Amy's Black Bean & Vegetable Enchilada

I can't imagine a vegan alive in the US who hasn't tried or at least heard of the Amy's brand. I'm pretty sure I've been eating these for as long as I've been vegan, and even when I first started going vegetarian in the mid 90s. The brand has expanded significantly since then and rarely have their vegan offerings disappointed me. I'm pretty sure that these enchiladas are one of the most senior products of their line up, but do I agree that they are worthy of sticking around for so long? Let's find out!

Buying. It seems like I can find Amy's frozen entrees virtually everywhere these days, and nearly everywhere that carries them, this classic items is almost sure to be found. The Amy's frozen entrees seem to range between $3-5 almost everywhere I've seen them, this particular one I bought to review I acquired from Fred Meyer on sale for $3.49.

I want to note that I'm pretty sure the frozen black bean & corn enchiladas from Trader Joe's are the exact same thing. I don't remember what they cost off hand, but I'll do an update (or a new post, who knows) once I get around to picking up some again. For scientific comparison purposes.

Directions & unboxed foodstuffs

Packaging & Prep. Inside the cardboard box, the food is contained in a coated cardboard tray inside a plastic film bag. 

The heating directions really gives you two options, microwave or regular oven (telling you to take it out of the packaging for the toaster oven does not count!). Of course, I am not interested in waiting almost an hour to cook these (I'm including preheat time too), so off to the microwave! Just gotta put a hole in the bag and give it a whiz for a few minutes and bam! Enchiladas.

Ingredients & Nutrition facts

Nutrition. The first thing that caught my eye on the package was the fact that the serving size is for only one enchilada - seriously!? Who on earth is gonna cook up this package to only eat one?? I really find this sort of labeling to be misleading and borderline dishonest. If anyone from Amy's happens to be reading: PLEASE DON'T DO THIS.

So assuming you're like any other human being and you plan on eating the whole package as a meal, we're looking at 320 calories, 12g of fat (1 saturated), a whopping 780mg of sodium, 8g of fiber, 4g sugar, and 10g of protien. The fat is a tad steep for my tastes, and it does look like some of it comes from oils, but with only 1 gram of saturated fat I'm not too worried. The sodium is too damn high!!! Getting 32% of  your RDI for sodium in a single meal is a bit hard to swallow.

The fiber content is pretty respectable and with there being no refined sugars on the ingredients label, I'm not worried about that.

Many of the ingredients are whole foods, so that's good, but with the high sodium content, I'd hesitate to call this a healthy meal. Amy's does offer a light sodium version of this meal that knocks the sodium content down to only 380 mg for a whole package.

Enchiladas after their go in the microwave. They even have the garnished scallions like the box picture!

The Nomming. Sodium be damn, this enchilada dish is f**king delicious. The sauce is rich and flavorful. Sometimes the sauce can get burned around the edges if you cook too long. The tortillas come out wonderfully tender, though the ends sticking out of the sauce can get a bit crunchy, but I do like this! It makes it seem like a real, oven baked enchilada. The bean, tofu & veggie filling is so very tasty. I honestly don't think I could make better enchiladas myself.

Although the packaging gave no indication of heat level, I did detect a little bit of heat, however I do have a fairly high heat tolerance. People who can't stand even a mild spicy level might want to approach with caution.

The filling!

Bottom Line. Amy's Website. To say the least, I've purchased these enchiladas many times in the past, and I plan on continuing buying them in the future. Sure they're loaded with salt, but maybe I'll give the lower sodium version a try if I come across it.

I find it strange that they list this product as gluten free, and their website indicates that they do adhere to some standards for this, yet they have wheat listed as a possible allergen.