti & Meatballs Bowl has a little more of just about everything. At 460 calories, it's one of the more calorically dense dishes, and the fat (17 grams), sodium (1220 milligrams), fiber (5 grams), and protein (20 grams) are all near the top of the charts as well.

But what about flavor? The spice level of the meatballs, which are a combination of beef and pork, was mild. The sauce was a little more flavorful than I expected, so when I got a bite with everything together, it was a solid, if unspectacular, representation of this standard dish. I do wish, however, that Marie Callender's had amped up the flavor profile. And, though the box promised Parmesan cheese, I didn't notice it. This dish is less Italy or even Little Italy and more like Really Microscopic Italy. But, it will do in a pinch.

The savory sauce promised on the front of this box is a garlic and ginger soy sauce, which is fitting. White chicken meat is mixed with white rice, carrots, peas, and eggs and then smothered in this sauce for a quick and easy microwavable home version of a classic that has been featuring on Chinese dinner tables for well over a thousand years.

The result didn't quite live up to that legacy. The flavor of the sauce was mild at best and lacking at worst. I also had to search the bowl for egg, as it was a scarce commodity. On the plus side, I found the peas added a nice textural contrast to the dish, popping like pop rocks for a bit of flavor and fun. The chicken was fine, if bland, needing more from the sauce than it could provide to elevate it beyond just a necessary protein. Not bad, just mediocre.

Putting pineapple on your pizza is one of the most divisive issues facing America today. But what about putting pineapple in your frozen teriyaki chicken meal bowl? Marie Callender's threw all caution to the wind and did just that, leaving diners like me to reap the whirlwind of this capricious act, tantamount to challenging the gods themselves.

For once, though, the wings of Icarus didn't melt. I found that the pineapple added a nice, sweet contrast to the sauce that ultimately helped highlight the teriyaki flavor rather than distract from it. If anything, the distraction came from too many other ingredients. In addition to the pineapple, chicken, rice, broccoli, and teriyaki sauce, the bowl also included water chestnuts, carrots, and bell peppers. It ended up a bit confused; focusing on fewer ingredients to highlight the stars of the show (including pineapple!) would have made this feel like a more composed dish.

The Red Chili Grilled Chicken Burrito Bowl essentially delivered on what the name promises: The ingredients of a burrito, but without the tortilla. If you were expecting much heat from the red chili part, though, you might be a little disappointed. Though there was a nice, pleasantly mild chili flavoring throughout the dish, there was very little in the way of actual heat. So if you like your burrito bowl spicy, sadly, this wasn't it.

Still, it ate well enough. Beyond the chili sauce, the primary flavor and texture notes were the rice and chicken, which again suggested that maybe a bit more heat might have been warranted. The beans and peppers provided more of a textural note than flavor, and sadly, there was so little cheese as to be almost irrelevant. With four grams of fiber and a solid 22 grams of protein packed into its 360 calories, though, this bowl gave a solid nutritional boost.

Roasted garlic chicken and pasta with spinach and Roma tomatoes sounds like one of the healthiest bowls you could have. It's practically a Mediterranean blue zone blueprint. And, for the most part, it delivered, with a robust 25 grams of protein to go with four grams of fiber and a reasonably low amount of fat and sodium.

Still, the 420 calories put this in the middle of the road for Marie Callender's frozen meal bowls, which was down to the garlic seasoning being delivered in the form of a rich sauce. So what did those calories buy me in terms of flavor? The garlic sauce was pleasant, without being overpowering. I had to search a bit for the tomatoes, and even the chicken, but when I got a composed bite with all four primary ingredients, it was both light and flavorful. I didn't exactly feel like I was on the Italian Riviera, but I liked the meal.

If I had any criticism of the Tender Ginger Beef & Broccoli Bowl from Marie Callender's, it simply had to do with the ratio of ingredients. There wasn't a lot of beef in it. There also wasn't a whole lot of broccoli in it. The main component of the dish was, perhaps unsurprisingly, rice. Loading you up on rice so you don't have room left for more expensive foods is a common tactic at buffets, but maybe you should be immune from it in your own home.

On the other hand, there was also plenty of ginger sauce, which gave the dish a nice mix of both sweet and savory flavor without being too spicy. When I did get beef and broccoli on my fork to go with the rice, it was a yummy and well composed bite that had me going back for more. I just wish there had been a little bit more to go back for.

There are a lot of secrets to making the perfect chicken parm. The breading on the chicken, the seasoning in the sauce, the freshness of the pasta, the choice of just the right cheese. A lot needs to go right to elevate a truly well made chicken parm above just your run of the mill chicken parm.

And the Marie Callender's Classic Chicken Parmigiana Bowl I tried got a lot more right than it got wrong. The flavor was there from the first bite, carrying through each forkful. The sauce, the breading, the cheese — it all gave me the classic comfort food vibe I want from a chicken parm. It wasn't perfect, though. I found myself wanting more cheese, for instance, to cut through the acid of the sauce. Without quite enough of it, by the end I found that the dish, while pleasant, grew a bit one note. It was a nice note, though.

If you're looking for something healthy and nutritious out of your Marie Callender's frozen meal bowl, the Creamy Garlic & Herb Chicken & Rice Bowl delivers. With just 300 calories and 7 grams of fat, this bowl clocked in lowest among all of the 17 bowls I sampled in both categories. So far, so good.

It also had much more than just chicken and rice, with red onion and both green and red peppers also included. Mix in the garlic sauce and the end result was a surprisingly flavorful blend that was warm and earthy while also providing a pleasant, if faint, twinge of spice. For a dish that could read as bland, the Creamy Garlic & Herb Chicken & Rice Bowl proved to be a happy revelation. Though I'm usually not a big fan of red onions, in this case the flavor boost justified their inclusion.

Firstly, in terms of nutrition, who cares. Nobody eats a bowl of mac and cheese for the nutrition. The fact that this bowl has 470 calories and 16 grams of fat along with half your recommended daily intake of sodium (1160 milligrams) is mere trivia. What matters is the velvety, decadent Vermont cheddar.

The cheese is smooth, unctuous, and tasty, and blended perfectly with the macaroni for the kind of comfort food I craved. Interestingly, each of the Marie Callender's mac and cheese bowls I tried had a different composition of cheese and pasta. This one was easily the creamiest and tastiest, while also providing the best mouthfeel. 

The complaint I had was with the breadcrumbs. I had worried they might get soggy in the microwave, but instead they were mostly hard and flavorless. While I wanted a nice textural counterpoint, I found myself eating around them. But the mac and cheese itself was so good I was able to overlook this one bum note. 

You might see the name Sweet & Savory Sesame Chicken Bowl and think you're going to get something blandly healthy. So let's set expectations right up front, because neither of those things are correct. This isn't grilled chicken with a light sesame brush, it's tempura battered chicken fritters doused in a gooey sesame wave. At 550 calories, the Sweet & Savory Sesame Chicken Bowl was among the most calorically stout bowls I sampled.

It was also far from bland. The sesame sauce, while not exactly sesame-forward, was sweet and flavorful. The chicken was moist and tender, with a nice texture that spoke to it being actual breast meat and not an overprocessed nugget. At first glance, I worried there might be too many carrots, but they provided a nice textural contrast to the equally generous helping of noodles. All in all, a yummy, satisfying dish that I would happily eat again.

I could smell the Kansas City-style BBQ sauce cooking even while this bowl was still in the microwave, which was a good portent of things to come. The pork was savory, soft, and juicy. With the BBQ sauce and the cheese melting together, it provided an unctuous, decadent combo that had me coming back for more and more.

Just be aware that even though this only has 410 calories for the entire bowl, it still packs nearly half the USDA recommended amount of sodium for one day (1100 milligrams). And make sure you follow the instructions, especially the direction to stir midway through the process. The pulled pork started out in one frozen clump, while the BBQ sauce was on the other side of the dish. Mixing everything together so it cooks properly and blends the flavors as intended is key to a very satisfying eating experience.

Cast your mind to the distant, sunbleached shores of the northern Mediterranean coast. Imagine the sea breeze riffling through your hair as you extract a Marie Callender's frozen bowl from an authentic Italian microwave. Think of the promise of grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, and cavatelli tossed in a creamy Parmesan and Romano basil cheese sauce.

It's a nice dream. Surprisingly, I didn't have a rude awakening. Yes, the pesto was a bit watery, with a too-mild flavor as a result, but the pasta was plump, rather than mushy, and the tomatoes added a spritz of fresh flavor that carried through each bite. A ratio that leaned a little more into the tomatoes and away from the pasta would have been welcome, but I found the meal to be refreshing and tasty. And, with just 340 calories and eight grams of fat providing 25 grams of protein, it's healthy too. Some dreams do come true.

To ensure that each frozen meal bowl delivered precisely the intended experience, I first made sure to follow the preparation instructions on the packaging exactly. Though there are cooking instructions for preparing these bowls in a conventional oven, most people will be preparing them via the microwave, which is how I cooked each dish. As the microwave instructions are calibrated for an 1100 watt microwave, I made sure to use a microwave with that specific wattage. Additionally, I followed the timing guidelines precisely, including stirring, and how long to let each bowl stand afterwards before eating. When instructions gave a timing range (such as "cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes"), in each case I split the difference.

I then rated each bowl on taste, mouthfeel, and nutrition. These subscores were then added together for an overall final score for each bowl, which provided the final ranking.