Dr. Gourmet's Food Reviews

Udi’s Gluten Free Chicken, Bean & Cheddar Burrito

Chicken, Bean & Cheddar and Steak, Cheddar & Poblano Burritos

Generally speaking, burritos have been hard to find for those folks eating gluten free. The offerings have broadened in the last few years, with choices from evol, Glutenfreeda, and Udi's. None of them has been all that good, however. Mostly they have been doughy and bland. Being true to our motto of "We eat it, so you don't have to," I recently spied some dinner burrito offerings from Udi's and figured we would try again.

While Udi's has gotten mixed reviews across the product lines we have reviewed, their products are pretty widely available. This makes it easy to pick up one of their products for review even in light of some of our previous disappointments. Their offerings have evolved over time, and to quote a Facebook comment on the DrGourmet.com site about the Udi's breakfast burritos we reviewed, "Can you say... 'rushed to market?.' These were so poorly conceived." That often seems to be the case, and with some of their breads we have gone back later and found that they have improved over time.

So we decided to give their burrito line another chance.

We started with their Chicken, Bean & Cheddar Lunch/Dinner Burrito (the rest of the title is "with rice, chicken, black beans, cheese and vegetables," making it one of the longer product names we have seen). These bad boys are not cheap at $3.99, but that's what you will pay for most burritos on the market. The instructions call for wrapping in a moist paper towel and microwaving.

The result is far better than their previous offerings. The flour tortilla is as good as one can be after being frozen and then reheated in the microwave. Not as tough or doughy as some, but simply a frozen microwaved tortilla. It has a good flour-like flavor. This is filled with rice, shredded chicken, black beans, vegetables, and cheese, just as promised, and it is pretty good. Certainly of the better burritos we have had - and the best gluten free we have tasted so far. The sauce is creamy and slightly spicy. The chicken tastes like chicken (it should, shouldn't it) and has a mildly Southwestern flavor. Ideally this could have been a bit spicier, but with a dollop of great salsa it could make a good lunch.

The numbers are very good at 250 calories and only 350 mg of sodium. The burrito contains 5 grams of fiber. I would hesitate to call it a dinner burrito and a $4.99 version that was 50% bigger might make more sense to label "dinner."

The Steak, Cheddar & Poblano Lunch/Dinner Burrito with rice, grilled beef, beans, cheese, and vegetables (that long name again) approaches being really good. Now, this is a frozen burrito and the tortilla is good (like the chicken version), but the filling is much, much better. This is the first frozen meal of any kind that we have tasted where the poblano actually tastes like poblano. While not ringing any fire bells, this is a nicely spicy burrito with a good filling that tastes of beef and beans with a bit of creamy cheddar. If you really want a frozen burrito, this is your guy.

The numbers are identical to the chicken burrito (suspiciously so, but that happens).

A real win in the beef burrito and a solid pass for the chicken burrito - and for those eating gluten free, things continue to get better.

First posted: July 31, 2015