Costco is now selling a new product from Tasty Bite, an Organic Chickpea Tikka Masala! You get six pouches of chickpeas, 10 oz each, that are microwavable and ready to eat in 60-90 seconds.
Tasty Bite has an excellent rack record of producing highly authentic, extremely flavorful Indian cuisine and we were excited to give these chickpeas a try!
Taste
I heated up a pouch of the chickpeas as follows:
- Tear a 2 inch slit in the top of the pouch.
- Microwave on High for 90 seconds.
- Pour the contents of the pouch into a bowl.
- Allow to cool for one minute and dig in!
The chickpeas were very tender and were swimming in an extremely flavorful tikka masala sauce.
The sauce is made from coconut milk, carrots and tomato paste which gives it an extremely creamy texture and slightly sweet flavor. The dish is extremely mild in terms of spiciness but is not short on flavor from any aspect. Every spoonful of the meal was absolutely loaded with Indian spices making the dish an absolute delight to eat.
If I were to sum this meal up with a single word then it would be a toss up between “Flavorful” and “Comforting”.
The meal was surprisingly filling as I had a pouch for a late breakfast (9:30 am) and was contentedly full until our 5 pm dinner.
I usually buy a box of the Tasty Bite Madras Lentils when I want to stock up my pantry with some quick and easy lunches. I will not hesitate to add these chickpeas into the rotation as well!
Serving Ideas
I ate the chickpeas straight out of the pouch and was completely satisfied.
If I wanted to stretch the contents of the pouch and make it a meal for two then the chickpeas would be perfect served over a fragrant Jasmine rice along with a couple pieces of naan bread.
Calories and Nutrition
Each pouch of the chickpeas has two servings. I think everyone who buys this is going to eat the whole pouch so I will provide the calories and nutritional information for a single pouch.
- Calories: 340
- Fat: 17%
- Cholesterol: 0mg
- Sodium: 890mg
- Carbohydrates: 44g
- Protein: 12g
The chickpeas are labeled as Organic, Gluten Free, Vegan and Kosher.
From my standpoint the only nutritional knock against the product is that the sodium content is a bit high, but not unreasonably so for a processed, ready to eat meal.
Storage
The unopened pouches are shelf stable and can be stored in your pantry for about two years.
Once a pouch has been opened any uneaten food must be refrigerated and should be good for 3-4 days.
Don’t worry about long term storage though as I believe that you will go through all six pouches pretty dang fast!
Price
I bought the box of six 10 ounce packages at Costco for $14.99. This works out to a cost of about $2.50 per pouch. Ordinarily I would say something snarky about spending $2.50 for a handful of chickpeas but that is not going to happen this time.
I have no problem paying $2.50 for a meal that is incredibly filling, packed with wonderful flavors and is completely organic.
