Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken Review & Giveaway

This contest is now closed. Please check back for more great giveaways!

Congrats to our winners:

1. Sue E., Centerville, TX
2. Cheryl F., Fort Wayne, IN
3. Heather S., Roswell, GA
4. Stephanie C., Bellevue, NE
5. Carol D., Wayne, NJ
6. Justine P., Tumwater, WA
7. Abigail C., Tampa, FL
8. Renee G., Valleyford, WA
9. Nicole G., Kirkland, WA
10. Cheryl W., Berea, OH

I was recently asked to try out frozen Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken. There are two varieties: fillets and strips. Both are fully cooked, 98% fat free and preservative free. Now, I actually have an issue with cooking chicken because I’m never convinced that it’s cooked all the way through. Unless I can use the oven probe to automatically cook things to the right temp, Big Guy is forced to step in with the meat so it isn’t overdone.  Otherwise I end up relying on prepackaged options which aren’t quite as healthy. Anyway, when I had a chance to look at the Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken, I knew it would be perfect to test in one of my favorite dishes, Sun-Dried Tomato and Chicken Pasta.

As it turns out, I had a difficult time finding the chicken. They recommended that we look in Walmart, but the Walmarts near us aren’t like those massive stores in other areas. Most of them only have a small grocery area with only the basic staples available. I tried Stop & Shop, Target, BJs and two local markets, before finding the Tyson chicken at Market Basket. The frozen Tyson Grilled & Ready pouches were located in with the breaded chicken strips/breasts.

Before bringing the chicken home, I took a moment to read through the packaging. I was happy about the relatively low fat content and lack of preservatives, but not so happy about the sodium levels which were at 20% of the recommended daily allowance for one serving. I’m assuming that the salt is to help with the freezing/preservation, but if that sodium level could come down, it would be great. I’d love to use the grilled chicken in stir fry dishes, but with the teriyaki sauce, it will be pretty salty.

Anyway, I sauteed the frozen Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken Strips (right out of the bag) with oilive oil, garlic and sundried tomatoes until the chicken was heated (about 3-5 minutes), cut them up with my wooden spoon and then added pasta, balsamic vinegar and some parmesan and feta cheese. You can find the full set of directions under Altered Sun-Dried Tomato and Chicken Pasta.  For this dish, the chicken was perfect. It was tender and moist and had just the right amount of seasoning (salt). Yum! I think the chicken (thawed, of course) would be great on top of a regular salad, in a pita, on a grilled cheese sandwich, in fajitas, etc.

If you’re intrigued by the Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken options, I’ve got good news. I’m giving 10 readers a coupon for a free bag of Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken. Each bag contains 22oz of chicken and I purchased it for $6.99 at my store.

PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO READ THE TWO RULES. IF YOU’RE CONFUSED, JUST ASK!

The Prize: A coupon for a bag of Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken

To Enter (once per person/household):

1. Leave a comment on THIS post (right down below) telling me what you’d make with your chicken strips or fillets.
2. Make sure you enter the correct email address in the email spot on the comment form so I can reach you. Please DON’T put your email in the actual comment.

Details:

• Contest will end at 11:59pm Eastern on May 12, 2010.
• U.S. addresses only (sorry, international friends!)
• Adults (18+) only
• Winners will be chosen via random.org. Winner must comply with all rules mentioned here, or a new winner will be selected. I will have the final decision in this matter.
• I will email the winner who will then have 48 hours to respond and claim their prize.

Bonus Entries:

• Subscribe to this blog via email/RSS (once)
• Blog about this contest using the full url *no shortened links* (once)
• Tweet about this contest (max 1 per day)
• Fan/Like Quirky Fusion on Facebook (once)

To claim bonus entries, please post one comment on this post per bonus entry (include permalink or tweet url).

Questions? Contact me.

Disclosure: I received compensation from Collective Bias and Tyson for trying this product. There was no promise of a positive review and the opinions contained in this post are mine.

1. Altered Sun-Dried Tomato and Chicken Pasta