Ranking the best frozen chicken taquitos

While there are a variety of frozen taquitos available, for this tasting we stuck to a traditional corn tortilla wrapped around a chicken filling.

Safeway's The Snack Artist ($3.99 for 20 ounces) took top spot.

By far the most popular batch in the tasting, panelists praised the "nicely spiced" meat, as well as the "crunchy" and "flavorful" corn tortilla.

[...] place went to Jose Olé ($5.99 for 20 ounces at Safeway).

While family-owned El Monterey ($7.99 for 28 ounces at Safeway), which came in fourth, looked "promising" with "rough-hewn" tortillas, panelists were disappointed in the flavors - "like popcorn in a theater," said one.

Panelists were Linda Anusasananan, food writer, San Mateo; John Carroll, cookbook author, San Francisco; Emily Luchetti, chief pastry officer, Waterbar and Farallon, San Francisco; Rosemary Mark, recipe developer, Walnut Creek; Roland Passot, chef-owner of La Folie in San Francisco and three Left Banks, San Francisco.