We Asked 5 Chefs For Their Favorite Frozen Meals

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At the Nassau Paradise Island Wine & Food Festival, Tasting Table was surrounded by celebrated chefs who pour their hearts and souls into their craft — and guess what? They love a frozen meal as much as the rest of you. While exploring world-class culinary experiences, Tasting Table asked five of them for their favorite frozen foods, and their answers spanned the spectrum from all-in-one dinners to hard-to-beat sides they're happy to skip preparing. 

Frozen meals save time and take the stress out of meal prep, but they're also a great way to stretch your grocery budget. Some frozen food options can even be healthier than fresh, because they're frozen at the peak of their nutritional value. So stock up on these five chefs' frozen favorites — including one dish hailed by not one, but two world-class chefs — pop them in the freezer, and they'll be ready and waiting whenever you're in a pinch or just want a good meal without the fuss. 

For Chef JJ Johnson, frozen meals are a must some nights to get food on the table for his family. He told us he frequents the Trader Joe's frozen aisle and doesn't hesitate to adapt frozen foods to make them his own. Chef Johnson brings his Afro-Caribbean roots to his James Beard Award-winning cookbook, "Between Harlem and Heaven," along with his rice bowl restaurant, Fieldtrip, in New York City, and he is quick to reach for Caribbean cuisine options from the frozen case for an easy meal.

"My go-to frozen meal is probably a beef patty from Golden Krust," he said. The classic Jamaican patties are filled with flavorful ground beef and wrapped in the signature golden-flaky crust that gave the restaurant its name. Golden Krust began as a Caribbean bakery in New York in 1989 before it expanded nationwide and introduced its microwaveable beef patties to grocery stores in 2011. 

Golden Krust has since expanded its grocery patty line with flavors like jerk chicken, along with plant-based varieties. For a perfectly crisp patty in a flash, Chef Johnson recommends air frying them for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Chef Michael White may prefer to prepare his own entree, but there is one side he is all too happy to pull out of the freezer. "I love french fries," he told us, adding that he isn't loyal to a particular brand. The Michelin-starred chef and renowned restaurateur is celebrated for his contemporary Italian and Mediterranean-inspired cuisine. At home, though, Chef White doesn't hesitate to turn to ready-made comfort food for a relaxing night in.

As far as Tasting Table is concerned, the best frozen french fries you can buy are made by a fast food chain. If you have a personal favorite frozen french fry brand, consider Chef White's admission your permission to serve them proudly. While you can certainly pour out the bag on a baking sheet and call it a day, consider transforming those fries into the main course. Elevate loaded fries with your own twist to satisfy your cravings, and you've got a one-pan meal ready to enjoy.

While not a bona fide meal, Chef Ian Kittichai told Tasting Table that his cookie dough recipe offers the perfect blend of salty and sweet, and fills him up all in one. In addition to being a world-renowned restaurateur behind acclaimed eateries — including the Michelin-selected Issaya Siamese Club in Bangkok and COAST in Taipei — he is also the lead judge on the Emmy-nominated "MasterChef Thailand" and "MasterChef Junior Thailand." Seasoned chefs like him know the value of batch food prep better than anyone — and for Chef Kittichai, it's essential for infusing simplicity and convenience in his home cooking. 

When asked about his go-to frozen food, Kittichai told us, "I always have a cookie dough." True to form, this is no ordinary dough, though. "I'm really a health freak," he said, as he explained his inventive gluten-free cookie dough recipe that starts with tapioca, okra flour, and pumpkin seed flour, which he mashes and grinds himself. Then, he combines "all the flour mixed together with two eggs and like half a cup of dark chocolate," he said, adding, "instead of butter, I'm using olive oil." Having a healthy cookie dough on hand in the freezer is a genius move to satisfy your sweet tooth. When the craving strikes, you can bake the perfect cookies from frozen dough without thawing first.

Chef Michael Symon built his career infusing his Mediterranean and Eastern European heritage into approachable recipes. When he's not authoring New York Times best-selling cookbooks or filming "24 in 24: Last Chef Standing," the Iron Chef likes to spend his time golfing, gardening, and grandparenting. Amidst it all, comfort food has always been at the heart of his cooking. So it's not surprising that Chef Symon named a childhood favorite as his go-to frozen meal: Stouffers French Bread Pizza.

Every time Symon grabs a Stouffer's French Bread Pizza out of the freezer, it's like stepping back in time. Stouffer's was founded in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, so the brand was a staple in his home. "When I would come home from school, both of my parents worked, there was always the French bread pizza in the freezer, and I would jam it in the oven," he told us. While the true origins of French bread pizza are open to debate, Stouffer's brought it to the national stage when it introduced its frozen-aisle version. 

It seems that among professional chefs, Stouffer's is celebrated for its French Bread Pizza over its Lasagna. Acclaimed chef and TV personality Chef Antonia Lofaso also named it as her favorite frozen meal. Lofaso's LA restaurants span the culinary spectrum of Michelin-recognized, Latin-inspired dishes at Dama to her American twist on old-school Italian cuisine at Scopa Italian Roots. As a mother, Chef Lofaso also appreciates the value of quick and easy meals and shares her expertise with other stretched-thin parents in her cookbook, "The Busy Mom's Cookbook." 

When asked about her favorite frozen meal, Chef Lofaso knew the answer immediately. "Stouffer's French Bread Pizza, all day long," she said. "But I don't like pepperoni or anything. I just like cheese, extra cheese." She deviates from the box instructions to cook the frozen meal to her exact specifications. "Put it in an oven, 475. The packaging says less. I let it get hot, molten — let it cool 15 minutes, because otherwise you're going to burn the inside of your mouth — and then eat it. Because it needs to be crunchy and crispy and dark."