Dr. Gourmet's Food Reviews

Glutenfreeda Beef & Potato Burrito

Beef & Potato and Vegetarian Bean and Cheese

A while back we reviewed some frozen burritos with good results. One of the burritos, from a company that makes gluten free products under the brand Glutenfreeda (love that name), came in very highly ranked in our taste tests. At the time, only their Chicken and Cheese was available for us to taste. I was looking around the freezer case at Whole Foods and there is now a wider variety available, so I picked up a couple more to put to the test.

The first out of the microwave was their Beef & Potato burrito. This has a good beef flavor with nice texture. It's not too salty and the filling is good - but not great. For all the ingredients listed on the label, you might think that this would have more flavor, but it was kind of bland. At the same time the burrito was dry, with the filling not contributing the creaminess that you want in a burrito. It's a shame because the texture of the beef and potato just aren't supported by any sauce.

A fair burrito, but not good enough to recommend even though the numbers are pretty good at only 260 calories with 320 mg of sodium. As with many gluten free products, this one is low in fiber at only 1 gram. It really seems that what's missing from this is some salsa or a tomato sauce to add volume and moisture.

The Vegetarian Bean & Cheese is everything that the Beef and Potato isn't. The filling is a flavorful, tangy enchilada sauce with just a bit of spiciness. There's rice and beans and corn in the sauce. A great combination that makes for a balanced filling. It's a shame because just a bit of this sauce would have made the Beef and Potato so much better.

The numbers are really good with only 210 calories and 290 mg of sodium. There's even more fiber at 2 grams.

All of their burritos come with a tortilla that's made with white corn masa flour. In our last review there was a comment about tortillas being made with white flour and not corn. Interestingly, these tortillas are very close in texture and flavor to white flour tortillas, but being made with corn they are somewhat lighter and, of course, they are gluten free.

Two of three very good from Glutenfreeda. Choose their Vegetarian Bean and Cheese or Chicken & Cheese but not the Beef and Potato.

Two out of three? Those are pretty good odds for frozen meals.

Reviewed: June 24, 2011