Marie Calender's "pasta al dente" refers to a collection of frozen pasta dishes that are packaged as single meals. Most of these dishes, such as cavatelli chicken carbonara, fettuccini chicken balsamico and penne chicken piccata are chicken-based. However, others such as rigatoni con pesce and the beef Bolognese rigatoni include beef or shrimp. Still others, like the tortellini Romano and rigatoni marinara classico are traditional Italian fare. Nutritional information varies from the others because they the dishes are very different.
Calories and Fat
The three lowest-calorie pasta al dente meals are the beef Bolognese rigatoni, rigatoni con pesce and penne chicken piccata. Both rigatoni dishes have only 340 calories, and the piccata dish has 360 calories. The beef Bolognese has only 10 g of fat. The rigatoni con pesce and penne chicken piccata have 12 g and 14 g of fat, respectively.
Protein
The protein count of these meals ranges from 16 to 24 g. With 24 g of protein, the creamy basil chicken and fettuccini chicken balsamico both have the highest protein count. The orecchiette chicken pesto and chicken pesto parmesan are the next highest with 23 g of protein. Shrimp rigatoni, tortellini Romano and rigatoni con pesce are the lowest protein dishes, as each supplies 16 g of protein.
Sodium
Like most pre-prepared food, Marie Callender's pasta al dente meals are high in sodium. The lowest sodium dishes are chicken carbonara, caventilli chicken carbonara and tortellini romano. Both of the carbonara dishes have 780 mg, and the tortellini has 840 mg of sodium. The highest sodium dishes are rigatoni con pesce and fettuccini chicken balsamico, with 1,260 mg and 1,270 mg, respectively. You may want to avoid these high sodium dishes because the American Heart Association suggests that adults limit their sodium intake to 1,500 mg per day.
Carbohydrates
The carbohydrate count for Marie Callender's pasta al dente dishes ranges from a low of 39 g to a high of 62 g. The lowest carbohydrate dishes are the penne chicken piccata, which has 35 g, and the creamy chicken portobello and penne chicken modesto, which both have 39 g. With 62 g, the "steams to perfections torellini romano" has the highest number of carbohydrates.
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