I saw that Costco is now selling a Spanish Style Grain Free Rice from Tattooed Chef and threw it in my cart pretty fast. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was buying but I am a big fan of the Tattooed Chef brand and knew that the product would be healthy and taste great.
I tried the “rice” last night and while I thought it was pretty tasty, I doubt that I will be buying it again.
Stick with me and let’s see if this product is right for you!
Calories and Nutrition
The Grain Free Rice comes in four bags that each contain 12 ounces of product. A single serving is one cup and has the following nutritional content:
- Calories: 210
- Fat: 9g (12% DV)
- Cholesterol: 0mg (0% DV)
- Sodium: 500mg (22% DV)
- Carbohydrates: 24g (9% DV)
- Protein: 8g
There is nothing wrong/bad about the nutritional content but it does have me wondering who this product is marketed towards. The rice is not a low calorie product like the Tattooed Chef Cauliflower Rice nor is it a low carb product.
My next thought was that this product is intended for people who are avoiding gluten but regular rice doesn’t have gluten anyways so a “grain free” rice wouldn’t be a big selling point.
I did a little digging and read about people going on a Grain Free Diet so I guess that is who the brand is targeting?
Ingredients
The Grain Free Rice contains:
- Chickpea pasta
- Lentil pasta
- Onion
- Red pepper
- Tomatoes
- Cilantro
- Sauce
- Olive oil
- Water
- Chili powder
- Vegetable broth
- Lemon juice
- Black pepper
- Salt
- Oregano
The rice is a product of Italy and is labelled as Vegan.
All of the ingredients appear to be Gluten Free but there is nothing on the packaging that makes a Gluten Free claim.
Cooking Instructions
Cooking the rice is pretty simple.
- Pour one tablespoon of water into a non-stick skillet.
- Open one of the 12 ounce bags and add the rice to the skillet.
- Place a lid on the skillet and cook over medium heat for five minutes.
- Remove the lid, stir the rice and cook for three more minutes with the lid off.
- Serve.
I followed the instructions as written and the product turned out great.
Taste
We had the rice with some grilled chicken and it was delicious.
The chickpea and lentil pasta were tender but still had enough chew to be interesting. The flavors were almost “earthy” and reminded me of jambalaya.
There was enough sauce to coat the rice but not so much to make it soupy.
The rice was both filling and satisfying.
Price
I bought the three pound bag of grain free rice for $11.99 which comes out to a cost of $4 per pound.
I consider $4 a pound to be a premium price and while I don’t fault Tattooed Chef for the pricing, I did not feel like it was worth it.
If I was eating a Grain Free Diet then I would absolutely buy this again. However, I am trying to stick to a low calorie, low carb diet and while this rice is healthy and tasty, it isn’t special enough to me to warrant the extra cash.
