These are the ride-or-die foods from Trader Joe's that we never want to be without, the
ones that make mealtime less of a chore and more of an experience to be treasured.
Better yet, all of these picks are $5 or less, meaning you can stock up on your favorites
so you never run out.
The best part of an everything bagel is the seasoning on the outside, and Trader Joe's
has finally bottled that fragrant blend of sesame seeds, garlic, onion, poppy seeds,
and sea salt for us to use at home.
You could of course use this to make your own everything bagels at home, but it's even
more fun to get creative with it.
Turn plain buttered toast into an "everything" breakfast experience, sprinkle the stuff on
mashed potatoes, or add it to breading for chicken tenders and other fried foods.
If there isn't a Trader Joe's near you, you can purchase a bottle of Everything But the
Bagel seasoning on Amazon, or you can try making it yourself using the spices you already
have at home.
Green Dragon sauce is similar to sriracha, but its flavor is fresher and more nuanced
than sriracha's simple sweet-tangy-spicy profile.
Lime juice and tomatillos add a more vibrant acidity to the sauce than plain white vinegar
alone.
The heat comes from both organic jalapeño peppers and habanero pepper powder.
Cilantro, garlic, and spinach give the sauce an earthy taste that makes it pair especially
well with grilled and roasted meats.
Green Dragon Sauce is incredibly versatile, but one way to ensure that it pairs well with
your meals is to serve it with foods that come from cultures that cook with cilantro,
garlic, and hot peppers to begin with.
It's just as tasty dashed onto a lengua taco as it is squirted into a bowl of slippery
Thai noodles.
Butter crackers and plain flour wafers are fine for more casual affairs, but if you really
want to wow your taste buds, swap those basic biscuits for Trader Joe's Fig & Olive Crisps.
They're hearty, crunchy crackers dotted with dried figs and olives, with flax, sesame,
and sunflower seeds added to the mix for extra flavor and texture.
The figs and olives make for a salty-sweet bite that pairs well with all of your favorite
cheeses.
Even a grocery store brand sharp cheddar tastes best when served on a fig & olive crisp.
They help bring out the nuanced flavors in your cheese without overwhelming it.
While a slice of cheddar on a Ritz cracker can just taste like a salt bomb, the same
cheese paired with a fig & olive crisp has notes of caramelization, tanginess, and umami
that would otherwise be lost.
The Unexpected Cheddar stands tall among Trader Joe's selection of tasty and affordable cheeses.
It's an American aged cheddar that also has a hint of Parmesan flavor and texture.
It's a little sweet, and it has small salt crystals that give it the subtle crunch of
real Parmesan.
Overall, it tastes like something you would get at a fancy cheese shop instead of your
local Trader Joe's.
Unsurprisingly then, Unexpected Cheddar was the winner in the cheese category in the Trader
Joe's 9th Annual Customer Choice Awards.
Whether you're eating it plain with some fig and olive crisps, shaving it onto a bowl of
pasta, or melting it between two pieces of sourdough to make the ultimate grilled cheese
sandwich, Trader Joe's Unexpected Cheddar is well worth the $4.
Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken is a mainstay of their frozen food selection.
It was ranked as the favorite product overall in the 9th Annual Customer Choice Awards,
and has been on offer from the chain since 2004, making it a true classic.
It comes with a packet of Mandarin orange sauce, which is made with real California
orange peels, ginger, garlic, green onions, and soy sauce, adding a ton of flavor to those
plain baked chicken pieces.
If you're feeling fancy, Trader Joe's recommends adding the sauce to a hot wok or pan until
it's thick and bubbly, then tossing the cooked chicken in there so it really soaks up all
the flavor.
Once cooked, you can enjoy the Mandarin Orange chicken with a bowl of rice, but it's also
delicious as a salad topper or rolled up in a wrap.
In most bottled iced teas, a hefty dose of sugar is the main beverage flavoring rather
than the tea, which is more of an afterthought.
That's why Trader Joe's Golden Oolong Tea is such a pleasant surprise.
This unsweetened iced tea actually tastes like tea!
It has just a touch of ascorbic acid to help it retain its color, instead of the taste
bud punch of citric acid that so many sweetened iced teas contain.
Oolong is a tea that falls somewhere in between green and black teas when it comes to body
and flavor.
It's partially oxidized, whereas green tea isn't oxidized and black tea is fully oxidized.
After oxidation, the leaves are roasted, which gives Oolong its slightly smoky flavor.
Bottled iced teas aren't always our cup of tea, but this bottled gem from Trader Joe's
is something we wish we'd discovered long ago.