Dr. Gourmet's Food Reviews

Amy’s Asian Noodle Stir-Fry

Asian Noodle Stir Fry and Baked Ziti Bowl

All things considered, we like many of the Amy's meals we test. The folks at Amy's do generally add more sodium than I'd like to recommend, but the meals are otherwise very good when they are good and very bad when they are bad. I came across two new meals the other day and my first thought was "which way will these go?"

The Nutrition Facts for the Asian Noodle Stir-Fry looked promising at 300 calories, 5 grams of fiber and a somewhat reasonable 630 mg sodium (too much but better than some of their meals). The smells were good cooking in the microwave with the aroma of your neighborhood Chinese restaurant. And the flavor is good. Good enough to recommend.

There's a bright sweet flavor that in checking the ingredients probably comes from the pineapple juice. This is combined with tamari sauce, plum vinegar and sesame seed oil for a pretty good Asian flavor. The rice noodles are extremely well done and not gloppy at all. There are a lot of veggies that are not overcooked and little bits of tofu. All in all, a good meal that goes in the OK column.

At first I thought we had reviewed the Baked Ziti bowl before, but I checked and it was actually one of their "kid's meals" that we'd tasted. Here's an excerpt from that review:

"Flabby little ziti in a sauce that will make kids feel right at home because it tastes like the school cafeteria (only worse)."

Guess what? This is pretty much the same but more of it and with peas - and not very good peas at that. In fact, the peas taste like they came from the school cafeteria also. The sauce is super bright tasting - almost mouth-puckering. It might have been better with some cheese, but there's so little of that that it's hard to even tell if this was their intention. This is a good example of a "when it's bad, it's bad" meal from Amy's.

As usual with Amy's products we have a split decision. One pretty good and one not any good at all. Looking over our reviews that's about the ratio you'll find. When you choose an Amy's product there's about a 50 / 50 chance that it'll be good. Best to check our ratings before choosing.

Reviewed: June 10, 2011