My wife was very excited when we first heard the news that there would soon be Gluten Free versions of some of the Betty Crocker “Helper” lines. From the sounds of it, there will only be a few to begin with, but if they are popular enough, there might be more.
Last night, we had the opportunity to try out the Chicken Fried Rice Asian Chicken Helper now that it’s being carried in our local store. It’s got a nice badge on the front of the box declaring it’s gluten free as well as the words gluten free under the ingredient list. Since this is a rice dish, I’m sure the only real modification they had to make was to change to a non-wheat based soy sauce.
Preparation and cooking was exactly as it would be for any other of the “helper” series. Simple. Cook the chicken, add the rice and seasonings with some water and cook until the rice is done (20 minutes). Once it’s done, move most of it to one side of the pan, scramble a couple eggs in the other side and then mix it all together. If I were to make it again, I would either make it in a larger pan or make the eggs separately. Just wasn’t enough room for it all in the pan I was using and it ended up kinda messy. Also, if you cook it too long, the rice breaks down and becomes more of a mush. That wasn’t that great, but overlookable.
The meal itself was quite tasty. Much better than we’ve come to expect from some of the meal in a box offerings. I’m sure we’ll be picking up some more of it.