I Tried And Ranked Campbell's New Chunky Frozen Bowls

Campbell's Chunky has never been shy about experimentation. From collaborations with brands like Old Bay Seasoning, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, and an ambitious effort in turning a Buffalo Wild Wings sauce into a canned soup, Chunky seems to be down for trying just about anything. With the tagline "Soup That Eats Like A Meal," the brand long ago staked its claim as soup for men, meant to fill up a hungry guy more than any other can could. Still, in spite of an adventurous streak and a promise to put protein first, Chunky has always stuck to its soup lane, but that's finally changed with the release of Chunky Frozen Bowls.

Available in eight flavors and selling at a suggested price of $5.49 at retailers nationwide, Chunky's take on frozen meals is protein-focused, with 20 to 28 grams per bowl. I had to find out for myself if these frozen meals live up to their soup predecessors, so Campbell's sent me one of each to sample. I'm happy to report that there's not a dud in the bunch, but there are still some that clearly rise above the others. Read on to find out which of Campbell's Chunky Frozen Bowls deserve a spot in your freezer.

It pains me to put lasagna last on any list. Lasagna is my favorite, non-dessert category food, so naturally, I was quite excited to try Chunky's Meat Lovers' Lasagna. The bowl features Mafalda pasta — essentially tiny, wavy lasagna noodles. Along with a marinara sauce, ricotta cheese, and a blend of ground beef and pork Italian sausage, this one sounds like a slam dunk, but it comes up short.

The issue here isn't that the bowl is bad; it's that there are plenty of better lasagna options in the freezer aisle. For one thing, this is a bowl, so if you're looking for a classic slice of the Italian staple, you won't find it here. There's not quite enough sauce to properly coat all of the other elements, and while the ricotta is tasty, it's also in rather short supply. Some mozzarella cheese does step in to fill the void, but in the end, there's simply not enough holding the generous serving of meat and noodles together.

At 25 grams of protein, 20 grams of fat, and 980 milligrams of sodium, this is designed to be one of the more filling options on the list, but if you have your heart set on lasagna, I'd recommend looking elsewhere. Thankfully, if you're simply on a mission to enjoy a Chunky Frozen Bowl, then good news; there are plenty of better options than this one.

While the lasagna option was lacking in sauce, the Buffalo-Style Chicken Mac and Cheese bowl has plenty, but unfortunately, it's underwhelming. Of the eight flavors Chunky has released, four are mac and cheese variants, and the Buffalo-Style is easily the least impressive of the bunch.

Featuring breaded white-meat popcorn chicken and elbow pasta in a Buffalo cheese sauce, this bowl borders on boring. The sauce does offer a little kick, but it's not terribly creamy and sticks to the noodles rather than providing a base for them to get properly coated. The popcorn chicken will show up again later and is quite good, with even breading and a surprisingly tender, moist texture for a microwave dish. The one shortcoming of the chicken is that it's not treated any differently here than in the yet-to-come mashed potato bowl. Had the chicken brought along some flavor, whether that's an additional hit of Buffalo sauce or even a ranch seasoning to provide contrast, it would have improved the dish.

Clocking in at 24 grams of protein along with 16 grams of fat and a slate-leading 1290 milligrams of sodium, the Buffalo-Style Chicken Mac and Cheese is an example of what happens when you stick to the basics and don't reach for the microwave-meal stars.

Enter the first of two potato-based bowls, the Cheesy Loaded Potato Bowl with Steak and Bacon. Not surprisingly, the name pretty much covers the key ingredients, with some green onions sliding in to offer a bit of color. This is one of the lower-protein bowls, at just 21 grams of protein, paired with 20 grams of fat and 1110 milligrams of sodium, but that doesn't make it any less tasty.

The real winner here is microwaved steak. Everything about that phrase sounds wrong, and yet Chunky makes it work. The steak bites are tender, flavorful, and plentiful. Along with a hearty serving of diced potatoes, this bowl is worth eating but could be improved with a more exciting sauce. As it stands, the cheese sauce is serviceable, but does none of the heavy lifting to give this bowl any standout appeal. It's worth trying, but don't be surprised if you find yourself returning to other flavors before loading up on another Loaded Potato Bowl.

Like the vast majority of Chunky Frozen Bowls, this option's cooking instructions are very simple: Puncture the plastic film on the bowl, microwave for three minutes, pull back the film to stir, then cook for another three minutes. Some alter the time by a minute in one direction or the other, but "cook, stir, cook" is the rhythm, and it works well. Every bowl was heated thoroughly, and the built in handles make removing them from the microwave easy rather than dangerous.

While I railed on the Buffalo-Style Chicken Mac and Cheese for its simplicity, when executed right, a simple dish can be wonderful, as is the case with Chunky Chili Mac. Pasta, beef, pork, and kidney beans all find a home in a thick tomato-chili sauce inside a bowl that doesn't try to do too much. The meat is plentiful and, along with the beans, is responsible for the most protein in any Chunky Frozen Bowl: 28 grams. The 25 grams of fat are also the most of the flavors, but the 960 milligrams of sodium is easily the lowest.

Chili can be made with lots of different ingredients, so opinions might vary the most on this flavor, but I think Chunky nailed both the taste and texture. In a chili mac, the chili needs to be thin and serve as a sauce, which this one does along with a bit of help from some cheddar cheese. The beans add flavor and a great texture to play off the noodles and meat. I can't think of anything I would change here, which might sound odd for a bowl ranked right in the middle of this list, but that speaks more to the uniqueness of the bowls at the top than a knock on the Chili Mac. This bowl is very good and definitely worth trying for yourself.

Potato power is the driving force behind the Country Fried Chicken with Mashed Potatoes. As promised, the breaded popcorn chicken from the Buffalo-Style Mac is back, and this time, it's a natural fit alongside mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, and cheese. With 20 grams of protein — the lowest value among the Chunky Frozen Bowls — and 18 grams of fat alongside 1,110 milligrams of sodium, this may not be the most filling option, but it's one of the tastiest.

When William Cowper wrote that variety is the spice of life, he'd have hardly imagined the phrase would be used to rank microwavable frozen meals, but here we are. (Cowper wrote the now-famous phrase in 1785, so you'd have to explain a microwave to him before getting into the frozen meal details.) Most of Chunky's Frozen Bowls are pasta-based, making this lone mashed potato option stand out. The potatoes are creamy, the gravy savory, and the chicken has just a hint of black pepper flavor that ties it all together.

The corn is the wildcard in this dish, but it holds up remarkably well in the microwave, remaining tender and juicy without veering into chewy territory. The only possible knock on this bowl is that you have to mix everything together midway through the cooking process, eliminating any possibility of controlling your gravy intake while eating. I'm fine with a fully mixed bowl, but if you like your ingredients separated, take note.

Made with a mixture of ground beef and pork, bacon, jalapeños, and of course pasta and cheese, the Bacon Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese bowl is unique in a way the other mac bowls so far haven't been. The noodles, like all the Chunky Frozen Bowls, are tender; a testament to the work of the food scientists who developed the product and the cooking instructions. There are slices of onions and jalapeños all over the place, and while the peppers aren't particularly spicy, they bring some nice flavor.

With 25 grams of protein and 22 grams of fat, the Bacon Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese bowl sits fairly in the middle of the pack in terms of nutritional details, though the 1270 milligrams of sodium is on the higher end. (Thanks, bacon.) In the end, I could be convinced to swap this bowl with the Chili Mac depending on the day, but the touch of freshness from the peppers and onions is the tipping point. This bowl has the makeup of a more complete meal, and paired with a great cheesy taste, that's enough to land it at number three on this list.

This might be a controversial one. If you like mushrooms, welcome! If not, apologies; go ahead and move on down to number one. For those of you who stayed for the shrooms, allow me to introduce Chunky's Beefy Pasta with Stroganoff Sauce bowl. Cubed chunks of beef, the same ones from the Loaded Baked Potato bowl, are joined by thin-sliced mushrooms in a creamy stroganoff sauce. The same noodles that couldn't get the job done in the lasagna bowl are back and better than ever in a bowl that embraces its uniqueness compared to the rest.

The beef is once again tender, the sauce is rich, creamy, and plentiful, but it's the mushrooms that are the highlight. Yes, they're thin, but the texture is spot-on, and the flavor is undeniable the moment the scent wafts from the microwave.

This is a bowl that could stand up admirably in a taste test against non-frozen, homemade old-school beef stroganoffs and hold its own. With 24 grams of protein, just 9 grams of fat, and 1090 milligrams of sodium, this is a respectable meal, which is ultimately Chunky's goal with this full lineup. Mushroom lovers, this is a great option. For the rest of you, don't worry, I still have one more bowl for you to enjoy.

It should come as no surprise that I had plenty of leftovers after trying all eight of these bowls in the same afternoon. I'm a leftover lover, so when it came time to choose lunch the next day, I turned to my number one bowl first: the Philly Cheesesteak Mac and Cheese. The Cheeseburger Mac earned a boost thanks to the chopped jalapeños that gave the dish a little personality, but those peppers are puny compared to the generous slices of green peppers and onions that fill this bowl.

Joining the veggies are thin slices of seasoned beef and a cheese sauce made with mozzarella rather than Cheddar. The result is an especially creamy sauce which serves as the perfect base for a well-balanced bowl that embraces the best of the cheesesteak. While the 23 grams of protein isn't the most in the lineup — along with 21 grams of fat and 1220 milligrams of sodium  — the presence of vegetables is enough to vault this bowl to the very top. This is a meal, full stop.

Chunky is definitely on to something with these frozen bowls, and I hope the brand takes notes from the Philly Cheesesteak Mac and Cheese for future variations. Veggies are good, and a few more here and there could catapult this line of frozen meals from very good to great.

Campbell's sent me all eight flavors of the Chunky Frozen Bowls from Walmart via DoorDash. I popped everything in the freezer and began working through the bowls one at a time, microwaving and taking pictures before digging in. My evaluations were based on taste, texture, and overall cohesiveness of the dish. 

Some recommendations are based on first-hand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.