Trader Joe's Family Style Chicken Florentine Lasagna Review: Florentine and Dandy

Trader Joe's already sells a traditional Family Style Meat Lasagna, but apparently one family-sized lasagna wasn't enough.

Enter Trader Joe's Family Style Chicken Florentine Lasagna.

This $7.49 frozen dinner skips the traditional tomato sauce entirely and replaces it with a creamy Florentine-style white sauce, ground chicken, spinach, cheese, and pasta.

Basically, this is lasagna's creamy cousin.

And you know what?

It's pretty solid.

Just don't invite four hungry adults over for dinner and assume the words "Family Style" mean Trader Joe's has everyone covered.

Review

I have complicated expectations when it comes to frozen lasagna.

I've had homemade lasagna prepared by someone's nonna who seemingly has 80 years of cooking experience and no concept of the phrase "too much cheese."

Those lasagnas are enormous.

They're heavy.

And when frozen, they require the better part of an afternoon to heat through.

Trader Joe's Chicken Florentine Lasagna isn't competing in that weight class.

This is a much smaller frozen lasagna with roughly three relatively thin layers. It takes about an hour to cook through, which isn't exactly a quick microwave dinner, but it's considerably less of a commitment than heating a massive homemade frozen lasagna.

And once it's ready?

It's actually quite enjoyable. This is essentially lasagna minus the tomato.

The pasta is layered with a creamy white Florentine sauce, spinach, cheese, and shredded chicken.

The sauce is the star.

It's creamy and savory without being completely overwhelming, and there's a subtle hint of nutmeg running through it.

I appreciated that.

Nutmeg and creamy sauces work beautifully together when the nutmeg knows its place. You shouldn't necessarily take a bite and think, "Wow, NUTMEG."

Here, it's more of a background flavor that adds a little warmth and complexity.

The spinach blends naturally into the sauce, and the ground chicken is incorporated throughout rather than appearing in large chunks.

That works from a texture standpoint.

Flavor-wise, though, I wanted more chicken.

The chicken is there.

You can see it.

You can taste it.

But I wouldn't exactly call this a chicken extravaganza.

Because it's shredded fairly finely and mixed into the creamy Florentine filling, it almost becomes part of the sauce rather than feeling like a substantial layer of meat.

I would have preferred more.

With "Chicken Florentine Lasagna" written across the box, I wanted the chicken to play a bigger role.

Instead, this feels more like Florentine Lasagna featuring chicken in a supporting role.

Fortunately, the sauce is flavorful enough that the lack of abundant chicken doesn't ruin the meal.

But another layer of chicken wouldn't have hurt. This isn't the towering lasagna of your Italian grandmother fantasies.

You're looking at roughly three relatively thin layers.

Again, I think expectations matter here.

If you're expecting a giant brick of pasta, meat, cheese, and sauce that requires structural engineering to remove from the baking dish, this isn't it.

The layers are relatively modest.

I would have liked them thicker, especially considering the "Family Style" description.

But there is an upside.

The thinner size means the lasagna can actually cook through in about an hour.

That's still a wait, but we're not talking about the multi-hour commitment that comes with some larger frozen lasagnas.

Trader Joe's says there are four servings in the box.

Technically?

Sure.

In my house?

We're going to need to discuss the definition of "serving."

I think two to three servings is considerably more realistic for the average household if this is your main dinner.

Could four people each get a portion?

Absolutely.

Would four hungry adults look down at those portions and wonder what else we're eating?

Also absolutely.

If you're serving this with garlic bread, a big salad, vegetables, or another side dish, you could stretch it further.

But as a standalone dinner, I'd plan closer to two or three portions.

"Family Style" is doing a little marketing cardio here.

Is Trader Joe's Chicken Florentine Lasagna Worth $7.49?

I think it is.

Not because this is extraordinary lasagna.

It isn't.

And not because it's going to replace someone's treasured homemade family recipe.

It won't.

But that's not really the appropriate comparison.

This is a $7.49 frozen dinner that can feed roughly two to three people without requiring much work beyond turning on the oven and waiting.

For that job, it succeeds.

The sauce has good flavor. The pasta works. The spinach fits naturally into the dish. The chicken is tender, even if I wanted more of it.

I would have preferred thicker layers and a more generous amount of chicken, but neither issue was enough to make me dislike it.

Serving Suggestions

You could absolutely eat this by itself, but a few sides would help turn it into a more substantial dinner.

• Garlic bread: Creamy white sauce and garlic bread are natural friends.
• Green salad: Something fresh and acidic helps cut through the richness of the lasagna.
• Roasted broccoli: Easy, relatively hands-off, and gives you another vegetable.
• Roasted asparagus: Another good option that won't compete with the creamy Florentine flavors.
• Caesar salad: If we're already eating creamy lasagna, we might as well commit.
• Extra Parmesan: Because nobody has ever looked at lasagna and complained that someone grated fresh Parmesan over it.

If you're actually trying to stretch this into the four servings listed on the box, I'd definitely add at least one substantial side.

Final Thoughts

Trader Joe's Family Style Chicken Florentine Lasagna isn't going to make anyone's nonna nervous.

The layers are thinner than I'd like.

The chicken could be more generous.

And calling four portions "Family Style" requires everyone at the table to exercise a level of portion control that may not survive contact with reality.

But you know what?

It's good. The creamy Florentine sauce has plenty of flavor, the spinach works beautifully in the filling, and that subtle hint of nutmeg gives the sauce a little more personality.

Most importantly, it succeeds at what I actually need a frozen lasagna to do.

Give me a comforting dinner without requiring me to make lasagna.

At $7.49, that's a pretty reasonable proposition.

Add a salad or some garlic bread, call it dinner, and enjoy the fact that there are no lasagna pans waiting for you in the sink.

I'll take that win.