Last spring, Aldi sold some frozen taco kits under its Casa Mamita house brand that looked a lot like name-brand Contessa Cutting Board meal kits. These kits came boxed up with everything you needed to make a meal, from a protein to sauce to tortillas.
More recently, Aldi has sold some different taco kits also under its Casa Mamita private label. These new taco kits come in smaller boxes and don’t look as fancy as the kits sold in the spring, but the idea is the same. These frozen kits contain a protein, rice, sauce, and tortillas, and they can be quickly heated up on a busy evening when you need dinner fast. They are sold in chicken teriyaki or pork carnitas varieties. Today, I’m looking at the chicken teriyaki kit.
The Casa Mamita Asian & Mexican Fusion Chicken Teriyaki Taco Kit cost $8.99 for a 20-ounce kit at the time of publication. This kit includes “teriyaki chicken with a brow rice & quinoa blend, flour tortillas & teriyaki sauce.”
This is an Aldi Find, which means it’s only in stores for a short time, and you can’t order this online after it sells out at your local store.
Open the box and you’ll find a packet of chicken, a packet of a rice and quinoa blend, a sauce packet, and a packet of tortillas.
If you’re watching out for allergens, this contains wheat and soy.
The box says there are about seven 1-portion (I assume 1 portion is 1 taco) servings per container, but this kit had only six flour tortillas, so that’s some interesting math. Also, these are street taco-sized tortillas, so the tacos are on the small side.
Casa Mamita Asian & Mexican Fusion Chicken Teriyaki Taco Kit nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
One serving (85 grams) has 170 calories, 4.5 grams of total fat (5% DV), 1.5 grams of saturated fat (7% DV), 15 mg of cholesterol (5% DV), 430 mg of sodium (19% DV), 24 grams of total carbohydrates (9% DV), 1 gram of dietary fiber (4% DV), 5 grams of total sugars, 4 grams of added sugars (9% DV), and 8 grams of protein.
These tacos can be prepared in the microwave or on the stove top.
To microwave, place the package of meat on a microwave-safe plate. Cut 2-3 small slits in the package. Microwave for 4-5 minutes or until heated through. Add sauce, mix well, and let rest while heating the rice. Empty the rice from the bag into a microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave 5 minutes or until hot, stirring halfway through cooking. Remove tortillas from package, wrap in paper towel, and microwave 30-45 seconds or until warm. Assemble your tacos with all the ingredients and enjoy.
To heat on the stove top, heat a skillet over high heat and coat with vegetable oil. Remove the chicken from the bag and place it in the skillet. Heat for about 9 minutes, stirring frequently. Add sauce and mix well, then let rest while heating the rice. Heat another skillet over high heat and coat with vegetable oil. Remove rice from the bag and pour it into the skillet. Heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Heat an ungreased skillet over medium heat and heat tortillas one at a time, about 35 seconds total, turning at least once. Assemble your tacos and enjoy.
I heated these tacos on the stove top. The directions don’t specify whether this kit can be cooked from frozen or if it should be thawed first. I cooked it from frozen, but the chicken splattered a lot when I added it frozen to the hot skillet with oil, so be careful if you cook it from frozen. When I try making the other taco kit I’ll thaw it first to avoid splattering. Other than that, this kit is easy to heat up and comes together quickly.
This is how much food the taco kit makes. We had six tortillas, one small bowl of chicken with sauce, and one bowl of a rice and quinoa blend.
My family’s main issue with this kit is that the servings are small. As mentioned above, there were six small tortillas in our box. There was a decent amount of rice and quinoa mix to fill the tortillas, but we really had to limit how much chicken everyone got in their tacos, putting only one or two pieces of chicken in each taco.
An assembled taco.
The assembled tacos tasted good, but we definitely felt like we had to be a bit miserly with toppings. And if you’re feeding more than two or three people, you’ll want to buy more than one boxed taco kit, and you’ll want to serve these tacos with sides like rice, salad, chips and dip, etc.
The Verdict:
The Casa Mamita Chicken Teriyaki Taco Kit comes with everything you need to make tacos: chicken, sauce, a rice and quinoa blend, and flour tortillas. It can be prepared quickly and easily and tastes great, but be aware that the portions are small.
