Oprah Has A New Line Of Microwaveable Foods And We Tried Them All

Where's the bread, Oprah??

You know Oprah: media icon, creator of networks, lover of bread.

Weight Watchers

She recently announced a line of microwavable soups and sides — called "O, That's Good." The products are hitting shelves nationwide this week.

Kraft-Heinz

It's a collaboration with Kraft-Heinz and is dubbed as "a nutritious twist on comfort food classics." Soups retail for $4.99 each, and sides retail for $4.49 each.

What makes these different than some other refrigerated heat-and-eat meals is that each one has something ~healthyish~ hidden in it — like butternut squash in the broccoli cheddar soup, white beans in the pasta sauce, or cauliflower in the mashed potatoes.

Paramount Pictures

There's no artificial dyes or flavors, and each food clocks in at less than 300 calories per serving. (Though, some items, such as the mashed potatoes, can contain as much as 4.5 servings.) And all you need to do to prep them is pop 'em in the microwave for a couple of minutes — no additional defrosting or ingredients necessary.

Being that we're lovers both of Oprah and of good food, we decided to try ALL OF IT for ourselves.

Warner Bros.

That's four savory sides:

Kraft-Heinz

Original Mashed Potatoes, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Three Cheese Pasta, and Creamy Parmesan Pasta.

And four soups:

Kraft-Heinz

Baked Potato, Creamy Butternut Squash, Broccoli Cheedar, and Tomato Basil.

We decided to start with the sides, which look more like main entrees, TBH. First up: the Three Cheese Pasta.

Michelle No / BuzzFeed

Michelle: The pasta tasted kinda undercooked — like someone was in a hurry and took the pasta out of the water too soon. (Maybe hard, raw pasta is Oprah's real diet secret?!) That said, the sauce is on-point. 😍

Pablo: This is by far my favorite product in the entire line. I had to get used to the fact that the pasta is, like Michelle said, a little undercooked, but who am I to question the queen of all media. It tastes even creamier than most microwavable mac 'n' cheese's I've ever had, and, trust me, I've had a deadly amount of instant mac 'n' cheese in my life.

Then the garlic mashed potatoes, which were (mostly) a hit.

Michelle No / BuzzFeed

Michelle: I don't care that these look like a cheap microwave dinner from the 80s, or that this tray is meant to be shared with like, three other people. These 'taters are on-point, and, if I were stoned, I could wolf down this whole thing by myself.

Pablo: I didn't loveeee these, but I've put worse things into my mouth. They have a texture a bit similar to instant mashed potatoes (thin) and lean heavily on the garlic flavor, but if they can ward off vampires then I'm all in!

And we were bigger fans of the original mashed potatoes — which TBQH didn't look great, but tasted amazing.

Pablo Valdivia / BuzzFeed

Michelle: I'm a fan! High likelihood that I'm going to heat this up in my own reusable containers and pass it off as my own recipe at this year's friendsgiving dinner. The texture was creamy, and I liked the subtle buttermilk-y tanginess.

Pablo: This is my second favorite dish! They were very creamy and by far better than most mashed potatoes I've EVER tried. You can also taste more of the cauliflower in this dish, which makes me feel like I'm being healthy for once in my damn life.

Next, the creamy parmesan pasta — with hidden white beans in the sauce for protein. We were skeptical.

Pablo Valdivia / BuzzFeed

Michelle: I wasn't a fan. This is like that refrigerated meal you immediately regret when you’re done eating it because 1) you’re full AF and 2) it didn’t even satisfy your cheese craving. Womp.

Pablo: While I usually dump half a container of parmesan onto any and all pastas (DON'T JUDGE ME), the taste was a tad too pungent for me. It was tolerable to a degree, but like in my dating life, I'm looking for something much better than "tolerable."

Next, we dove head-first into the soups. We started with broccoli cheddar.

Michelle No / BuzzFeed

Michelle: This soup looks like a tub of queso and tastes like sweet nacho cheese — which I know SOUNDS gross but it was pretty dece. I bet it'd go even better with some crunchy tortilla chips. (I'm also the kind of person who douses her movie theater popcorn in butter, soo take my opinions with a grain of salt. 💁)

Pablo: If you like Subway's Broccoli Cheddar soup, chances are you'll like Oprah's. They're quite similar. IDK if it was supposed to taste healthy or not, but if Oprah says it is, then it must be! It was very cheesy and made the experience of eating soup a much livelier one.

Next, creamy butternut squash, which one of us LOVED and one of us didn't really care for. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Pablo Valdivia / BuzzFeed

Michelle: One time in my senior year of high school, my best friend won an essay contest and got to meet Oprah. I'm pretty sure this soup is the closest I'll ever get to experiencing the divine perfection that is Queen O herself. It's both sweet and salty (like a sweet potato fry in soup form), just creamy enough, and, honestly, something I'd consider having for lunch this week.

Pablo: This reminded me a lot of Gerber baby food, which isn't necessarily a negative. Yes, Gerber is good. Feel free to judge me now, IDC. It has a chunky, sauce-like consistency, was a tad sweet, and didn't bode well for my tastebuds. I'm also not a huge lover of squash, so feel free to ignore this review since my bias is showing.

The tomato basil soup was a bit too sweet for both of us — WYD Oprah?!

Michelle No / BuzzFeed

Michelle: Oprah kind of let me down with this classic. Tasting this was kind of like when you watch one of her shows, and you expect her to give everyone a house, but all that the audience gets is a copy of some lame non-fiction book that's not even in her book club. It was too sweet, even a little tangy, and just not something I'd spoil a good grilled cheese with.

Pablo: I'm going to be nice and say that, like Oprah's personality, this was very sweet. Hi Oprah. 😅 TBH, I'm not entirely sure why it tasted like it had added sugar, but I would have liked it more if that sweetness was toned down just a notch.

And the baked potato soup — even with the bacon bits — tasted a bit too bland.

Pablo Valdivia / BuzzFeed

Michelle: I get that this soup is trying to be healthy, but it was too bland for me — even with the bacon bits.

Pablo: The soup has bits of bacon and potato, which is great in my book, but the soup, unlike me, is very thin. And if you know me, you know I like my soups like I like my men, hot and thick.

TL;DR: Some meals were better than others, but it's def worth trying if you're not in the mood to cook on a given night, but still craving a filling meal. Bonus in that this stuff is more health-conscious than comfort food you'd order at a restaurant. 🙌

OWN

Hail to the queen. 👑