Trader Joe’s SQUIGGLY NOODLES

“Squiggly Knife Cut Style Noodles with Soy and Sesame Sauce”. The package of dried wheat noodles plus a sauce looked promising. These seem to be popular and go quickly from the shelves I’ve noticed.

UPDATE (Feb 2023) TJ’s can’t seem to keep them in stock. Due to social media, people are just scarfing these off the shelves, with some people even re-selling them for profit! Are these that good? Well they are OK but to me not worthy of the hype, though they have a little potential as long as you fix them up. The first time I made them, I did it the way it says on the package: “Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Add noodles. Cook 4 minutes. Drain and add sauce packet”. Just FYI serving just these noodles with the packet of sauce will not make a tasty noodle dish! If you want something decent you will need to add things (proteins. veggies…) to make these into something filling and tastier than just what comes in the package. Now when I made them as directed on the package we were disappointed. My wife’s comment was the noodles themselves just weren’t high quality noodles and tasted cheap. Strike one. But I did give them a second chance with a different take for cooking them. The second time I made these, I decided I would stir fry these. Here’s what I did. I boiled them but a bit less (2-3 minutes). Drained them and put them into a bowl with a teaspoon of oil mixed in (prevents sticking together). In a wok I sautéed ginger, garlic, sliced veggies and scrambled up an egg. I tossed in the noodles and stir fried it all for a minute or two before adding my own sauce mixture to coat. We both thought they came out way better this time by making them into a stir fried noodle dish. Now about that that Sauce Packet: Ugh! The sauce isn’t good (read the ingredients). Rather than using their (fake tasting) “Soy and Sesame” package I would suggest adding your own soy sauce and a spill of toasted sesame oil, chopped garlic of course – maybe ginger, and if you have some, a little oyster sauce. Too much work? Then just add TJ’s SOYAKI and some Chili Onion Crunch. If you insist on using the included fake-y bad sauce pack I’d say use only half and taste as you go before add more (even if only to reduce sodium). FYI the Sodium listed is 40% from one sauce packet. That is almost half of your daily recommended Sodium amount. Some packaged Asian foods have a high amount of sodium, so check labels.

TJ’s “SQUIGGLY NOODLES” are $4.99 for 4 noodle packs. “Product of Taiwan”. They are not great but they are OK plus I don’t think the sauce is good. I say toss the sauce and make your own. IF you eat it as-is, just these noodles boiled plus their crappy sauce packet I think you will be disappointed. However you can fix this up with just a little work into something decent. Spend a little effort and you can make these into something tasty especially I think if you do it stir fried. Even just adding a runny fried egg on top of your finished dish will improve it 100%. Chopped scallions are a must to improve this plus cilantro if you like it too. A really nice topping ingredient might be my easy Cha Siu hack with TJ’s Carnitas Pork. If you really want to make this into something worth eating try watching Aaron (of Aaron and Claire) doing some Garlic Chili Noodles (see video) which you could do with these noodles, as well as get good tips making noodles. I’ve watch so many of Aaron’s cooking videos and it’s really upped my game for Korean/Asian dishes.

Here’s what Trader Joe’s themselves have to say about these noodles: https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/squiggly-knife-cut-style-noodles-074472

Ingredients

NOODLES (WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, SALT)
SAUCE PACKET (SOY SAUCE [WATER, GLUCOSE, DEFATTED SOY FLOUR, INVERT SUGAR SYRUP, WHEAT, SALT, CARAMEL COLOR, YEAST EXTRACT POWDER, MALIC ACID], SHALLOT SEASONING SAUCE [CANOLA OIL, SOY SAUCE {WATER, SOYBEANS, WHEAT, SALT}, WATER, SHALLOT POWDER, SUGAR, SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SALT, CHILI SAUCE {CHILI PEPPER, SALT}, GARLIC POWDER, YEAST EXTRACT POWDER, NATURAL FLAVOR, GLUCONO-DELTA-LACTONE, BLACK PEPPER, PAPRIKA EXTRACT, ALPHA TOCOPHEROL ACETATE {TO PRESERVE}], SESAME OIL).