Thai Jasmine Rice is wonderful, one of the tastiest kinds of rice varieties out there, alongside Indian Basmati. TJ’s has had regular Jasmine rice for a long time, and that one too is quite good. Recently however they introduced an Organic version if that interests you. The package states it’s CERTIFIED ORGANIC and “Product of Thailand”. Importantly, TJ finally has cooking directions and ratios on the package which seem correct (I have found some printed directions on rice are way off!) On this package they list using a 1:2 ratio, meaning 1 cup rice to 2 cups water and cooking the rice for 15-20 minutes. This is a good starting point for you to use. Now I rinse Jasmine rice very minimally, maybe just once instead of the standard 2-3 time as I want to preserve as much of that jasmine aroma as possible. It’s organic and as far as I can tell, quite clean, you don’t have to go overboard washing this and washing out some flavor. Washing rice these days is mostly about removing excess starch anyway, not cleaning it of debris. Make sure you drain the rice for 10 minutes too in a colander to keep your rice/water ratio on point. If you find your rice too mushy then next time reduce the water slightly. Let it sit too after cooking for 10 minutes. ORGANIC JASMINE RICE $3.49 (2 lb bag)
DIRECTIONS: Bring two cups of water to a boil in a pot with a very tight lid. Add a little salt. Add 1 cup of rinsed, drained rice. Cook 10 mins on medium heat, then reduce heat to the lowest possible heat and continue cooking for 5-8 minutes. Then turn off heat and let it sit for 5-10 minutes with the lid closed. Fluff rice and optionally add a little butter.
BTW where do you store rice? I have taken to keeping it in the fridge if there’s space – otherwise in a dark cool pantry in a zip lock bag.
If you’ve been in a Trader Joe’s you’ve probably seen the word – ELOTE – a few times. One might even say TJ’s has a bit of an obsession with Elote. Just in case you don’t know what Elote means, “elote corn” is a typical Mexican street food consisting of corn on the cob sprinkled with cheese and lots of spices served carts by street vendors. In Mexico City there are probably as many Elote carts as in NYC we have hot dog carts.
Elote corn is delicious, slathered with mayo, lime juice, dusted with chile powder and sprinkled with Mexican Cotija cheese. MEXICAN STREET CORN is not hard to make yourself, and conveniently, you can get everything you need at TJ’s. I just made some a few days ago with some really fresh corn and it was so yummy I thought I would share how to make it easily. You will need: Fresh corn on the cob, Everything but the ELOTE SEASONING, CHILE LIME seasoning, some mayonnaise, fresh lime, and Cotija cheese (like a Mexican parmesan). As far as mayo, TJ’s Chile Lime Mayo might work great or Suzi’s Organic Mayo.
If you can grill the corn, great, but steamed corn is fine. Cook corn. When done, hold it with tongs (or spear on a chopstick) or just put it on some foil. Slather some mayo all over with a spatula (mayo is authentic but if mayo turns you off, just use butter). Next sprinkle on a generous amount of Everything But The ELOTE Seasoning. Next sprinkle a good amount of grated COTIJA cheese (or Parm or Asiago). Squeeze some fresh lime juice on it. OPTIONALLY; if you want even more spice add TJ’s CHILE LIME Seasoning blend and/or a little hot sauce of your choosing. Now enjoy!
Now just in case you are a lazy bones and this sounds too complicated for you here’s a simpler version I do when I’m in a rush. Make your regular fresh buttered corn and just sprinkle a good amount of the EVERYTHING BUT ELOTE seasoning all over it. Easy enough?
“Made with Norwegian farm raised salmon” Bake, pan fry or broil. Ingredients – Salmon, parmesan cheese, panko breadcrumbs.
Trader Joe’s uncooked SALMON BURGERS are in the fresh fish refrigerated section. They come packaged on a tray with vacuum wrapped plastic tightly covering the two burgers. Made from ground salmon, these burger are quite soft. So soft that removing them from the package was tricky without breaking them. I ended up carefully cutting around the plastic wrap with a sharp knife. They kind of wanted to fall apart on me just trying to get them out, so I ended up sliding a spatula under each one to lift it out intact. So be careful, lest they fall apart. Frankly if this was my recipe I would have put egg in the mixture with a bit more binder so they would stay together better (bread crumbs / panko….hmm, that may not be a bad idea, I may do exactly that next time and re-shape them.) I am guessing TJ’s wants you to know they are mostly all salmon with little binder, however in this type of burger made from ground fish, the binder in reality help keep things together.
“Cook 4-5 minutes, flip and cook another 4 minutes or to desired done-ness.”
I cooked these pan fried in a tablespoon of butter, first dusting them with some more panko breadcrumbs. I found these a bit under seasoned so I would give them a hit of salt and pepper. I could not taste Parmesan cheese though it’s listed as an ingredient, probably as a binder.
We ate these salmon burger patties on a toasted hamburger bun. They were good. I put some Tzaziki sauce on them but realized what I should have actually used: TJ’s Tartar Sauce – Of course that would match with these! I will get some next time. These were good on a bun but they might be equally good without the bread just served on their own with some sauce and some sides (rice, potatoes, veggies…). They really do need a bit of some sauce to liven them up, and TJ’s tartar sauce should match perfectly with these.
Two salmon patties are $6.29, or about 3 each. I would buy these again. SHOPPING suggestions: Salmon burgers, buns, tartar sauce, lemons, soft greens for garnish. Maybe your fish-hating kids will eat it if you disguise it as a burger!?
UPDATE (FALL/WINTER ’21) I have not been able to find these for some time so I am afraid they are discontinued. Anyone seen them ? Can you still buy them?TJ’s does sell frozen salmon burgers.…
Trader Joe’s sells SO many varieties of hummus. I have gone back and forth with about three kinds there. I think this hummus is among their better ones, one reason being that this “Mediterranean Style” hummus has tahini among in the ingredients. Incredibly, at least to me, is that some versions of hummus on offer at Trader Joe’s do not have any Tahini in the ingredients. For allergy reasons perhaps for some customers?
Tahini (ground sesame paste) is an integral part of a hummus recipe and it is partly why hummus tastes good, at least to yours truly. I love hummus made with a good amount of it. I can only imagine some people don’t like tahini or its calories? Or nut allergy? That must be why TJ sells hummus both ways, with or without it? Anyway their “Mediterranean Style” hummus is tasty. It is a little fancier as on top they have a few pine nuts and spices. This is one way hummus is normally presented in most countries. A squeeze of 1/4 fresh lemon juice would be good to add IMO . To serve hummus: Put in shallow bowl and flatten out as much as possible. Run your spoon to make a circular groove all around the hummus and add a pour of your best EVOO. Sprinkle a bit of spice (Ajika for example, or ground cumin or zaatar) all around the perimeter attractively. Voila!
Serve with warm pita or naan or other flatbread.
The Mediterranean Style hummus costs about $4 for a 16 oz tub (it’s 50 cents more then the regular one with no tahini). (Update: This went up a bit but is still their most reasonable hummus and one of the only ones to come in a 16 oz container.)
BTW, you can easily make hummus (which I occasionally do) Here’s are good recipes (best results will come from cooking dried chickpeas yourself not canned ones!)
“But what makes our traditional hummus different? First, consistency. Mediterranean Hummus is super smooth and creamy, a bit more “whipped” than many of our other hummus choices. The texture of hummus tends to be different depending on where in the world it originates, so it makes sense for us to offer some of that variety in our stores. We’ve also taken the liberty of topping Trader Joe’s Mediterranean Hummus with crunchy pine nuts, and a bright blend of parsley, red bell pepper, and olive oil which creates a distinctive flavor and texture profile we think you’ll really enjoy.” – Trader Joe
UPDATE SUMMER 2025: Trader Joe’s changed this product. It’s in a new package for one thing and for another thing it seems to have changed the ingredients in that new label has tahini as third ingredient listed after canola oil. It was previously listed as second ingredient. So there is less tahini now. I have been getting the ORGANIC HUMMUS (it does cost a bit more)
We know Trader Joe’s carries a ton of all kinds of chips. These are one of my favorites out of all of them. So why are these corn chips are so good? I think a big reason is they only have 3 ingredients! They list : organic yellow corn, organic sunflower oil, sea salt. That’s it. They must be using the best organic corn they can find, these chips have a super tasty corn flavor. These chips are both thick and a bit curved. They’re thick enough to stand up to any dip you put them in, such as guacamole, salsa or what have you. Even on their own with nothing on them, they still taste fantastic. They have been $1.99 (forever) but I bought them last week and I got yet another case of TJ inflation sticker shock to see TJ raised the price of these. They’re now $2.29.
Beside this plain version, TJ has a spicy variation, the delicious “Organic Elote Corn Chip Dippers” (Elote aka Mexican street corn flavor) which is an amazing chip, those are loaded and I do mean loaded, with spices; these cost a little more than the plain version, Elote chips are now $2.69 (also up 20 cents). The Elote chips are excellent and pretty spicy. Personally I love them with, among other things, cottage cheese or Greek yogurt, in other words something plain as they bring plenty of spices on their own.
Have you tried Trader Joe’s “British Style Crumpets”? If you do, I think you will love them as much as we do.
First, you can not get more British than crumpets. Check these out which you will find near Trader Joe’s English Muffins.
Just in case you’ve never tried crumpets, well they are really good. Trader Joe’s version is actually quite decent. After they are toasted up, crumpets are nicely chewy yet a little crispy on the outside. The main thing about crumpets is that they are chock full of little holes and those hold onto butter and jam, etc.
Try these yummy baked treats too next time you’re reaching for English Muffins so you can really get your full Brit on while watching THE CROWN or BRIDGERTON.
Crumpets are soft and as you can see in the picture, loaded with tiny holes. They get those holes, the way pancakes get them while cooking, and this unique texture and the holes makes them fantastic at absorbing butter and jam. Which helps makes them scrumptious. Toast these up gently, until slightly golden brown. Top with good butter and your favorite jam (or marmalade). They are both a bit soft and a bit crunchy, a fantastic combo. TJ’s crumpets are about $3.29 for a pack of six that come in two sealed plastic compartments. Personally I cut the package in two and freeze some for later.
Crumpets happen to be quite delicious and obviously these will go really well with some tea.
TIP: I recommend you really get them toasted, just to the point where they stop being soft and get a little bit of hard texture on top and bottom. Spread immediately with butter, getting it into all the holes. Top with Marmalade.
“A zesty dip with hearty black beans and the smokey kick of chipotle peppers”
UPDATE Spring 2022 : ITS BEEN DISCONTINUED!!
(For the archive…..)
Trader Joe’s CHIPOTLE BLACK BEAN DIP is delicious. I think this could even be one of their best products. It’s one of my favorites in any case and I try to always have a jar in the panty… It’s that good. It matches especially well with tortillas, or any of TJ’s excellent chips especially corn. It matches perfectly with TJ’s Organic Corn Chip Dippers. The Chipotle Bean Dip gets a spicy back beat from two kinds of chiles, chipotle and ancho chiles, which give this a slightly spicy heat level plus a tomato-y undercurrent. This dip is terrific as-is on its own but it’s also good as an ingredient. When I make quesadillas or tacos, I sometimes spread a little of this on the tortilla before cooking them or just serve some on top or on the side when I plate them. Naturally this is way healthier dip to put out for people compared to dips which have loads of calories / fat like a sour cream or cheese based dip. You can even mix a jar of this with a half can of the refried black beans which will make a nice side dish or a less spicy but still tasty dip, depending on the ratio. If you find this dip too thick, just mix in a teaspoon or so of lime juice, vinegar or water and thin it out to your liking. A jar of the BLACK BEAN DIP is $1.99 for 12 oz.
You have to try this dip with TJ’s terrific Organic CORN CHIP DIPPERS (or the Elote cousins) as the thick corn chips with this is a super combination. And AVOCADO of course! TIP – Gussy this up with cheese? Sure. Heat this up and top with grated cheese so it melts. Yum!
“We start with vine ripened tomatoes, then we fire roast them to a subtle smokiness before adding organic green chiles… They’re ready to use in salsas, sauces, soups and stews….”
Ingredients: Organic fire roasted tomatoes, organic tomato juice, organic green chili peppers, organic vinegar, sea salt, citric acid, calcium chloride”
These excellent organic diced tomatoes are a great pantry item, and in fact I always keep a few cans in mine as they are such a useful ingredient. They are indeed “fire roasted”, you can even see little bits of char and smell a little smokiness. You can use this as-is on tacos and quesadillas as a simple salsa, or make a slightly improved one quickly in seconds just by just adding a few things (ie, chopped onions, garlic, cilantro). Use this as an ingredient in sauces, stews or soup as you would any canned tomatoes, but these will be tastier than plain ones. These make the base of terrific rices dishes, say cooking some Mexican rice or what have you, mixed in for some of the stock or water. And its great for lots of other cuisines too… I made a delicious Italian Ariabiatta / Puttanesca style pasta with a can of this, olive oil, a spoon of tomato paste, lots of garlic, capers, olives, a spoon of Bomba and some grated Pecorino over the finished pasta (or try this with Gnocchi). It only took about 5 minutes to come together and the finished pasta dish with Gnocchi was delicious. We devoured it.
$1.69 for a 14.5 oz can. There is a plain only tomato version too for $1.49 if you don’t want any green chiles.
I buy Trader Joe’s ground chicken in the fresh meats section pretty regularly, however I came across these Chile Lime Chicken burgers (in the frozen section) which I had not seen before and thought I would get them to see if they were any good. I saw on the internet these are a bit popular. Ingredients are: “ground chicken, onions, bell peppers, garlic, cilantro, natural flavor, salt, lime juice concentrate and red pepper flakes”. Well that sounds OK, right? Inside you find four burgers (1/4 lb each) so they are not very thick, quarter pounder size. I took two out and left them to defrost overnight in the fridge. As they are pretty thin I think they probably just need a few hours to defrost in the fridge so one could probably even take them out in the morning and have them ready for dinner.
I put them into a hot cast iron pan with a spoon of EVOO to grill them up, and cooked them for 3-4 minutes a side. To serve them, I put them on toasted buns spread with a nice amount of TJ’s CHILE LIME MAYO (its really tasty) which was perfect for these as they’re not as juicy as beef burgers of course. So these chicken burger were actually pretty tasty served this way on a bun with lettuce and tomato, that chile lime MAYO and a few extras. If you make them like the picture on the box, with a bit of guacamole, I am sure that would be great.
Would I buy them again? Well to be honest I prefer the softer texture of TJ’s fresh ground chicken that I make into burgers over these pre-made ones. These were just a little tough texture wise and frankly I can easily add a few ingredients to ground chicken myself, even simply sprinkling it with AJIKA or CUBAN SPICE, and form a bit thicker patty of maybe a 1/3 lb. Therefore I probably would not buy these again. However you might like the obvious convenience of having these in your freezer.
These cost $3.49 for the package (16 oz containing 4 burgers). They are no doubt lower in fat than beef burgers having only 6g fat each.
news update: there was a recall on this product (nov 2021)
TJ’s Organic Roasted Teriyaki SEAWEED SHEET SNACKS (aka Korean Gim/Kim)
These are very similar to the single pack roasted Seaweed Snacks TJ carries. You know, the little green sheets of seaweed that American kids love! These however come in a convenient “six pack”. They are labeled Organic and “Product of Korea” and “teriyaki flavor”. Unlike Japanese nori seaweed sheets which are sturdy and solid (used in making sushi) these Korean seaweed mini sheets (aka Gim or Kim) have been roasted with sesame oil making the texture much airier and crumbly so they will break apart if you bend them too much. So while not great for rolling up as traditional sushi, I do use these to make a kind of “easy sushi” style mini hand roll. Putting a spoon of Asian rice in the middle, then something on top of that (especially good with Spicy Tuna*) and a few strips of cucumber. These are so tasty. You can hold the seaweed in one hand and add the other things carefully, bend it gently and pop it in your mouth in one or two bites. Quite yummy this combo! See pic and also Maangchi’s descriptive How To in the link.
$3.49 for a six pack. I have a feeling these may work out to be a bit more economical than the single packs?
TIP: snip a few sheets up into little thin strips for a super rice topping.
* EASY SPICY TUNA RECIPE (using canned tuna)
Drain the water or oil from a can or two of your favorite tuna fish. To the tuna, add 2 tablespoons of Mayo. Then add about a tablespoon (or two) of your favorite hot sauce of your choosing such as Sriracha, Zhoug, Peri-Peri or whatever you like, to taste (you can add more if its not spicy enough when you taste it with the rice). You might add a few chopped Hot and Sweet Jalapenos to the mix. Add a chopped scallion or two, mix everything together, and refrigerate for an hour to blend the flavors. Serve with cooked Asian rice and these Seaweed Sheets.
HOW TO MAKE EASY SUSHI MINI HAND ROLLS: Hold a sheet of seaweed gently. With your free hand, put a teaspoon or two of cooked rice on it gently and make a slight indentation for the tuna topping. Add some spicy tuna and strips of cucumber. Not too much in one square or it may fall apart, just enough for a nice big bite. Put in to your mouth carefully!
You can also the tuna just putting some a spoon on top of asian rice in a bowl. You put a little tuna, a crunch of cuke, and then cover that with a square of seaweed. Carefully “fold it” (bend gently) into a little package using chopsticks (or your fingers).
Naturally you can use other toppings. Smoked salmon and avocado is a classic too.
Serving these with some Kimchi on the side would be great.
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