We Tried And Ranked 14 Stouffer’s Frozen Meals

On the busiest of nights when all you want to do is come home to a fuss-free dinner, with no hassle of cooking or waiting for a delivery, popular store-bought frozen meals are your best bet. And in a discussion of ready-made dishes, Stouffer’s will always be a part of the conversation. It has been since its founding in 1924, and it still hasn’t lost its place on families’ tables, as Statista reported it was the No. 1 selling frozen dinner brand in the U.S. as of early 2025.

To cater to its loyal fan base, Stouffer’s is constantly coming out with new products, resulting in a wide variety of entrées to choose from. Whether it’s pasta or protein you’re after, you’ll find an option for you. However, even with the brand’s assortment of choices, some are much more worthy of a spot in your kitchen than others. After a taste test of 14 of Stouffer’s frozen meals, I’m here to tell you which ones they are.

Maybe I’ve been spoiled by growing up on the sweet and savory deliciousness that is Chef Boyardee’s Cheesy Burger Macaroni, but I have to say, I was highly disappointed with Stouffer’s take on the stuff. The brand’s Macaroni and Beef is downright funky and tastes off as a whole.

To start, the tomato-based sauce was very soupy. As such, the noodles were far too soft, and that says a lot coming from me, who prefers her pasta not to be al dente. Then comes the beef. The pieces were sizable, which was awesome to see. However, they were chewy in a way ground beef definitely should not be. I’m not usually one to fuss too much over a food’s texture, but this was hard to look past. Many of the issues I found in the following meals were something I could pretty quickly overlook, and that was not the case with this product, earning it last place.

I have never been one to enjoy meatloaf, and Stouffer’s did not change that for me. And while I acknowledge that my personal preference certainly plays a leading role in how I ranked this product, I’d say that it still deserves to come in second-to-last largely on account of its portion size.

The loaf is, in my humble and hungry opinion, not big enough at all to keep you satiated, even with the accompanying mashed potatoes. I could finish the meat in four to five bites – maybe six if I really wanted to make it last (which I didn’t, although I admit it tastes slightly better than it looks). Still, I’ll give credit where credit is due, as this at least contains 22 grams of protein, which is extremely surprising for such a small meatloaf. Any of the other items on this list will do a better job at filling you up though.

Stouffer’s offers another iconic American goodie with its roast turkey. Unlike the meatloaf, though, this one is more palatable. I wouldn’t go out of my way to add either of them to my cart, but at least I didn’t scrunch up my face with every bite this time.

That being said, the roast turkey won’t exactly feel like a homemade Thanksgiving dinner. It has all the same elements you’d usually find at the table, coming with white meat turkey and mashed potatoes in gravy, but there are complaints to be made about them all. The turkey was pretty average, and while the cubed stuffing pieces surprisingly held up in providing the traditional taste you’d expect, the texture was extremely soggy from being with the gravy and mashed potatoes – the latter of which was very watery. I wouldn’t put this out if you’re trying to impress any extended family with something resembling a home-cooked meal.

Stouffer’s carries a couple of different products that utilize spaghetti, one of them being spaghetti with meat sauce. The protein in this consists of beef and pork, though you’d hardly be able to tell unless you read the packaging before delving in. The meat is barely discernible, as it comes in very small and soft pieces, and the occasional bigger chunk is not much of note.

The noodles are similar in texture, again being too soft for probably anyone’s liking (except for perhaps young children, so as to avoid choking). They’re provided in abundance compared to some of the other noodle-centric items on this list, which is great, but you could practically swallow everything in this dish without more than a few chews from how limp it all is. And to add insult to injury, it’s in dire need of some extra salt.

Public school lunches have evolved over the years, but macaroni and cheese has reliably been part of the program since the 1960s. If you’re hankering for a taste of those old-school childhood lunches (or perhaps some mass-produced buffet pasta) again, Stouffer’s mac & cheese is probably as close as I’ve gotten to it. 

It’s thickly coated in a very rich, yummy cheddar cheese sauce and is satiating as a result. Its universal appeal and nostalgia factor aside, though, there’s truthfully nothing special about this pasta dish. As much as I actually do like the sauce, the meal is lacking overall complexity and tastes the same throughout the whole thing, running the risk of quick taste fatigue when trying to finish off the tray. Luckily, there are plenty of easy ways to upgrade frozen dinners like this one and make them feel a little more complete, whether it be by adding veggies, throwing in bacon bits, or even adding a squirt of Buffalo sauce.

I’ve never been a fan of chicken Parmesan, so I was already anticipating that this frozen meal would end up somewhere at the bottom of the group. However, it tasted nothing like the chicken parms I’ve tried before. Coming as a thick patty with a soft, tender interior, it actually reminded me a lot of the flavor and texture of a mozzarella stick, which, in any case, is a win in my book.

But I didn’t even realize the tray also came with noodles because they were buried under the chicken and drowning in the marinara sauce. And on trend with almost all of Stouffer’s pasta, they were too limp and cut up into shorter pieces that made it difficult for any real twirling action. The cheese was also very separate from everything else. Even after more time in the microwave than what’s instructed on the packaging, it still wouldn’t readily melt in with the rest, landing it in the middle of this ranking.

Stouffer’s Classic lasagna with meat & sauce is so darn cute I’d put it towards the top of the list based on looks alone. It comes in a seemingly much smaller tray than the other meals in this ranking, though it’s also much deeper than they all are, which makes up for it. So, as tiny as it seems, this is certainly enough to fill you in one sitting.

Ingredient-wise, the first thing I noticed is that the cheese is not evenly spread over the top. But I can’t be too mad about it because upon taking a bite, I was pleasantly surprised with a wonderful mozzarella cheese pull that just kept going. The meat and herby tomato sauce are both inoffensive, with not much to note about them, and hey, that’s a feat over the worse off items that found themselves in the bottom three of the ranking.

We’ll get the obvious out of the way first: If you’re craving something akin to Popeyes or KFC, you won’t get that here. It’d admittedly be unfair to pit a frozen meal against the fresh, hot orders you might get at those chains, but it should still be made known that this really doesn’t resemble fried chicken very much.

The protein comes in the form of one big slab, having both the texture and taste of a big fast food chicken nugget instead, and that’s not something I’d ever complain about. I also like the gravy it comes with; it’s classic as ever and brings you a taste of Thanksgiving. Where things get dicey is with the side of mashed potatoes. They break apart like a crust, which is far from the fluffy texture good spuds should have. And as if the very wrong texture wasn’t bad enough, they’re also extremely salty. Therefore, Stouffer’s fried chicken finds itself in the middle of the road, as the main component is solid, but its side brings it down too much to ignore.

Doing far better than the previously mentioned spaghetti with meat sauce is Stouffer’s spaghetti and meatballs. Now, you might be wondering what the difference between the two is — that would lie in the sauce and protein; the former contains a “tomato, beef, and pork sauce,” while the latter consists of a plain tomato sauce. Its protein comes in the traditional ball form rather than small bits just floating around.

The verdict is: Skip the meat sauce, and absolutely go for the spaghetti and meatballs instead. The meat is still nothing to write home about here, but it actually has a presence this time and its flavor eventually comes in with the usual savoriness. Even the sauce is a bit sweeter somehow, which I suppose tracks considering this product comes with one more gram of sugar than the meat sauce version.

There’s science out there that proves eating pasta makes you happier, and I’d say the chicken pesto rigatoni backs that claim up pretty well, too. Though the rigatoni still doesn’t retain the al dente texture many people seek, this is the first noodle dish I tried that wasn’t overly soft or squishy.

My biggest qualm with it would be that it lacked chicken. You’ll have way more bites without it than with, and the sauce was also not as plentiful as I’d like it to be. The package comes with a big dollop of pesto in the center to work with, which I could already tell wasn’t enough even before mixing. And I was right; it’s not quite enough to coat every noodle as much as I’d want (hence some very naked-looking pieces in the above picture). Still, what sauce I did have to work with tasted good, providing strong notes of basil with a buttery, slippery mouthfeel. 

Of the many pastas that I love (and there are a lot), fettuccine Alfredo reigns supreme to me. Stouffer’s take on the classic dish is pretty different from what I’m used to eating at restaurants like The Cheesecake Factory or Olive Garden, which are almost always guaranteed to put me in a food coma, but it’s respectable and definitely good enough to breach the top five spots in this ranking.

It comes loaded with an extremely generous amount of sauce that was missing in the chicken pesto rigatoni; in fact, my noodles were practically swimming in it. That might be a downside to some, but I found the sauce to be pleasantly creamy and much lighter and subdued in taste (though not in a detrimental way) than what’s typical of most fettuccine Alfredos, allowing me to eat a good amount without feeling too heavy or sluggish. If I didn’t have the time to make an ultra creamy chicken fettuccine Alfredo recipe from scratch, I’d happily eat this to satisfy my craving in a pinch.

Trying to decide whether the fettuccine Alfredo or vhicken Alfredo was better was more challenging than I expected it to be. I fully went into the taste test feeling confident that chicken Alfredo would no doubt edge its proteinless counterpart out, but truth be told, it won on a technicality.

The included chunks of chicken were not hard to spot, which got me excited that I’d be able to have some with most of my pasta. However, upon taking a bite, I found that the meat pulled apart in an odd, almost stringy way. The broccoli pieces, on the other hand, were practically just green dots from the veggie’s buds. Sure, there were one or two small stalks, but it was so soft and tasteless that it truly didn’t add to the experience in any way. So, in conclusion, the chicken Alfredo comes in just a touch higher thanks to the health benefits from its added protein and vegetables, though the ingredients themselves don’t do anything for the dish’s taste.

I grew up eating On-Cor gravy & Salisbury steaks, and I was excited every single time I saw it on the table. So, I was hopeful that Stouffer’s Salisbury steak would bring about the same reaction. It didn’t really meet the bar, but I still enjoyed it much more than a lot of the other items on this list. 

It’s not my favorite take on the protein, as after a taste test I concluded I’d still go for On-Cor over Stouffer’s version in a heartbeat, but it was nonetheless flavorful and what you’d expect from a frozen meal overall. It very much reminds me of a thick burger patty (though there’s in fact a difference between Salisbury steak and a bun-less hamburger) that’s more crumbly in texture and tangy in taste. Its side of mac and cheese stands the same as the nostalgic entrée version discussed earlier, offering a comfortingly familiar taste many of us grew up on.

Italian meatballs might be the most popular variety among Americans, but the Swedish version is unmatched in my heart. Ikea’s iconic and affordable offering of Swedish meatballs is unfortunately about a 40-minute drive from my house, though, so I had high hopes that Stouffer’s frozen meal would get the job done instead. And indeed it did.

Coming with a bed of very soft fettuccine noodles, these meatballs come in a sour cream sauce with bits of parsley. It’s actually about the only seasoning you’ll be able to visibly see in this dish, which frankly results in a sort of one-dimensional flavor, but it’s one I could enjoy over and over. The meatballs, which are the titular ingredient of this product, thankfully shine as much as they should, offering a deep, savory flavor with every bite. And not to mention, they’re the main source of this entrée’s beautiful 27 grams of protein.

Going into this ranking of Stouffer’s frozen meals, my top criteria were taste and texture. I also looked at how the entrée and sides balanced each other out. For example, if the main component of the meal was solid but the accompanying side was awful, the entire product would be placed lower on the list. Nutritional value also played a small role with some of the items, namely if it had a significant amount of protein, then it had a chance of ranking higher. Lastly, how satiating the meal is was considered. These are all meant to serve one person, but if I felt it wouldn’t fill someone up for dinner, it got booted down.