Everything But The Elote Seasoning Blend

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Here’s another nice addition to Trader Joe’s seasoning blends, in a similar vein obviously to their very popular “Everything but the Bagel” seasoning (which is excellent btw, and something I will review in future). Well, “everything but the bagel” is pretty obvious to most people but “everything but the elote” maybe not quite as obvious at least in the US. What is “Elote” anyway that this is “everything but”?

Elote corn is a popular street food found all over Mexico, which is hot corn on the cob, adorned with mayonnaise, cheese, chile powder, lime juice and grated cheese…. Trust me if you’ve never tried it, it’s crazy delicious. The Elote vendor takes an ear of corn, which he then sprinkles with lime, spreads mexican crema or mayonnaise over it, sprinkles it with a tons of grated cotija cheese, chile powder and sauces. The combined flavors will send you to heaven.

This blend has everything but the corn. Typical Mexican spices replicating the taste. And by the way, add your own corn and make Elote Corn yourself!

Here’s a video I found on Youtube of a Elote vendor in Oaxaca prepping one for a customer in a jiffy with all the works. Watch how fast this guy is!

Don’t you wish we had smellovision?

Trader Joe’s did a good job of capturing all these flavors into this seasoning, which is so good this stuff has quickly been capturing the internet by storm. It gives you the cheese-sy smell, sweet and spicy flavor profile of Elote. Ingredients include cheese, cumin, chile, salt, sugar, chipotle… Very yummy stuff.

While I intend to of course try it on fresh corn this summer when corn is available in season, you can use this seasoning in lots of ways besides on corn, as yummy as that will be! You can sprinkle this on all kinds of veggies or meats. I tried it out on some boneless chicken breasts for dinner, I hit them with olive oil and a good amount of the Elote powder all over them, let them marinate for 10 minutes or so, before grilling them in a hot cast iron pan (recipe below). The chicken turned out fantastic with a super flavor. I also tried it out just mixing some of the blend into greek yogurt, which made an instant delicious dip or sauce and tried that on tortilla chips and that too was super Yummy. Hey you can put that yogurt sauce on top of the chicken (or what have you)!

Trader Joe’s has a number of “elote” products now.
A jar of this is $2.49. I hear its flying off the shelves. It’s very worth trying if you like spicy, cheesy, delicious stuff.

https://www.traderjoes.com/digin/post/everything-but-the-elote-seasoning-blend

Here by the way is my patented greatest method to cook boneless breasts of chicken so they come out juicy, not dry. The seasoning can be almost anything you can think of.

Prep your chicken breasts. Season them. Put them in a very hot black cast iron pan, or non-stick pan with some olive oil, or oil and butter. Grill on one side for about 3-4 minutes till nice and brown, then turn them over and grill for 1-2 minutes. Then turn off the heat and cover the pan. This is the secret. Let them rest without peeking for about 5 minutes. The breasts will continue to cook through but not over cook and dry out. There will be juice in the pan which you can pour over the chicken breasts when you serve them or serve these pan juices on the side. You can also mix the pan juices with some greek yogurt, or any sauce you care for. Everyone will tell you how juicy the chicken is.

Try this recipe with a good amount of the elote seasoning blend, or everything but the bagel or your own.

Just in case you didn’t get enough, here’s another “elotero”in action ; making it a lot slower so you can check out all the additions (god, he puts crema and tons of mayo!) … cheese made from goat and cow…homemade red chile paste…. All for just around $1.

TJ’s CHILI ONION CRUNCH

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Here’s another great condiment from Trader Joe’s: Chili Onion Crunch. Its yet another TJ offering which gained a following on the internet, for good reason. It’s good!

Now in most good Chinese restaurants you will likely find condiments on the table including a glass jar with a metal lid with a reddish colored oily mix with lots of little bits at the bottom. That’s chili oil. This TJ product I would call a variation on this traditional Chinese crunchy chili oil. One difference is the oil used, as TJ’s uses olive oil, whereas the chili-oil recipe in an Asian restaurant would typically not use a vegetable oil like peanut, rapeseed, oil or best of all flavor-wise, mustard oil. TJ’s Chili Onion Crunch uses olive oil and has dried onions (the crunch), dried garlic, crushed chili peppers and dried red bell peppers, all of which make it nice and crunchy! It packs a nice spicy kick, so you might use it sparingly, or not, as your taste buds tell you. It has a super-satisfying crunch and flavor to most any food. How about a bowl of plain rice? Put a few dabs of Chili Onion Crunch, mix it into you boring rice, and suddenly your rice is delicious and not in the least bit boring. Its great on scrambled or fried eggs or omelets. Meats, fish, chicken, tofu…. Its terrific on so many things! Your only limit is your imagination. A 6 oz. jar goes for $3.99, not super cheap, but a jar will last awhile. Personally I think this should be spicier, so I mixed in some red pepper flakes. Try that if you want more spiciness. As the jar empties, I find I can add in olive oil to get a flavored oil which is good for even cooking, or finishing a dish. Crushed garlic too would not be amiss, as they used dried garlic powder.

I’d say its very worth trying a jar of this stuff.

TIP- It says store in a cool place. If you refrigerate it and try to use right out of the fridge it will be congealed, so take it out at least a half hour or more before you want to use it to let it get to room temp and liquify.

https://www.traderjoes.com/digin/post/chili-onion-crunch
https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahloewentheil/trader-joes-chili-onion-crunch-review