5 Frozen Chicken Burritos Ranked Worst To Best

Frozen chicken burritos should be a freezer staple. They're generally affordable, cook quickly, and are more filling than many quick food options. You can even turn them into a whole meal with a pot of delicious Spanish rice and some canned black beans, seasoned to your liking. But chicken burritos aren't worth a penny if they don't taste edible and, unfortunately, many suffer from artificial flavor notes, weird textures, and other unsavory things that quickly ruin your appetite. How can you tell which frozen chicken burritos are going to offer the best experience, and which aren't worth so much as a second glance? I set out to answer this question for you, so that you can skip the guesswork. 

I personally tasted every frozen chicken burrito that I could get my hands on in my local area, and judged them based primarily on taste and texture when eaten exactly as-is, using my food industry experience. You can find my full methodology at the end of this article if you're interested in learning more. Now, ready to find out which frozen chicken burritos you'll be wanting to toss into your grocery cart? Let's get into it.

The Counter Chicken Queso Burrito is the largest option on the list, outsizing the Red's products by an additional quarter to half. The interior includes seasoned ground chicken, pico de gallo, green chiles, cilantro, and queso sauce, wrapped inside of a protein tortilla. One burrito contains 370 calories, 58% of your day's sodium, 33 grams of protein, and 3 grams of fiber. It also has 25% of your day's calcium, 15% of your day's iron, and 10% of your day's potassium.

I wanted to enjoy this because I loved the idea of getting a huge portion of my day's protein in one meal, as I struggle to meet my goals here, but I just couldn't get behind it. Instead of smooth, the cheese inside felt chunky, and the fillings as a whole vaguely resembled vomit. Even the starchy wrap was a bit too hard, with a mildly artificial aftertaste that I found disappointing. Instead of any flavors being recognizable, the fillings tasted kind of like a big mess of slop that had been ground together until you couldn't be sure what it was originally made of.

Skip this frozen chicken burrito. It's the only option on the list that I wouldn't eat or purchase again. If extra protein is your goal, there are plenty of better foods for building muscle, like milk, cottage cheese, or eggs.

Red's Chicken Maple Sausage Burrito includes chicken maple sausage, scrambled eggs, Monterey Jack cheese, Pepper Jack cheese, American cheese, and green chile peppers wrapped inside a tortilla. Each burrito provides 330 calories, 27% of your daily sodium, 15 grams of protein, and 1 gram of fiber. It also has 10% of your daily calcium, 6% of your daily iron, and 2% each of your day's vitamin D and potassium.

If you don't go to Dunkin' for its highly ranked donuts but for its Snackin' Bacon instead, you'll love this burrito — the resemblance is really uncanny. There's a robust sweetness from the maple syrup that carries notes of vanilla and caramel, accented by mild woody undertones. This is paired with a moderate savoriness from the chicken sausage, and a balanced starchiness from the wrap. Going beyond the Snackin' Bacon flavor profile, however, this burrito also offers a creamy dairy, with a sharp kick of spice that melds into the other flavors to become mild. Texturally, this was nice, with a crisp exterior and soft but fluffy fillings.

I might buy this again, although there are options I prefer more, and I would definitely eat it again if offered to me by someone else. The only reason this ranked lower is that it was a bit too sweet for me to regularly eat, and feels more like a once-in-a-while treat, whereas the highest options feel better-suited to regular eating.

Every individually wrapped serving of Red's Chicken Cilantro and Lime Burrito is made with all-organic ingredients — the grilled chicken, long-grain brown rice, white Cheddar cheese, black beans, tomatillos, yellow corn, red bell peppers, and cilantro are organically produced, as is the flour tortilla they come wrapped in. One burrito contains 270 calories, 23% of your daily sodium, 12 grams of protein, and 2 grams of dietary fiber. It also provides 6% each of your day's calcium and iron, as well as 4% of your daily potassium needs.

This was a very light and refreshing burrito compared to the other options. The chicken was moist, and all of the ingredients were generously portioned. A combination of cilantro and lime feels very authentic, and reminds me of dishes like Chipotle's cilantro lime rice (or, even better, the Aldi version that's a perfect dupe of this). The only reason this ranked lower than the top two options is that I didn't like this tortilla quite as much as the others — it had a slight aftertaste of uncooked flour to it. While not nearly strong enough to ruin my eating experience, it was enough to knock it down a few spots.

If you're looking for something lighter that leans more towards refreshing than filling, this is an excellent option. However, I think the top two choices cover your breakfast and lunch needs a bit better.

Each individually wrapped Red's Grilled Chicken and Cheddar Burrito is crafted from grilled chicken, brown rice, pinto beans, white Cheddar cheese, Pepper Jack cheese, red bell peppers, green chile peppers, and tomatoes, wrapped in a tortilla. Eating one of these will give you 320 calories, 23% of your day's sodium, 15 grams of protein, and 2 grams of dietary fiber. You'll also get 8% of your daily calcium, 6% of your daily iron, and 4% of your daily potassium.

All four of the burrito options from Red's were quite good, to the point where I'll definitely be looking into their full selection of regular and breakfast products. One of the things I liked best about this specific product was that there were big pieces of moist chicken, rather than tiny bits of ground-up meat. Paired with the other fillings, this created a complex flavor profile with savory, starchy, cheesy, and spicy flavor notes, underneath which was a faint earthiness. Texturally, this was just as good as the other Red's option. The only reason this didn't rank higher was that I preferred the spice and ingredients of the top option a bit better — but it was a very close call for first place.

I would definitely buy this again, and think it's an excellent choice for a quick but relatively healthy meal when you're busy. If you're looking for a lunchtime burrito (rather than a breakfast one), this is your best choice.

Red's Chicken Chorizo Burrito is created using a blend of chicken chorizo, scrambled eggs, Pepper Jack cheese, mozzarella cheese, white Cheddar cheese, and green chile peppers, wrapped inside a flour tortilla. Eating one of these for breakfast will start your day off with 370 calories, 30% of your day's sodium, 17 grams of protein, and 1 gram of dietary fiber. Plus, you'll receive 15% of your day's calcium, 8% of your day's iron, 4% of your day's potassium, and 2% of your day's vitamin D.

This burrito had a complex flavor profile, built on a balanced combination of savory and creamy tastes, which are streaked through with moderate earthy notes and a mild kick of spice. While notable, the spice level was low enough that my eight-year-old son didn't think it was too hot when I offered him a bite. Texturally, a nice contrast is built between the soft, somewhat fluffy interior and the crisp tortilla exterior. I will definitely be buying this again, and keeping it regularly stocked in my fridge, at that.

Although it was a close call for the top spot, I feel confident placing Red's Chicken Chorizo Burrito as the top frozen chicken burrito. If you're looking for a delicious, filling, quick, and affordable lunch on-the-go or at home, this is an excellent option.

I selected frozen chicken burritos for inclusion in this ranking based on their availability to me in the Vineland, New Jersey, area. Shoprite, Walmart, Target, and Aldi were all places I searched for potential options, but only Target and Shoprite had appropriate products in stock — to meet my selection criteria, the product had to be labeled "burrito," and things labeled with other terms like street wrap were not included. For a fair test, I tasted each item without alteration after cooking it according to the instructions printed on the package, and then judged it based predominantly on taste and texture. When they were particularly notable, I also considered other aspects.

More than 15 years of food industry experience and extensive consumption of burritos over the last three decades were the primary things that gave me confidence to accurately place each product. The creation of nearly 100 rankings of food and drink for Daily Meal also contributed — this includes similar quick-food articles like my ranking of nine frozen pastas or my ranking of eight Aldi Mexican foods. Although personal preference played a role in this ranking, I aimed to be as unbiased as possible about product quality.