Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

Ingredients include: potatoes, canola oil, carrots, green beans, bread crumbs, peppers, corn…..

TIP: Get as crispy as possible and pair with TJ’s excellent MANGO CHUTNEY for added flavor

I’m not vegetarian however I like to try out vegetarian products, especially Indian ones. I might venture to say Indian cuisine has most flavorful vegetarian food of any country. Its really one of the great world cuisines.

Trader Joe’s has some decent Indian food products. Some have found to be just so-so however they sell a few that are quite good and really tasty. I’ve reviewed a number of them and many have got a rave from me. For example CHANNA MASALA and PALAK PANEER, both very good Indian prepared frozen entree items.

Which brings me to this one. Trader Joe’s (seemingly popular) VEGETABLE MASALA BURGERS. I mean the picture on the package looks enticing. Not too mention they are called “Masala Burgers with Authentic Indian Spices“.” (“Masala” refers to mixed Indian spices).To be honest when I tasted this, my first thought was where are those “Authentic Indian Spices”?

Personally I find these TJ “masala burgers”pretty ordinary tasting and way under seasoned. Sure, I agree Indian food is not always highly spiced, but generally, it is very flavorful, especially potato dishes. I am thinking for example of Masala Dosa made with potato (Aloo Masala which literally means spiced potato). So my short review is I find these to be Just OK. Pretty Meh. That’s just my opinion of course. This site has gotten quite a bit of Feedback from lots of readers that they like these Masala Burgers quite a bit! Vegetarians especially seem to appreciate these vegetarian / vegetable burgers. I think of this basically as a mashed potato burger with a few veggies. The concept is not bad, I just find the execution not up to some of TJ’s other Indian foods I have mentioned before.

So this is one of those items which you will just have to try and decide for yourself. At least be sure to pair these with the great MANGO CHUTNEY and some good sauce(s) you like.

One burger has 140 calories.

Trader Joe’s does sell quite a few tasty Indian foods which I find quite good in the frozen section. For example, the super tasty CHANNA MASALA (chickpea curry) which I love as well as the BHAINGAN BHARTA (eggplant) and superb PALAK PANEER (spinach) entrees. All three of these I find excellent. Some people really like the Samosas too. Perhaps you could pair these Masala Vegetable Burgers with the Palak Paneer spinach dish, or Channa Masala for a good combo?

HOW TO COOK : These are already fully cooked however you still need to brown them up before eating them. Cook them in a skillet for 3-4 minutes per side in a little butter and oil until they look golden brown and delicious. They should get nice and crispy looking on the outside. The crispy texture makes these.

TIP: Do not microwave these as they will not get crispy!

If you have curry powder I would suggest a sprinkle. At the very least I would add a little crushed garlic or even garlic powder if you make them.

Be sure to enjoy them with something full of flavor like the excellent MANGO CHUTNEY

I think they needed a little something to them to jazz them up. Maybe Sriracha or Peri-peri sauce. Zhough. Bomba. Magnifisauce. The thing that perked this up a little bit for me was putting on a little TJ’s TAMARIND SAUCE, basically a tamarind chutney sauce. Perhaps some CHILE CRISP would be good for these?

I think these may really benefit matching with Trader Joe’s Mango Chutney

My wife told me “just one is enough” for her – not a good review as she likes most anything I make. So personally we didn’t find these as good as some other Trader Joe’s Indian frozen items. But again, these seem popular with readers saying they really like these Masala Burgers, especially if they do something to it to jazz them up. I have two good friends who are vegetarian who told me she loves these TJ’s Vegetable Burgers and buys them all the time.

As they say, to each his own.These might be worth checking out to see what you think, especially if you need vegetarian options. Add some spices to these and fix them to your liking!

Vegetable Masala Burger $3.49 (4 burgers, 10 oz)

(NOTE: Contains Wheat, bread crumbs)

INGREDIENTS: POTATOES, CANOLA OIL, CARROTS, GREEN BEANS, BREAD CRUMBS (WHEAT FLOUR, SUGAR, YEAST, SALT), BELL PEPPERS, ONIONS, CORN, WATER, SALT, SUGAR, SPICES, GINGER, CELLULOSE GUM, GREEN PEPPER, CITRIC ACID, TURMERIC

Want to make these yourself? Here’s a recipe for ALOO masala…. for patties, just form them when cool, chill for a bit in the fridge then fry them up. I bet they would taste spectacular. In the recipe you can see what kind of mixed spices are typically used used for aloo (potato) masala ….

https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/potato-masala-aloo-masala