Trader Joe’s seems to have a little thing for “Boba tea” and this is another incarnation of Boba Tea, in a frozen (non-dairy) dessert. Made with coconut milk this has small chewy tapioca pearls (boba) with swirls of brown sugar. More or less like the trendy “Bubble Tea” drink that has become popular recently in the U.S. This frozen dessert tastes like black tea with brown sugar with chewy black pearls of tapioca. Overall I would say I found this OK and interesting. It’s good but I am not crazy for it. However my wife (who’s Asian) liked this very much. She likes Asian style desserts. I said “this is good but I’d probably rather have a bowl of Coffee Bean Blast ice cream”. OK this is not a fair comparison, as this is not ice cream of course, its a non-dairy frozen dessert . So I will say “interesting”. If you want something a little different and want Non-Dairy and love tea, you might give this a try. It improved and tasted better after letting it sit out to defrost a little bit for the tapioca pearls to get softer. So give this about 5 minutes at room temp before eating. About $5 for a pint. We are divided in that I would not buy this again but my wife would, so a its a toss up in our house!
This was a “Meh” for me. Just wasn’t too crazy for this vinaigrette which was one of those “sounded better than it tasted” items for me. Two tasters in our house didn’t go for this dressing and didn’t like it. I found the maple taste off putting and didn’t work at all. As opposed to honey which I like in a salad dressing. Frankly I can easily make a very good Vinaigrette myself in about 3 minutes using with oil, vinegar and Dijon mustard (optional, crushed garlic). Put these in a glass jar and shake shake shake. Frankly we prefer my Homemade Vinaigrette way over any dressing I can buy generally. However what I do think is worth buying at Trader Joe’s is their Asian Sesame Dressing which is excellent. TOASTED SESAME SALAD DRESSING. We just love that one so much. That is worth the same price as this one, $3.49. This one for us at least was a miss and a “meh”.
This was a “Meh” for me. Just wasn’t too crazy for this vinaigrette which was one of those “sounded better than it tasted” items for me. Two tasters in our house didn’t go for this dressing and didn’t like it. I found the maple taste off putting and didn’t work at all. As opposed to honey which I like in a salad dressing. Frankly I can easily make a very good Vinaigrette myself in about 3 minutes using with oil, vinegar and Dijon mustard (optional, crushed garlic). Put these in a glass jar and shake shake shake. Frankly we prefer my Homemade Vinaigrette way over any dressing I can buy generally. However what I do think is worth buying at Trader Joe’s is their Asian Sesame Dressing which is excellent. TOASTED SESAME SALAD DRESSING. We just love that one so much. That is worth the same price as this one, $3.49. This one for us at least was a miss and a “meh”. I won’t buy this again.
If you are not familiar with BOBA TEA (aka bubble tea) it’s a popular (very TRENDY) drink that has very large pearls of Tapioca that sink to the bottom. The tapioca pearls have a very chewy texture that most people really enjoy. The pearls are so large that to suck them up it comes with a special ultra wide straw. These drinks are sold by specialty tea shops like “GONG CHA”that serve up a premium (and a bit pricey) Boba Tea Drink.
Trader Joe’s BOBA TEA kit is a (poor) approximation of what you might get from a specialty Boba Tea shop. I have had Boba Tea from quite a few different Tea shops and in short, Trader Joe’s Boba Tea Kit won’t put any of them out of business. The drink you get in a real Boba Tea shop is way better than this, however if you’ve never had it before this may give you an idea of what “boba tea” is. As my wife commented “this is a Trader Joe’s version”. She meant it as a knock as in “cheap knockoff of the real thing”. A specialty shop boba tea drink usually costs about $5-6 bucks each. This kit sells for $5.50 for 4 drinks. So yes a cheap knock off. Granted, its a high profit item (sugar, tea, tapioca)
Anyway if you can’t have it at one of these shops and just want to try boba tea in that case then his might be a good starting point. For one thing the tapioca pearls in Trader Joe’s are much smaller than the ones that the shops make which are huge and so chewy. This kit has 4 pouches of a concentrate with the pearls. You mix this package up with milk or tea (or combo of the two) plus a handful of ice to dilute its sweetness, and you need to add enough of these things in, otherwise it will be way too sweet. I put the defrosted pouch into a glass jar with a lid so I could really shake it up with the added ice and liquid. The kit even has 4 big straws. Not bad, but again really no comparison to a Boba Tea shop drink. I probably wouldn’t buy it again.
I’m not vegetarian but I like to try out vegetarian foods occasionally and see if they are any good. I would say Indian cuisine may have the greatest, most flavorful vegetarian food. Its one of the great world cuisines.
Trader Joe’ sells a number of very tasty Indian foods. Some are quite good, so I’ve given a number of them raves, like the CHANNA MASALA and PALAK PANEER, both good finds you can get at TJ’s. Which bring me to: Trader Joe’s VEGETABLE MASALA BURGERS.
The picture on the package looks enticing. Plus they are are called “Masala Burgers with Authentic Indian Spices“.” (“Masala” refers to mixed spices). To be honest when I tasted this, all I could think of was where are these “Authentic Indian Spices”? Personally I find this quite plain tasting, and for my tastes, lacking in tasty spices. Sure, I agree Indian food is not always highly spiced, but generally, it is very flavorful. Especially potato dishes. Thinking of for example a potato masala dosa. So my short review. Just OK. Pretty Meh. That’s just my opinion as I gather from quite a bit of Feedback here that these Masala Burgers are actually quite popular.
Vegetarians especially seem to appreciate these vegetarian / vegetable burgers. I just find them a bit too bland.
Comparing these for example to a dish like a potato Masala Dosa, in that dish the the potato filling will have a ton of flavor plus quite a bit of all kinds of “masala spices”. So I just wish these tasted a bit more like a potato filling you would find inside a potato masala dosa. Trader Joe’s Vegetable Masala Burgers are made primarily with potatoes. 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 as good as some of TJ’s other Indian foods. Again, many which are excellent. When I see Indian people buying things at Trader Joe’s I figure that a sign of being tasty.
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 either Trader Joe’s GARLIC ACHAAR or Mango Chutney
My wife told me “just one is enough” for her – that is not a good review from her, 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 do seem popular and a few readers have written in that they really like these Masala Burgers, especially if they do something to it to jazz it 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.
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
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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