Dr. Gourmet's Food Reviews

Red’s All Natural Bean and Rice Burrito

Bean and Rice Burrito and Chicken Burrito

Our local Whole Foods has been carrying these burritos in the red boxes for a while. I'd always overlooked them because so many other burritos are so very high in sodium. Then the other day I was looking around for something to review and took a look. I was pretty surprised by what I found: these burritos are low in sodium. I mean, really low: all four of their varieties are under 350 milligrams of sodium each. Amazing!

What's interesting about Red's All Natural is that they use brown rice exclusively in their foods - and those of you who have read my frequent comments about brown rice versus white rice in frozen meals will know how unusual that is. They use no preservatives, antibiotic and hormone-free meat, hormone-free cheeses, no GMOs, and even more unusual, they're a company serving nothing but Mexican food that is proudly based in Connecticut. (My wife insisted that I mention this for reasons I'll share later.)

According to the package, the burritos can be microwaved, grilled outdoors, baked in an oven or even cooked in a Panini press. We've had some pretty terrible microwaved burritos, so the panel voted to follow the oven-cooking rules: microwave for three minutes, then bake at 400F for about 15 minutes.

It's a good thing that we cook several for our panel of tasters, because nobody wanted to give up their burrito to the next taster. In short: these burritos are amazing. "DEE-LISH!" said one taster. "Like the burritos I used to get from the taco truck," said my wife (who's from Los Angeles, which is why she found the company's location so intriguing).

The Bean & Rice burrito is packed full of brown rice and black beans all mixed together with corn, green and red bell peppers, onions, and a little sour cream to give it creaminess. It's well seasoned with cumin and a touch of cayenne. The Chicken burrito is essentially the same burrito with the addition of generous chunks of chicken breast.

Unlike many frozen burritos we've tried, these are not flour tortillas with a little filling. These are easily 75 to 80% filling, making the $3.50 each price tag worth every penny. For those of you who like a little more substantial lunch, these are a great option at 480 calories for the Chicken Burrito and 510 for the Bean and Rice Burrito. With so much protein (21 grams and 16 grams respectively), these will fill you up and keep you satisfied throughout the afternoon, and with a small side salad, would make a great dinner meal. When we review the Turkey Mole Burrito and the Steak Burrito, we'll try the microwave-only option. For now, we recommend baking these in the oven as we did.