While shopping one day, hubby and I came across a box of Velveeta Shells and Cheese with a twist: it was a ‘Zesty Barbecue Chicken’ flavor that showed twisty noodles, a reddish sauce, chicken chunks, and green and red peppers on the front of the box. I was a bit leery of barbecue sauce in cheese, but the box was on sale for $1.39 and could serve 5 people, so I thought we’d give it a try.
Of course, you have to provide your own chicken, and the box said to cook a pound of chicken, then add the water, packet of barbecue sauce, dehydrated dried onions and peppers, and noodles, then cook for about 12 minutes. At the end, we were to add the Velveeta cheese packet.
I only cooked one chicken breast, and then added the barbecue sauce packet and vegetables to the chicken to cook the flavor into the chicken before adding the water and noodles. I sauteed some onions to add to the meal, but I don’t think it had any major effect on flavor. I then added the water and noodles, then allowed the mixture to cook the required 12 minutes.
My hubby and I tried the noodles before we added the cheese to see if it would require more barbecue sauce than the packet provided. The flavor was actually quite good, resembling a hot pasta salad or barbecued veggies. While dubious over adding the Velveeta cheese, we added it anyhow just to see what the end result would be.
Oddly enough, the barbecue flavor was stronger with the cheese than without it. The end result is this orangey looking sauce with a lot of noodles and small bits of red pepper, green pepper, and onion. The flavor? It tastes the way a pasta salad would taste, only hot. It’s very sweet with an almost nacho cheese flavor, and I kept thinking to myself, ‘this tastes like mayo’. It’s not bad, but it definitely isn’t the flavor I was expecting. It’s a bit strong, enough so that I only had a few bites before I moved on to my garlic bread to counteract the flavor. Eating this pasta is like eating an entire plate of coleslaw- it’s good, but you wouldn’t want to make a meal out of it.
It’s not the kind of meal that you would want to rely upon- it’s more of a side dish. I found this disappointing, since pasta is supposed to be a meal by itself. There is so much in a single pan (about 6 cups cooked) that there was no way we were going to finish the pan, even with my hubby’s 2 big helpings. He enjoyed the pasta more than I did, but even he said he couldn’t ‘place’ the flavor. Exactly. The pasta is just…weird.
The way I see it, if I can think of something I’d change about the meal, then I likely won’t eat it again. I would change the Velveeta Shells and Cheese Zesty Barbecue Chicken meal by eliminating the cheese entirely and tossing in more vegetables. The cheese just throws the whole thing off. But it was worth a try- and believe it or not, eating it cold, it’s actually pretty good!
note: I don’t see the point in wasting chicken on this meal, either. The cheese/barbecue combination is so strong that the chicken is just an odd texture rather than a benefit. This is more of a pasta salad dish than a main meal, so serve the chicken either on the side or not at all and it will taste much better.
I give this particular meal 2 out 5 stars hot. 3 out of 5 stars cold.