Frozen Beef Wellington Dinners, Ranked From Worst To Best, According To Customers
A traditional English dish that's often served during holidays and special occasions, beef Wellington is a rich, savory indulgence. It's typically prepared by wrapping a beef tenderloin or filet mignon in flaky puff pastry, along with duxelles — a mixture of mushrooms, shallots, and herbs — and often a second protein, such as prosciutto or pâté. Preparing beef Wellington from scratch requires a bit more work than simply throwing a couple of steaks on the grill, but when done right, the end result can be a luxurious and dazzling centerpiece for any feast or banquet — or even just a particularly fancy night at home.
That being said, for those looking to enjoy a delicious, flaky beef Wellington without the added prep work, there's another option: frozen beef Wellington. Fully prepared frozen Wellington is available through a number of gourmet online sellers as entrée portions, while some retailers also offer a Wellington alternative as bite-sized appetizers. In evaluating your best bets for a low-prep, frozen Wellington, we looked at customer ratings to see which ones pleased palates most. Take a look at our list of frozen beef Wellington, ranked from worst to best.
9. By Chef Ramsay Beef Wellington Bites
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is a mercurial personality, as famous for his short temper as he is for the high-end offerings at his family of restaurants, including Ramsay's Kitchen and Hell's Kitchen. One of the signature dishes at both establishments is beef Wellington, which has become practically synonymous with Ramsay himself. Various videos of the English chef preparing beef Wellington are in ample supply on YouTube, including the world's largest beef Wellington for Guinness World Records.
Ramsay's frozen beef Wellington bites are considerably smaller and far less labor-intensive to prepare. Part of a line of Ramsay-branded frozen foods available at Walmart and Costco, they come in packages of five for $7 at Walmart, which is much more affordable than a meal at his Las Vegas or Atlantic City restaurants. They're simple to prepare, at just 18 minutes in the air fryer, but consumers seem to be split on the miniature take-home version of Ramsay's beef Wellington. The TikTok crowd, in particular, seemed to enjoy them, with one user describing them as amazing.
That sentiment isn't universal, though. On Walmart's website, one reviewer complained that they were oversalted, while another said that the beef had too much gristle. And over on Reddit, multiple posters complained about difficult-to-find mushrooms, chewy steak, and overly high prices. Others have taken note that Ramsay, who is known for criticizing restaurants that serve frozen food, is now selling the same product under his own name.
8. Wellingtons L.A. Classic Wellington
Wellingtons L.A. opened in 2020, offering deliveries of frozen signature classic beef Wellington plus creative menu alternatives such as the Cheeseburger Wellington and Breakfast Wellington, featuring scrambled eggs and sausage. It received a high-profile boost courtesy of an appearance on ABC's "Shark Tank" in fall 2023, and while none of the Sharks took founders Arya and Anastasia Alexander up on their investment, the company used the publicity to its advantage, offering a discounted Shark Tank Pack, featuring four personal beef Wellingtons and Truffle Welly sauce.
The company has received generally positive reviews from consumers, earning a rating of 83% on delivery service Goldbelly, with many users posting raves about its signature Wellington. One customer said, "the flavors and tenderness were magical," while another said it was better than beef Wellington they tried at restaurants. A few dissenters registered complaints, as one reviewer found the meat lacking in flavor, while another said that the pastry was soggy.
Reviews on Yelp were less forgiving, with an overall rating of only 2.5 stars out of 5. One customer said that despite their overall pleasure with the puff pastry, they found the meat too tough and chewy. Several others expressed disappointment with the overall flavor, especially for the price, which is $39 per Wellington. Several reviewers also expressed dissatisfaction with the company's customer service, which is perhaps one of the unintended side effects of a small business learning to meet the demands of a growing audience sent by prime-time TV.
7. Today Gourmet Foods of NC Beef Wellington
Today Gourmet Foods of NC prides itself on delivering high-quality foods at the best prices as its top priority. Some of the offerings on its online catalog include Maryland crab cakes as well as game meats such as venison, wild boar, and elk. It also sells a large selection of cuts of beef, which include a 9-ounce beef Wellington, which can be purchased directly from Today Gourmet Foods' website, as well as its Amazon and eBay storefronts.
Today Gourmet Foods earned nearly universal praise from eBay buyers for its beef Wellington, including from one customer who described them as "beautiful beef Wellington delights."
However, it's not all good news, and a few Amazon users didn't share the sentiments of those writing on eBay. Some complained of smaller than expected proportions, while others said that the meat was tough and overdone. Others found the pastry casing to be underdone, leading to an unpleasant texture.
6. Harry & David Beef Wellington Entrées
Harry & David is a celebrated name, as a company well known for its gift baskets full of edible treats. The business began in 1934 as a way for brothers Harry and David Rosenberg to sell pears from their Oregon orchards and has since expanded its catalog to include everything from holiday chocolates and Moose Munch snacks to kitchen utensils. Among the offerings in its broad selection of meats are spiral sliced ham and ribeye steaks, as well as its beef Wellington, sold as a pack of four 8-ounce entrees.
Among Harry & David's own customer reviews, the overall opinion of this particular item is split down the middle. With an overall rating of 3 stars, the truth is that the beef Wellington has a long way to go before catching up to the reputation of the company's famous pears. For instance, while one five-star reviewer said they've never been disappointed with numerous orders of beef Wellington from Harry & David, another customer decried the beef as being flavorless and not worth the steep cost of $79.99.
5. Appetizers USA Beef Wellington
Appetizers USA specializes in the very thing its name suggests: appetizers. As both a wholesaler providing food to caterers and a direct-to-consumer retailer, its online menu is stocked with social nosh staples such as spring rolls, sliders, chicken tenders, and vegetable kabobs. It also offers a bite-sized beef Wellington appetizer, made in the classic style but in a more compact package, currently available in trays of 50 each.
On Appetizers USA's own website, users writing reviews expressed near-universal praise for these crispy compact meat morsels. One customer extolled the flavor of the beef along with the flakiness of the puff pastry, proclaiming, "I'm proud to pretend I made it!"
The company also sells its beef Wellington bites through Amazon. However, opinions there appear more divided. While many praised the appetizer, a number of buyers complained that the beef was flavorless, while one especially dissatisfied customer said they were so unimpressed that they actually threw out the whole batch.
4. Kansas City Steaks Beef Wellington
Kansas City Steaks has been selling prime cuts of beef since 1932, when it originally opened as a local butcher shop. In the 1980s, the company shifted its focus to a mail-order catalog of meats delivered directly to customers. Today, it offers dozens of cuts of beef, along with other items such as lobster tails, crab cakes and hamburgers.
Its beef Wellington is available through both the Kansas City Steaks website as well as on Amazon. You can find cuts of 8 ounces apiece and in counts of two, four, six, or 12. When thawed, the Wellingtons bake in the oven for 22 to 25 minutes with no additional preparation necessary. Reviews on both the Kansas City Steaks website and Amazon are mostly positive, rated at 3.7 and 3.8 stars out of five, respectively, with the tenderness of the beef and the ease of preparation cited among customers' favorite qualities. Yet one customer took issue with the too-high ratio of dough to meat, while Amazon customer Becky said the flavor was a little bland.
It's worth pointing out that this is one of the more expensive frozen beef Wellingtons out there, at $84.95 for two. However, the price per item drops with each increase in quantity. Still, some may find the price to be a bit too high against the less-than-stellar reviews.
3. Magic Kitchen Beef Wellington En Croate
With a 19-year history in offering both frozen a la carte and complete meals, Magic Kitchen preceded many of the more recent meal-service subscriptions that are now commonplace. Its variety of dishes is both diverse and inclusive, with menus that appeal to omnivores and vegans alike, as well as senior meals and diabetic-friendly options. Alongside dishes such as shepherd's pie and chicken cordon bleu, Magic Kitchen offers beef Wellington in orders of one, two, or four servings of 7 ounces.
While most customers don't include more than a word or three in their reviews of Magic Kitchen's beef Wellington en croate, the words they do use — such as "tasty" and "delicious" — are encouraging, to say the least. And while one customer did seem a little frustrated that their pastry didn't end up with a golden brown color that they expected, they went on to say they still planned on ordering the beef Wellington again.
2. Mackenzie Limited Beef Wellington
Founded in 1988 with the purpose of bringing top-quality British foods to a mail-order market, Mackenzie Limited has expanded its menu of direct-to-consumer offerings to over 400 items. Some of its best-selling dishes include jumbo lump crab cakes, shepherd's pie and its signature dish, Mackenzie Scottish Smoked Salmon, a staple of its catalog since its earliest days.
Mackenzie also offers more than two dozen cuts of beef, including its beef Wellington, which is available in both entree-sized portions and as a bite-sized appetizer. Its meal-sized beef Wellington is available in packages of four 8-ounce servings for $99.95 and bakes in under 30 minutes after being defrosted overnight. Mackenzie says the dish will impress your guests, and its customers seem to agree wholeheartedly.
For one, they've given the meal a 4.24 out of 5-star rating on Mackenzie's website. Customers praised the beef Wellington for being tender and easy to prepare, and one even claimed it the best beef Wellington they've ever had. Even those who may not necessarily like the dish overall still seemed to respect the product. One reviewer who described beef Wellington as "not my thing" still gave the item a respectable four stars. Mackenzie's sibling brands (Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes and Impromptu Gourmet) also offer this dish through their online catalogs.
1. Allen Brothers Beef Wellington
Allen Brothers began in 1893 in Chicago's Union Stockyards meat market and has since brought its prime cuts of beef to restaurants as a wholesaler as well as via direct-to-consumer internet sales. Its online catalog isn't limited to beef, with a selection of other meats available, including poultry, lamb, pork, bison, and elk. Yet its beef Wellington is a cut above the rest, with Allen Brothers' indulgent recipe including layers of duck and goose liver paté, as well as black truffle duxelles. As such, it's a little pricier than the single-serving or appetizer-sized Wellingtons it's up against, but the raves from customers speak for themselves.
On Allen Brothers' website, the beef Wellington features an impressive average customer rating of 4.9 stars (out of 5), a nearly universal level of satisfaction from customers. While a few customers did note that this particular beef Wellington was a bit pricey, at $289.95 for four 9- to 10-ounce filets, praise for both flavor and texture was off the charts. As one customer put it, "Proportions of beef, mushroom truffle pate, and pastry are perfect. Beef was superb. I think this is a new family tradition."
Allen Brothers offers two other beef Wellington variations. One is a mini beef Wellington appetizer, while the other is a 3-pound Wellington tenderloin roast. Customer satisfaction for both of these is comparably high to the individual-sized cuts, though one customer did say that slicing the full-sized roast proved a little more challenging than expected.
Methodology
Our criteria for determining the best and worst frozen beef Wellington is based on reviews from customers who have tried them. We looked at customer ratings and feedback on individual brands' websites, as well as what customers were saying on social media networks such as Reddit and TikTok. While we included a few different portion sizes, including entrées and appetizers, our evaluation didn't take into account vegetarian or vegan Wellingtons, or alternatives featuring chicken or fish.
In addition to star or number ratings, we considered specific feedback from customers about flavor, texture, portion size, and overall satisfaction.