Every month, Trader Joe's comes out with a slew of new products, featured in the company's Fearless Flyer [1]. We're picking up the new products [2], tasting them, and ranking them from best to worst, so you know which ones are worth putting in your basket and which ones to skip. This June, five cheese Greek spiral, cauliflower rice, chicken balti pies, and peanut butter and jelly Greek yogurt are just a few unexpected things you won't want to miss at Trader Joe's. Read on for the complete list.
Pick Up: Five Cheese Greek Spiral ($4)
People went crazy for this cheese-filled filo spiral. It’s crispy, cheesy, insanely easy, and hot. Tasters called it "cheesy magical perfection" and "everything you'd ever want in an appetizer." The only thing to beware of: cook it in a pan with sides, because the cheese grease does pool and you don’t want that to end up on the bottom of your oven!
Pick Up: Chicken Balti Pies ($6)
OMG, this chicken balti pie is like chicken pot pie [3] meets Indian take-out. The pie crust is the perfect ratio of buttery and flaky and paves way to a spicy chicken curry that makes any dreary day instantly more comforting.
Pick Up: Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips ($2)
These are like Food Should Taste Good sweet potato tortilla chips . . . only creamier and with more sweet potato flavor. The bag went fast, really fast.
Pick Up: Organic Riced Cauliflower ($2)
Cauliflower rice [4] is all the Paleo rage as of late, and Trader Joe's makes this trend extremely convenient as well as affordable. The frozen cauli rice can be cooked up in a few minutes in the microwave or over the stovetop. We love that it involves no messy prep and doesn't smell supersulfuric like freshly made cauliflower rice.
Pick Up: Trader Joe's Sour Candy Gummies ($2)
Sour Patch Kids-like in texture, these T & J gummies receive the sour flavor from the citrus fruit flavors like key lime, tangerine, Meyer lemon, and grapefruit. Beyond the killer flavor, these gummies win for being gluten free, kosher, and colored with vegetable dyes.
Pick Up: Organic Pesto Tortellini ($4)
This cheesy tortellini tastes surprisingly light and fresh — ideal for a quick meal during the Summer. Unlike many microwaveable meals, this one isn't the quickest — you're looking at six minutes and very specific temperatures. In addition, we had to heavily salt it. We like this new frozen dish and might pick it up if a craving strikes, but our preferred pesto tortellini remains to be Amy's [5].
Pick Up: Peanut Butter and Jelly With Nonfat Greek Yogurt ($1)
OK — tasters felt mixed about this yogurt. If you're really into peanut butter Greek yogurt dip [6] and enjoy the flavor of grape jelly, then you're likely to enjoy this flavored yogurt. It's slightly artificial tasting and chalky due to the nonfat yogurt, but those things could be likely overlooked if you dip apple wedges into the PB&J yogurt.
Pass: Organic Garden Vegetable Lasagna ($4)
The tomato sauce on this lasagna is out of this world — really salty and savory, but the grilled veggies ruin the dish! Just like the grilled cauliflower, there is an unmistakeable fake char flavor. You’re better off foregoing this Summery lasagna and looking for other frozen entrees which feature the tomato sauce.
Pass: Grilled Cauliflower ($3)
Maybe this grilled cauliflower fares better in the oven, but microwaved, these veggies tasted soggy and charred in a bad way. Why buy frozen grilled cauliflower when it's so, so easy to roast it to caramelized perfection [7] at home?