5 of the top-tested pantry staples, frozen foods, plant-based items and more from People Magazine's Food Awards winners
Every year, People Magazine puts hundreds of new supermarket products to a taste test and selects the best ones from various categories to round out its annual Food Awards.
To help announce its big winners of the 2023 Food Awards on Thursday, Editorial Director Sonal Dutt joined "Good Morning America" to highlight some standouts in five different categories of the 66 winning products.
Snacks
Kettle Brand Air-Fried Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
"These chips are fried in oil very, very quickly, which is what gives you that crunchy potato chip texture," Dutt explained. "Then they're put into an air fryer to continue the cooking process. It keeps the crunchy delicious potato chip satisfaction, but you end up with 30% of the fat."
Pantry staples
Cabot Guinness Macaroni & Cheese
Dutt said the gourmet taste of Guinness "really elevates the experience of eating a boxed mac and cheese. It comes with this creamy, melty cheese sauce that's made with Guinness beer."
Different from its competitors, this mac and cheese is actually radiatore pasta, the shape that resembles a radiator and creates little pockets within the pasta that trap the cheese sauce with every bite.
Meat and seafood
Trader Joe's Shrimp Boom Bah
"This shrimp is lightly breaded and you can either bake it or fry it and it ends up really crispy," Dutt said. "It comes with this really great sweet and sour sauce," which is similar to a spicy duck sauce.
Testers loved this product for its flavor, ease and versatility. It could be a good foundation ingredient for lettuce wraps, rice bowls or pasta.
Fridge and frozen
California Pizza Kitchen Bacon & Caramelized Onion Frozen Pizza with Croissant-Inspired Crust
This pizza was one of the highest-rated products in People's testing.
"It has a base of creamy brie cheese -- topped with roasted garlic, mozzarella cheese and chunks of bacon," Dutt said.
Testers said this croissant-inspired flakey crust delivered on the satisfaction of a thin pizza crust with delicious buttery flavors and was still strong enough to hold up under the toppings.
Plant-Based
Beyond Steak
"We've had plant-based beef in the past, but this has come so close to the texture, the chew and the flavor of steak," she said of the seared "beef" tips made with fava bean protein.
The frozen "beef" chunks are quick to cook in a skillet until warmed through for five minutes, and versatile because you can add whatever seasonings you like.
See the full list of winning food products in the latest issue of People Magazine on newsstands now.
