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

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

Though I’m not vegetarian, I like to occasionally test out vegetarian foods, and see if they are any good. I happen to love, repeat, LOVE, Indian cuisine, which I think is one of the great world cuisines. It is certainly the greatest vegetarian cuisine, and I’ve eaten a good deal of Indian food in some really good restaurants which we happen to luckily have here in NYC.

Trader Joe’s does have some very tasty Indian food items. Some are really, really good, and I’ve given great reviews of a number of them, like the CHANNA MASALA and PALAK PANEER.

So I thought I would try these 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” meaning “mixed spices”.

To be honest when I tasted this, all I could think was “Authentic Indian Spices?”. I find this fairly plain tasting without enough spices to make it tasty. Sure I agree Indian food is not always highly spiced, but generally, it is very flavorful. So my short review is these is to me, they taste Just OK. That’s just my opinion, I gather from quite a bit of Feedback here that these Masala Burgers are pretty popular despite what I think. Vegetarians especially seem to appreciate these vegetarian / vegetable burgers.

I just find them a bit too Meh for my taste. Comparing these for example to a dish like a potato Masala Dosa there the potato filling will have a ton of flavor. So I just wish these were a bit more the potato filling you would find inside Masala Dosa.

Trader Joe’s Vegetable Masala Burgers are made primarily with potatoes and to me, 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 outstanding (and I see Indian people buying at Trader Joe’s)

So this is one of those items which you will just have to try and decide for yourself.

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 any curry powder I would sprinkle a bit on when you cook these. Also, enjoy them with something like the excellent MANGO CHUTNEY

I think they needed a little something to them to jazz them up. I think you will want some kind of sauce with these. Maybe Sriracha or Peri-peri sauce. Zhough. Bomba. Magnifisauce. At the very least I would add a little garlic or even garlic powder on these if you make them. 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

As my wife told me “just one is enough” – 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