Dolly Parton really can do it all. From her appearances in modern music and her one-woman mission to keep this country from becoming illiterate, it feels like she’s working 9 to 5 at an age when many artists would choose to relax. And between best-selling cookbooks and an ever-expanding line of Duncan Hines baking mixes, she’s making bigger and bigger moves to become a staple of your kitchen. Last year, the Dolly empire expanded to a line of freezer section desserts and family-sized entrees. And, per a presentation at this year’s CAGNY Conference, Dolly Parton is entering one more category: frozen single-serving meals.
It is interesting to see how the Dolly Parton food collaborations have grown over time. While it started with Duncan Hines baking mixes, Dolly Parton has now signed a larger-scale deal with Duncan Hines’ parent company Conagra Brands. What that means for us is that we’ll get baking mixes, entrees, ready-to-eat desserts, and more—all under the Dolly Parton name.
What Dolly Parton meals should we expect on shelves?
Conagra is launching four frozen entrees in this first wave, all inspired by good, old-fashioned Southern home cooking. No dinner lineup would be able to claim an ounce of Southern charm without a solid Beef Pot Roast, so it’s fitting we’ll see that as part of this initial group of entrees. We’ll see a Country Fried Steak over mashed potatoes with “country-style” gravy, plus green beans and bacon bits. Unique to the Dolly line, we can expect Shrimp & Grits, topped with cherry tomatoes and scallions in a spicy sauce. Finally, we’ve got Chicken & Dumplings with vegetables “in a creamy stew sauce.”
Will we see any other new Dolly Parton products from Conagra this year?
Alongside these new frozen meals, Conagra also revealed a new family-sized, Dolly-branded frozen Biscuit Batter Peach Cobbler. I don’t know about you, but I am so ready for that one. As for what I’d like to see next from Conagra under the Dolly umbrella, there’s one thing at the top of the list: banana pudding. Dolly released a banana pudding recipe in her 2006 cookbook Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s that she attributed to her mother. I have complete faith in that translating to a shelf-worthy product, so I hope we see that in the next new product presentation from Conagra.
