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It's probably more about texture.

I'd assume at least some of those ingredients are overcooked, unless OP carefully chose that particular combination (and used frozen chicken).

The "OG tv dinner" / "what can be cooked in the same time" problem has always fascinated me. I expect somewhere on the Internet there's a list of combinations and cooking methods.

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I had the same issue with crock pot meals and instant pot meals. The biggest culprit for me is a homogeneous texture (I have the same annoyance with making stuff in higher end blenders). You'll notice "high end" recipes suggest something to change up the texture; like add something crunchy after cooking. I think that makes a huge difference.

The whole point of this exercise is to be ideally no effort or if not low effort. Cooking multiple dishes is out of scope here. The chicken is indeed frozen chicken breast from Sam's club or Costco depending on which membership I have.

Interestingly enough, the longer I cook, the dryer the chicken feels. At some point, the whole thing becomes one mess except the chicken withdraws and feels very dry. It isn't supposed to be a fancy feast. All I'm saying is it is an option for when we don't want to actually put effort into cooking.

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