First things first, I'm a big fan of chili. I can personally claim to making one of the best chili recipes you've ever had and in fact, it's won two chili cooking competitions, so obviously there are other people that would agree. That said, making good chili is a pain in the rear and it takes quite a while to do. But, on those occasions that you just have that chili craving, it's nice to have some store bought product to fall back on and that's where this MorningStar Farms Three Bean Chili with Griller's Crumbles came in for me to try. I picked up one of their newer offerings at Meijer for $2.99 (on sale for $3.99 and I had a $1 off coupon; regular price is in the $4.99 range).
As you can see, this one at least looks like chili from the outside. That should be a given, but when you've had some of the disgusting store bought garbage chili that I've had in the past (i.e. Hormel), that actually is an accomplishment. There were plenty of beans (ingredients say the beans were Cannelini, Kidney and Black Beans), plenty of "crumbles" and also plenty of veggies (onions, red peppers). The ingredient mix also says this one includes chili powder and cumin and since I am a big fan of cumin, I was quite pleased to see that. The only thing that disappointed me about this texturally was that the chili "broth" was a little watery. I like my chili "broths" to be thick and hearty and no matter how much I stirred this thing, it never really thickened up and that disappointed me. That said, this was a healthy sized portion and had only 270 calories (the package says 170, but those MorningStar Farms goofs somehow think you can get "about 2" servings out of this and I don't see how) and I was looking forward to that.
So, the ingredients were solid, so you'd think the taste would be solid too. Unfortunately, if you thought that, you'd be wrong. I'd like to say the taste was offensive, but then I'd be saying that this had taste. The beans were nice and chewy, so that was nice, but that's really the only flavor I remember about this one. The "broth" was flavorless, the crumbles were undetectable and the peppers and onions, while there, did not add any spice or kick to the mix. It's not that this tasted bad, but it also didn't taste good either. It was just BLAH.
Buy It or Fly By It? You've got to FLY BY IT with this one. Really, when you combine with the bland and boring taste with the usual price of this one, it really isn't worth it. It's not even really worth it on sale with a coupon too. Based on what you are getting, a fair price would be $2.00-$2.50 but on this, you are paying for just the name and you are paying too much for something that is not going to really make you want to eat more. Too bad because this had so much promise. Sadly, this is becoming a common refrain for these MorningStar Farms reviews.
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| FLY BY IT!! |
WATER, DICED TOMATOES (DICED TOMATOES, TOMATO JUICE, CITRIC ACID, CALCIUM CHLORIDE), TOMATO PASTE (TOMATOES), COOKED BLACK BEANS (BLACK BEANS, WATER), CANNELLINI BEANS, DARK RED KIDNEY BEANS, GREEN PEPPERS, RED BELL PEPPERS, VEGGIE BURGER CRUMBLES (TEXTURED VEGETABLE PROTEIN [SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, WHEAT GLUTEN, WATER FOR HYDRATION], WATER, CORN OIL, CHICORY ROOT FIBER [INULIN], YEAST EXTRACT, NATURAL FLAVORS, BLACK MALT POWDER, SALT, SOY SAUCE [WATER, SOYBEANS, SALT, WHEAT], EVAPORATED CANE JUICE CRYSTALS, GARLIC POWDER, ONION POWDER, ONION JUICE CONCENTRATE, SPICES, TOMATO POWDER, CITRIC ACID, NIACINAMIDE, IRON [FERROUS SULFATE], SKIM MILK, EGG WHITES, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE [VITAMIN B6], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], VITAMIN B12), ONIONS, SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, RICE STARCH, SPICE, CHILI PEPPER, EXPELLER PRESSED CANOLA OIL, SALT, XANTHAN GUM, CARAMEL COLOR.
FYI, Freezer Burns did a review of this one recently too. Check it out if interested!
i love the taste of this chili. I top it with a little bit of cheese. To find vegetarian chili is an accomplishment and when it tastes good, thats even better!
ReplyDelete(the cheese thickens it up too)