Sad to Report that Trader Joe’s Butter Chicken is Not Good

Trader Joe’s Butter Chicken with basmati rice is a microwave ready frozen meal that looked like it would be great for lunch.  The Trader Joe’s where I shop has an interesting assortment of Indian meals with some being amazing and others really missing the mark.  Since Butter Chicken is such a classic Indian dish I was curious how this one would score!

It turns out that the Butter Chicken from Trader Joe’s isn’t very good.

Nutrition, Ingredients and Labelling

Let’s take a closer look at what comes in this 12.5 ounce tray.

Nutrition Facts

One meal tray is a single serving.  The nutrition facts for a single serving are:

• Calories: 400
• Fat: 13g (29% DV)
• Cholesterol: 80mg (27% DV)
• Sodium: 640mg (28% DV)
• Carbohydrates: 49g (18% DV)
• Protein: 24g

Ingredient List

The Butter Chicken has the following ingredients:

• Chicken
• Water
• Whipping cream
• Crushed tomatoes
• Onion
• Canola oil
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Butter
• Sugar
• Salt
• Citric acid
• Turmeric
• Paprika
• Basmati rice

Heating and Serving

The heating instructions for this product are:

• Poke several holes in the plastic film to let the steam vent.
• Heat in the microwave on High for two minutes.
• Lift the film and carefully stir the butter chicken.
• Heat in the microwave on High for two more minutes.
• Let stand for two minutes and serve.

Do NOT follow the package instructions that tell you to microwave on High for seven minutes.

Taste Test!

With the exception of the Lamb Vindaloo I have loved all of the Indian meals I have bought at Trader Joe’s.  It turns out that the Butter Chicken is another exception and belongs on the Wall of Shame.

• The sauce was thin and watery.
• The amount of chicken was comically skimpy.
• I ate the lunch and was still hungry afterwards.

I got the same feeling from this meal that I did with the Chicken Biryani from Saffron Road.  It was like they were seeing exactly how little flavor and meat they could put into the dish.

Do yourself a favor and skip this meal.  If you want to treat yourself to classic, familiar Indian fare then stick with Trader Joe’s Chicken Tikka Masala or Palak Paneer.

So what went wrong?

This meal is marked as being Made in Canada and is the only meal I have seen that has this designation. I also noted that this is the only meal I have gotten that is in a rectangular container.  All of the other meals are in oval containers.

Between the different country of origin and change in containers, my guess is that the quality of this product is so different than the other frozen Indian meals at Trader Joe’s because it is made by a different company.

This meal cost me $3.99 for a 12.5 ounce tray and it was a waste of money.  I will not be buying this product again.