Today's Frozen Vegetables Go Way Beyond Peas and Carrots

It's a long-held belief that anything not fresh can't possibly be good for you. But when it comes to frozen vegetables, recent research shows that's not the case. Culinary scientist Ali Bouzari, Ph.D., led a study at University of California, Davis, in which his team tested eight hand-harvested items—blueberries, broccoli, carrots, corn, green beans, peas, spinach, and strawberries. They then flash-froze half of the bounty and stored the other half in typical industry conditions for fresh produce. The researchers periodically tested the content of 11 nutrients in both the fresh and frozen produce.

Comparing like fruits and vegetables with like, there was little difference in nutrient content overall. In some cases, fresh items were slightly better; in others, frozen items had a slight edge. Nutritionally speaking, "good frozen produce is essentially a head-to-head toss-up with good fresh produce," Bouzari says.

If you're browsing the supermarket frozen veggie aisle, you may be surprised by the wealth of cauliflower in the cases. What's up with that?

According to Kara Nielsen, culinary trends analyst at the food and beverage innovation firm CCD Innovation, cauliflower has become de rigueur at trendy restaurants in the past few years. "It's the next kale," she says. Cauliflower mania has spread to home cooks, with sales of products containing the cruciferous vegetable rising 71 percent in the last year, according to market research firm Nielsen.

The cauliflower craze, says Kara Nielsen, took hold when paleo dieters and other carb-averse eaters discovered that processing it into small, rice-shaped pieces could create a substitute for carb-heavy items like potatoes and rice. The new diet star—bagged, riced cauliflower—became a supermarket fixture, both in the produce and the freezer aisles. Broccoli, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables in "riced" form soon followed suit.

Riced cauliflower fared particularly well in our tests. The four products that were rated Excellent overall each contain riced cauliflower. "It's a fairly versatile ingredient," says Maxine Siegel, R.D., who heads CR's food-testing lab. "It has enough flavor that you could eat it on its own, but riced cauliflower can also replace some of the rice in recipes." Mashed cauliflower also got high marks.

Though your healthiest option will always be to buy plain veggies and season them yourself, one of our recommended products was preseasoned. Green Giant Riced Veggies Cauliflower with Lemon & Garlic got a high nutrition score in part because it contained no added salt, but our tasters also rated it highly for its fresh lemony flavor. "It goes to show that it is possible to have a low-sodium packaged product that tastes good," Siegel says.

Birds Eye Veggie Made Mashed Cauli­flower Original and Alexia Mashed Cauliflower with Sea Salt had their nu­tri­tion ratings dinged for rather high (470 and 460 mg, respectively) sodium counts. But they were the only products in our test to earn an Excellent rating for taste.

Spiralized veggies—low-calorie, low-carb substitutions for pasta—are also big news in the frozen food aisle. It's not surprising: Spiralizing from scratch takes time and specialized kitchen equipment. For fans of these, we found that the frozen packaged Carrot Spirals from Trader Joe's received one of our highest nutrition and sensory scores. (Green Giant recently released a spiralized frozen veggie line, but the items were not available in time for our tests.)

Also popping up in the freezer section are veggie "tots"—similar to kids' fried potato tots but with other vegetables inside. "They do beat potato tots nutritionally. Some are lower in calories, fat, and sodium, and higher in fiber," Siegel says. Of the three in our tests, the Green Giant Veggie Tots Broccoli got the highest Overall Score. But they're not twins to kids' beloved potato versions: According to Siegel, the broccoli filling was flavorful, but the texture was mushy, unlike typical tots.

Consumers looking to bump up their plant protein intake will also find frozen blends of vegetables, grains, and beans. We found these to be of varying quality. Sodium was a problem, but for Birds Eye Steamfresh Protein Blends California Style—which received Very Good nutrition and taste scores—its 12 grams of fiber and protein per cup compensated for the 450 mg of sodium.

The most disappointing innovation: The line of roasted vegetables from Green Giant. Siegel says her team had high hopes for the concept because roasting brings out vegetables' sweetness, and having a frozen option means that you can skip the time-consuming process of roasting them yourself. But most of these frozen roasted veggies were barely edible, with a smoky, ashy flavor, according to our tasters.

It's common to see lots of exciting-sounding health promises on food packages at the supermarket, and frozen vegetables are no exception. But a little skepticism is in order. "I'm all for touting the benefits of vegetables if it convinces people to eat more of them," says Consumer Reports nutritionist Amy Keating, R.D. "But you don't know how meaningful the claims are unless you check the nutrition facts panel on the back of the package."

Suss out the sodium. "If a product is seasoned or in sauce, it likely contains added salt," Keating says. Birds Eye Veggie Made Mashed Cauliflower, for example, says on its packaging: "50% fewer carbs than the leading mashed potato brand," but it also has 470 mg of sodium in just ½ cup. A healthy sodium level for a vegetable side dish is 140 mg or less.

Check the calories. Green Giant Riced Veggies Cauliflower & Sweet Potato claims to be a "reduced calorie food" and a "good alternative to potatoes, pasta, or rice." While true, these statements may give you the impression that those foods are packed with calories. But 1 cup of skinless baked potato has just 114 calories, for example, and 1 cup of cooked pasta just 200—higher than the 50 in 1 cup of the cauliflower/ sweet potato product but certainly not a calorie bomb.

Be sure about the sugars. Birds Eye Steamfresh Superfood Blends Quinoa & Spinach is claimed to be a good source of antioxidant vitamins, but it also has 10 grams of total sugars per cup. A little of that may come from the sugars naturally present in the veggies, but the majority is likely from the dried cranberries and sugars added to the sauce, Keating says.

Eating well isn't always easy—or fun. On the 'Consumer 101' TV show, Consumer Reports' expert, Amy Keating, heads into the grocery store to show you how to make healthy decisions when it comes to food.