Lean Cuisine Southwest-Style Chicken Panini

By: Tanya Taylor, PhD | Sep 20, 2007

According to Lean Cuisine, the Southwest-style Chicken Panini has mesquite-seasoned white meat chicken strips with green peppers, tomatoes, onions, cheese & southwest-style sauce on sourdough bread. I am certainly no expert on Southwestern style cooking, so I really can't comment on the "authenticity" of the Southwest flavors. I only know that I liked it. I enjoyed the smoky chicken flavor, the sauce had a slightly bold flavor and the bread was crisp. I'm not saying this is a "restaurant quality" panini, but it tastes pretty darn good for a microwavable meal - I have even successfully converted a few coworkers, who I call "healthier lunch newbies" to this product.

So far my favorite LC Panini is still the Chicken Spinach and Mushrooms, but this just a level below (my least favorite is the Steak Cheddar and Mushroom.

A Lean Cuisine Southwest-Style Chicken Panini has 280 calories, 7 grams of total fat, which is 11% of the recommended daily amount, 15% of the RDA for saturated fat, 30% of the daily requirement for sodium (730 mg), 10% of the RDA for cholesterol (30 mg), 20 grams of protein and 32 grams of total carbohydrates, which includes 3 grams of sugar and 3 grams of fiber (13% of the RDA).

That high sodium and cholesterol (which is not relatively high, but I don't like seeing any amount in foods), give me quite a cause for pause. Lean Cuisine meals are on sale very often, in fact I bought this for $2.50 from the local grocery store (fantastic sale and I stocked up on as many LC meals as I could afford). Although, I really liked the taste, I am not so thrilled with the nutrition facts.

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