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Dolly Parton spoke to PEOPLE about her frozen meals with Conagra that hit grocery stores nationwide PEOPLE editors tried the food and found that the Chicken & Dumplings was the standout favorite for its creamy sauce and pillowy texture, while the meals overall are praised for being hearty, easy to prepare and true to Parton’s Southern rootsAffordable at $4.49 and inspired by Dolly’s own recipes, the meals reflect her busy lifestyle and love for classic home cooking with rich flavors and nostalgic comfort
Dolly Parton is taking her boots down the frozen food aisle at your local grocery store — and we had to be the first to get our hands on the single-serve frozen meals.
The country superstar recently partnered with Conagra Brands to create a variety of frozen single-serve meals based off recipes and Southern comfort dishes that are near and dear to Parton’s heart and upbringing.
“These are single-serve, but there’s plenty of it. If you’re not a hog, it would serve two, but I’m a hog, so,” Parton laughs in an interview with PEOPLE. “It just seemed to be the perfect little sisters to the other things that we had going. And so, I’m just really proud to introduce that, and we’re excited to see how it does. I think people are going to really respond. If you love good, hearty food, especially Southern food, I think you’re going to love it.”
Parton’s new line includes four dishes — Beef Pot Roast, Chicken & Dumplings, Country Fried Steak and Shrimp and Grits.
Among our editors, the Chicken & Dumplings meal was by far the fan favorite.
Dolly Parton’s New Southern Frozen Meals.
JB Rowland, courtesy of Dolly Parton
Editors described the dumplings as “pillowy and chewy”. The sauce was very thick and creamy and when word got around about how “yummy” the dish was, one editor was sad to find that there were no more left for him to try — word traveled fast!
All of the single-serve meals are based off of Parton’s favorite dishes to cook — and based on our review, it’s no surprise that she’s known for her chicken & dumplings.
“I’m still big on cooking things like meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and my favorite that I’m most famous for myself is my chicken and dumplings,” Parton says. “I love pork, you know, like a good pork roast, in addition to a beef pot roast, I do a good pork roast as well. I just love to get in there and make a big old pan of cornbread and just do the stuff that I grew up loving, and watching my mom cook, and just kind of being nourished with that kind of food and loving it.”
The beef pot roast came in as a close second and smelled home-y and delicious as soon as it came out of the microwave.
“We’re kind of obsessed,” a pair of editors said of the dish. Just like the Chicken & Dumplings, the sauce was the standout here.
The meals were easy to heat up — no need to vent the covering and took two sessions of between three and four minutes to fully cook through. Editors loved the hot pink packaging and the look of the microwavable bowls.
Dolly Parton’s Chicken and Dumplings.
Conagra
“This is just so Dolly, through and through, from the Southern flavors down to the design,” one editor said.
The Country Fried Steak was sizzling once it came out of the microwave and while the green beans didn’t pack much punch, the coating on the steak was thick and crunchy. The Shrimp & Grits weren’t a huge hit, and one editor noted that they were spicier than other traditional versions of the dish they had tried before.
All of the PEOPLE editors agreed that the food was rich and hearty and would keep them full well beyond lunch.
“I was involved in tasting it, making sure that it really was hearty and tasty and and did deserve the name ‘Southern.’ So I think that any Southern person is going to love it,” Parton explains. “If you’re on a diet, it’s not low calorie, for sure, but it’s good! It just depends on what you’re what you’re into.”
The meals are meant to be affordable, with a suggested retail price of $4.49, and easy to make, something that was important to Parton based on her own hectic schedule.
“Because I’m so busy now, I created this for myself as well as for everybody else, because I want to be able to open my own refrigerator when I come home and not be too tired to cook, right? I can just get this out and eat something I really like,” she says.
Parton’s single-serve frozen meals with Conagra are available at grocery stores nationwide.
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