Trader Joe’s CHICKEN KARAAGE

“Our Chicken Karaage [ka-RAH-geh] is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, made with a Japanese-inspired recipe. It begins with bite-sized pieces of boneless, skinless, leg meat that have been tenderized and flavor-infused after marinating in rice wine (mirin), soy sauce, and white wine vinegar—along with garlic & ginger powders.”

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/chicken-karaage-073030

Trader Joe’s frozen Chicken Kaarage is another addition to the growing list of Trader Joe’s Asian frozen prepared frozen food offerings, especially chicken dishes.

Some people on the internet rave about this KARAAGE (kara-ag-eh) .

My honest review? Now as with all of Trader Joe’s Asian foods you really have to know what the “real thing” tastes like to be able to judge. Real Japanese Karrage consist of some marinated chicken which gets a light coating of cornstarch then is shallow fried till golden brown. Basically think of it as Japanese fried chicken. It’s delicious.

Is Trader Joe’s KARAAGE like what you might get at a Japanese restaurant? I’m afraid not people. However for what this is, I think its not bad. The crispy chicken is actually pretty tasty and juicy. The main problem with this is obvious: just has way too much breading. I put this stuff in front of my (Japanese Korean) wife who looked it it and told me they looked like “chicken nuggets”.

Pros – The marinated dark meat chicken is actually tasty, just as long as you get a big piece with enough chicken to match the breading. Dip it in a little of the mayonnaise based sauce they give you, to which you added fresh lemon juice. Ditto mixing in a little TJ’s YUZU hot sauce.

Cons – Way too much breading. The big pieces are OK however you also get many small pieces where the breading totally overwhelms the chicken. You will even find little pieces basically of just breading with almost no chicken! Should have better quality control (but that would cost). Plus this lists many ingredients.

Though the instructions don’t say you can cook these on top of the stove in pan. I cooked it that way on medium heat first covered for 5 minutes then removed the cover and cooked for maybe 10 minutes, turning on all sides till golden brown and crispy. That’s the way I cooked them in the picture here. Or cook it in an Air Fryer or in the oven.

Defrost the sauce in warm water for 5-10 minutes. Cut an end and squeeze it out.

What to eat with this? This might match well with frozen Japanese Fried Rice and some edamame.

A 1 lb package is $6.49.

I would buy this again. But….