Here’s a review of Trader Joe’s Wild Caught Alaskan Sockeye Salmon, which you will find with the fresh fish (Label states “previously frozen” (I believe they process and flash freeze the salmon as soon as it comes off the boats in Alaska.) Boxes of frozen fish arrive at Trader Joe’s; they put it out to slow defrost in the refrigerated case overnight daily (proper slow defrost)
I had asked my wife to pickup some salmon at Trader Joe’s for dinner recently. Instead of the Norwegian Atlantic salmon we usually get and I thought she would buy, she picked up some Wild Caught Alaskan Sockeye fillets. Yes, it cost a bit more. But we really liked the wild salmon and thought it’s worth the occasional splurge for this “upgrade”.
You can pan fry, broil, bake or BBQ it. I decided I would broil it in a Japanese style, with WHITE MISO. It was delicious done this way, which is a great way to make salmon, or any fish, if you never tried it. The miso gives it a lot of “umami”.
Normally as I mentioned, we tend to get Atlantic Salmon, farmed from Norway. Which I honestly think is also very good and of a very high quality. So lets discuss, Wild vs Farmed Salmon taste-wise: Most of us are probably now more familiar with eating Atlantic salmon farmed from Norway or elsewhere, compared to wild caught Sockeye salmon, which is more expensive.
Alaskan Sockeye Salmon is different from Atlantic salmon. First, while the two fish are related species, they are actually different fish. If you compare the two fish visually, the two salmon varieties look shockingly different (see pictures below). Second, is the simple fact that a wild Sockeye hunts food. It swam thousands of miles over its lifespan. Therefore it is more muscular with denser flesh. It has a more robust taste than farmed Atlantic salmon. A Sockeye’s body (and flesh) is DEEP RED with a dense texture. It has less fat. So doesn’t exhibit the white marbling (fat) which Atlantic salmon has. Sockeye is not just leaner, its thinner too. You want to cook wild salmon more carefully as it has no visible fat so is less forgiving about overcooking.
TJ’s wild caught Alaskan Sockeye cost $13.99/lb. That is $4 more per pound than the Norwegian farmed Atlantic Salmon at Trader Joe’s (currently $9.99/lb) However even $14/lb is probably a decent price for wild caught Alaskan Sockeye. I have a feeling say at Whole Foods similar wild Alaskan Sockeye salmon probably costs more like $20lb or more….
Our $16 package of salmon was a little over a pound of fish and was cut into two fillets. This was actually a whole side of one salmon filleted, with one thick piece (the head end, visible in the photo above). Under that was a thinner piece (the tail end) not as attractive of course. The tail piece is thin. Wild salmon is thinner than farmed, and leaner so you need to be more careful cooking it and it will take less time to cook.
RECIPE: BROILED SALMON WITH WHITE MISO: I coated the salmon on both sides, slathering on a coat of Trader Joe’s WHITE MISO PASTE and sprinkled it with fresh black pepper. Do not add salt as the miso has plenty. I let the fish marinate for about an hour at room temp. If you don’t have that much time, give it 20 minutes. To cook it I put both pieces in a cast iron pan skin side down. I dotted the top with a few dots of butter, then broiled the fish on just the top side for about 5 minutes, or just until the flesh flaked apart easily. I didn’t flip this wild salmon over to cook the skin as I would normally do to get the skin crispy. I was worried about overcooking it.
The fish was delicious cooked this way. We ate one piece (1/2 lb) and I saved the other so I managed to get another meal out of the one package. I cooked up both pieces and kept that tail piece of salmon for the next night where I used it for a Japanese style “donburi” rice bowl (a rice bowl topped with shredded salmon meat mixed with some white miso. Put the flaked up salmon on top of warm rice and sprinkle with FURIKAKE flakes. The salmon this way was also delicious and was a good way to use that tail end of the fish.
Personally I love the taste of wild salmon which has a more robust flavor than Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon (however I do enjoy that as well.)
I’m not someone who will only eat wild fish. If we all did that, there would be no fish left in the oceans. I like both kinds of salmon as each have certain qualities, the main difference being the fat content. The fat marbling seen in the farm raised salmon does keep the salmon nice and moist when cooked, making it easier to cook without overcooking it, If you enjoy salmon, try both kinds to compare them. Some people might even decide they prefer the milder flavor of farmed salmon with it’s richer, fattier flesh (remember in fish, fat is a good thing with its Omega-3’s).
I would buy this again.
Just FYI, Trader Joe’s also has frozen Wild Sockeye Salmon in the freezer section. I think it’s a dollar less per pound…. (you can do a slow defrost yourself, overnight in fridge. )
Here’s my “honest review” of Trader Joe’s “Palak Paneer,Spinach and Paneer Cheese Seasoned with a bit of curry and chili“.
It’s so good that Vegetarian or not, you should try this!
Trader Joe’s PALAK PANEER is good. Make that very very good. In fact I’d say this is one of my top 5 favorite frozen items Trader Joe’s has. This and at least one other Indian entrée, the equally tasty CHANNA MASALA. Both have a pretty authentic real McCoy Indian taste. Pretty much comparable to what you might get if you ordered takeout from an Indian restaurant.
Trader Joe’s really has some pretty decent frozen Indian dishes. I buy these frozen entrées constantly when shopping at Trader Joe’s (update: now along with the also good new eggplant entrée dish Baingan Bharta) I like to always have these dishes in our the freezer along with a package of Naan of course. If I have those in the freezer I know I can have a delicious really easy Indian meal ready quickly that tastes pretty much as if we ordered in from a restaurant and for a lot less!
PALAK PANEER is a surprisingly good vegetarian dish consisting of spinach cooked with spices and the Indian cheese called paneer.
Paneer is a fresh Indian cheese that is great to cook with as it is firm and doesn’t melt.
Some of the Indian dishes at TJ’s include a portion of rice. A few do not. This dish doesn’t have rice ; it’s an entree only and you get more of the spinach dish here. For me preferable. I just make my own rice. You can make some Basmati rice, which is not very hard, actually that is pretty easy and only about 15 minutes.
TJ’s Palak Paneer is cooked with a lovely combination of spices and a bit of chili giving it an authentic Indian flavor. My only complaint if any is I wish they put more more paneer in this, as I love that. But at least there is just enough so that you don’t feel like they cheated you (side note: one reader writes to say they did used to give you more paneer back when…!
The dish has a little kick from chile but just a tad. I find the spicy level just right, i mean its a little spicy, but just a little bit. It is NOT crazy spicy though of course this is a personal taste preference. If you want it spicier, that’s easy to do, just add something spicy like (Bomba or Peri-Peri)
We eat this whenever we are in the mood for some “real Indian” food because it just that. How can you tell something Indian at TJ’s is any good. Well I have seen Indian people buying the Palak at Trader Joe’s along with some other dishes.
Sometimes alongside this Palak Paneer, I like to make TJ’s CHANNA MASALA (spiced chickpeas). Also quite good, and the chick pea dish and this spinach dish make a good combo with Basmati rice.
If you serve up these with Naan or Paratha for bread and some rice you have a tasty balanced Indian dinner that almost tastes like you ordered it from a decent Indian restaurant, and for a lot less. Maybe 8 dollars for a feast that serves two well? If I’m not too lazy I will make some raita to go with these (just slice up cucumber and mix with garlic and Greek yogurt to make a cooling Raita to go with the above dishes). For a shortcut, you could just buy some the Tzatziki. That will match well too.
TIP: Though they don’t mention Stove-top as a cooking method I have made this that way. Take the frozen slab out on the package and put it in a pan with a tablespoon of water. Heat on low, covered, stirring every 5 minutes or so for about 15-20 minutes till nice and hot.
$3.99 (10 oz)
I would buy this again.
Again this entree does not include rice; some of TJ’s Indian entrees have rice and some don’t. You get more entree when they don’t include it, so I’d rather make my own Basmati rice and get twice as much of the éntree.
Trader Joe’s ORGANIC PAPPARDELLE PASTA NESTS. Imported from Italy
“Boils into toothsome bundles of sauce holding pasta”
INGREDIENTS: Organic Durum Semolina
I really like these little pappardelle “birds nests” noodles. When I want to impress people, I make these with a terrific sauce. The dish will always get a rave.
Looking at the rough texture on the exterior of the pasta, you can instantly see they are extruded on bronze dies, which top pasta maker’s use. Made for Trader Joe’s by an artisan Italian pasta company (“…one of the most highly-regarded pasta makers in Italy”) Trader Joe’s says the company also mill their “own local, organic, durum wheat semolina themselves”. Yes these are pricier than most of the pastas at Trader Joe’s however you can pretty much see these are “super premium”. I’m sure they would cost at least double what TJ’s sells them for at some high end market under a premium Italian brand name.
They cook up into a wonderful soft toothsome noodle which almost seem like an egg noodle, but they are just semolina. These noodles really take incredibly well to any sauce you can think of to serve with them. I especially like them with a hearty meaty sauce like a Ragu or Bolognese. They go great with TJ’s frozen “MUSHROOM MEDLEY”. They work for “spaghetti and meatballs” instead of the spaghetti, or with Cacio e Pepe, or Alfredo or a Carbonara sauce. Or add them to a soup.
For a really simple fast pasta in a pinch just toss the noodles with good butter and Parmigiano and black pepper for a simple yet sublime pasta.
When making these I usually allow about 2 nests per person/portion. “Boil gently for 12-13 minutes”. They used to be $3.49 but now sell for $3.99 for the huge bag (17.6 oz) TIP: I’ve even used these noodles making Chinese/Asian noodle dishes!
“They’re brought to us by one of the most highly-regarded pasta makers in Italy, who doesn’t just put in the hard work of crafting each batch of Pappardelle Pasta Nests into the tender, delectable noodles that they are — they also mill their very own local, organic, durum wheat semolina to do so.”
Trader Joe’s Korean Scallion Pancakes are savory pancakes made primarily with scallions (green onions) as well as other vegetables.
These are a bit similar to TJ’s popular TAIWANESE GREEN ONION PANCAKES however the KOREAN SCALLION PANCAKES, (“PaJeon” in Korean) contain a lot more scallions than Trader Joe’s Taiwanese scallion pancakes, plus more vegetables such as onions, carrots, king oyster mushrooms and other goodies as you can see in the picture. These pancakes are quite tasty and Trader Joe’s version (made in Korea) are pretty good!
To make these pancakes, you make a egg and flour batter then add vegetables to it, then pour this into a pan to pan fry. I’ve have had them many times in Korean restaurants and those are delicious, really crispy. Naturally I can’t compare Trader Joe’s frozen scallion pancakes to those I’ve had in Korean restaurants but never the less, I enjoyed these. Trader Joe’s frozen PAJEON are quite tasty.
Even my wife (Korean/Japanese) enjoyed them and said they were good for a frozen version. You will enjoy these, especially if you can get them really crispy – which is the trick to making good pajeon.
The package suggests defrosting them before cooking doing either an overnight defrost in the fridge, or you can leave them out on the counter for a 1/2 hour or so, which is what I did. In a pinch they say you could do them from frozen. I didn’t try that way. Just plan a little bit ahead if you can to take them out for at least 20 minutes. The bag does say leave overnight in fridge to defrost, or about 30 minutes out on the counter. Meaning you should cook these defrosted if possible for the best results.
HOW TO COOK TRADER JOE’S SCALLION PANCAKES: Add a teaspoon or two of oil to a non stick, cast iron pan or very heavy skillet. If you happen to have a bottle of toasted sesame oil use that for the oil for the most authentic Korean taste.
Get the oil hot on medium heat then carefully add your (defrosted) pancakes. Let them cook for about 2-3 minutes on the first side checking the bottom occasionally for browning. You want to get them as golden brown as possible. You can press them gently with a spatula to help get them browned everywhere.
When the first side looks ready, flip them over and cook the second side, again getting the PaJeon as golden brown as possible, maybe another 2-3 minutes. When they look ready remove and drain off any excess oil on a paper towel.
Eat them asap while they are hot and crispy.
Other Methods: The package says you can bake them in the oven as well but I didn’t try that method yet. Perhaps then these can be done in an Air Fryer.
To serve these, cut the pancakes into quarters or slices (I actually cut the pancakes up before I cooked them as you can see above). Either way works. You want to eat these with a nice Asian dipping sauce, so get that prepped before you start cooking these. If you have some Gochujang , sesame oil and garlic in the sauce that will give you a real Korean flavor however any Asian dumpling sauce will work.
You could even top them with a fried egg. Or you could put some cooked shrimp on top. So be creative. Pajeon are hugely popular in Korean cuisine and can also be made with additional ingredients such as shrimp, beef, pork, tofu, seaweed, and other vegetables. Seafood pajeon are called haemul pajeon, kimchi pajeon are known as kimchijeon.
What to enjoy along with these to make a full meal? We ate them with fried rice and these go well with that. Maybe TJ’s Japanese Fried Rice or Bulgogi Fried Rice? Add KIMCHI on the side or mixed in for sure.
All in all, I found these SCALLION PANCAKES quite tasty. I would buy them again. They are about $4 for 4 pancakes. A bit more than the plainer Taiwan pancakes but these have way more ingredients.
(FROZEN) Trader Joe’s “Mushroom Medley” is one of their really great frozen products. It’s an assortment of mushrooms that have been cooked with olive oil and garlic. You can just use these exactly the same as if you had spent time cooking up a big bag of assorted mushrooms.
I love it so much I like to always have a bag in my freezer. I can use these to come up with lots of things fast and easy. For example just by adding these mushrooms to pasta or gnocchi or polenta I can make a very tasty dish, super fast. Of course they are good for other things besides pasta or gnocchi too. Sometimes I’ll use these to come up with a mushroom sauce for say chicken. Or add some of these to eggs and make a nice mushroom omelette or maybe a frittata. You could mix some into a can of tomato sauce. Or put on a pizza. You can use just what you need in the package and put the bag back inside a Ziplock bag.
They include a variety of different mushrooms. Beside “regular” mushrooms they have some oyster mushrooms (pleurotos ostreatus), porcini (boletus edulis) and slippery jack mushrooms (suillus luteus) to give you a variety of tastes and textures. Other ingredients include extra virgin olive oil, sunflower oil, parsley, salt and garlic. It can use more garlic so usually I will add that as well as a nice slug of good EVOO.
One example of a pasta dish might be something like cooking up a shaped pasta like farfalle, penne or rigatoni, trofie or gnocchi. Then mixing the pasta into a pan with the (defrosted) mushrooms till they get nicely coated. I usually add fresh garlic plus butter and olive oil and mix in a few tablespoons of the pasta water for a lovely sauce.
This makes a very tasty nice mushroom pasta dish. You could use a long pasta instead of a shaped one (like spaghetti) but in that case I might chop up the mushrooms first perhaps.
Another use might be to toss these into cooked rice or Harvest Grains Blend for a mushroom grain dish. So again, these are very versatile and useful!
One of my favorite/go to dishes is to use these to make GNOCCHI & MUSHROOMS. Crisp fry up a package of Trader Joe’s regular gnocchi while these mushrooms are cooking with a good slug of butter. When the gnocchi are golden brown, I just toss in these mushrooms and grate some Pecorino or Parmigiano on top. Voila, a gourmet dish equal to a restaurant that serves two for dinner and costs under $6!
Another one would be pairing these with the great ORGANIC PAPPARDELLE noodles. Sauté some garlic with olive oil, add the mushrooms and mix them with the pappardelle. Easy and delicious.
You don’t have to use the whole package; take out what you need and put the rest back for later in a ziplock into the freezer.
These are a must try.
Trader Joe’s frozen Mushroom Medley is $3.99 (12 oz)
This creamy soft log of goat cheese is actually one of my favorite cheeses Trader Joe’s carries. Along with it’s cousin the “honey chevre” log which has a tiny bit of sweetness from honey.
Chevre means goat in French. The cheeses are of course made with goat’s milk. If thought sounds off putting dont worry. TJ’s version is really a very mild, creamy chevre cheese with a light pleasant taste and aroma. The “Honey Chevre” is the same cheese but they’ve added a tiny bit of honey. I really like that version. I would suggest you to buy the Honey Chevre version first, if you’ve never tried any kind of goat cheese before. Goat cheese and some sweetness go so well together which is why chevre is often paired with fruit or coated with chopped cranberries or blueberries, and TJ’s has those fruity coated cheeses too.
These goat cheeses will be a great addition especially for a cheese board, and goat cheese matches wonderfully with fruit. Slice it up and serve with apples or grapes in addition to crackers and a crusty baguette.
TJ’s says “This lovely Chevre is fresh, soft, and unaged – lower in fat, calcium, but higher in vitamin A than cheese from cow’s milk. And with a lower lactose content, makes it more tolerable for many children and elderly people who may have a tougher time processing lactose.
As a side note, TJ’s has one goat log coated with dried herbs. I am not crazy for that one, I just don’t think its as good as these other two as I found the dried herbs had a slightly bitter aftertaste. You can make that yourself fresh chopping up some herbs and rolling the log in them.
If you are lactose intolerant goat milk & cheese is supposed to be easier to digest.
These are called Savory Mini Thin Rice Crackers and they’re really tasty and really good. I just love them. They are about the size of a quarter. They’re incredibly crunchy and are delicious as a snack by themselves as well as equally delicious used like any cracker. Spread something on them, some cheese or spread or peanut butter and jam. Top them with a slice of ham, cheese, or whatever you want. If you are someone who is Gluten Free (I’m not) these are primarily made from rice. Ingredients listed are : rice flour, sesame seeds, safflower oil, tamari soy sauce powder, maltodextrin, salt and garlic powder. These light colored ones are $3.49 a bag (8 oz). There’s another multiseed kind (with Tamari) that are darker that are also good and are $3.99.
According to the Nutrition facts label there are 130 calories in 38 crackers! So pretty Low Calorie as far as snacks go and not heavy in the Sodium department either. So I’d say this is a pretty healthy snack as far as crackers you can buy.
BRINED, BONE IN, HALF TURKEY BREAST (fully cooked SOUS VIDE)
“This fully cooked turkey option takes less than an hour to reheat in the oven. Marinated in a brine of salt, sugar, black pepper and garlic herb butter. “
A week out from Thanksgiving, I noticed this option at Trader Joe’s, a half breast of turkey that already fullycooked, and basically just needs re-heating. This as something that might appeal quite a few people. Those who don’t want to cook a whole bird from scratch, yet want to have turkey on the table which is almost home made. In this case they’ve done almost all the prep and cooking for us so all this needs is finishing up. This turkey breast needs about 45 minutes in the oven.
It’s a half breast of turkey which was marinated (brined) and was cooked “sous vide” – a cooking technique top chef’s love as it keeps meat juicy and tender (I am guessing they’ve hit the skin with a torch?). The quality here is top notch.
“Our Midwest supplier splits a full turkey breast, leaving the bone in, and marinating it in a brine of salt, sugar, black pepper, and garlic-herb butter. The Half Breast is then seared, and slowly cooked sous-vide. It’s not an exaggeration to say this approach produces a moist, juicy, and tender Half Turkey Breast with rich, slow-roasted flavor-and in just 40 minutes, versus the multiple hours it takes to cook a whole turkey. Find our Fully Cooked Brined Bone-In Half Turkey Breasts (about 2.5 pounds each on average) in our refrigerated deli section.”
UPDATE: We finally tried this this year, and is actually quite good! Maybe even fantastic. In fact everyone commented, multiple times, at how good this turkey was. You could not ask for a better cook on a breast of turkey (which are so often overcooked and dried out). The turkey here came out really moist and juicy with a perfect texture, and it had great flavor.
I got the smallest package I could find (which was 2.8 lbs) and it easily fed four people, along with our side dishes. How easy is it? Well basically all you are doing is re-heating this. The directions are 25 minutes at 375 covered with foil, then remove the foil and give it another 15 minutes (so 45 mins total) while basting with the pan juices. Let it rest for five minutes before slicing.
My only gripe with this was I love crispy skin and the skin didn’t get crispy even after the extra 15 minutes of baking uncovered. However nobody really cared as the turkey itself was so good. Next time I would just put it under the broiler at the end. You might try that (5 mins?)
Though not exactly cheap this was so good, so convenient, saving us so much time and effort, and getting so many multiple compliments, that we deemed it worth it.
If you are looking for a really easy way to get some delicious breast of turkey on the table, frankly you may want to consider this.
(our TJ turkey)
Most of the packages I looked at seemed to total around $32 to $40, running around 3 to 4 pounds each. Sure $10 a pound for turkey breast isn’t exactly cheap but then you are paying for the convenience as it will save a good deal of work and time.
We found the quality top notch. Plus say you like breast/white meat anyway, like we do. So there is almost no waste. All you need to do is maybe add a package or two of gravy, cranberries, and some frozen sides like mashed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, etc.
One can come up with an almost home made Thanksgiving pretty easy sourcing it all at Trader Joe’s, though things will add up
This turkey breast seems a bit of a popular item for TJ, in fact the next time I went there I found it was Sold Out for the day.
How To Heat This: The “preferred method” is in the oven. Instructions on the package. Will take about 45 minutes total. Personally I would not pick microwave as the way to cook it.
“Aged Sheeps Milk” is a new Spanish cheese at Trader Joe’s. It’s been aged in a regional extra virgin olive oil (“Cornicabra”) for about 4 months.
it had a nice nutty and slighly tangy taste and reminded me slightly of a Pecorino, which is also made from sheep’s milk. I tried a small piece by itself and then tried it sliced thinly on some crackers. Very nice. I then added a little fig jam on that, and really like the salty / sweet combo. I think this cheese would work well on a cheese plate.
I also tried some of this cheese grated onto pasta, where it works just like Pecorino. I would buy it again. $5.99 for a 6 oz hunk.
“Serve this firm-yet-creamy Cheese as an appetizer before the big meal, alongside a bowl of Nuts About Rosemary Mix and juicy Honeycrisp apple slices. Or let a freshly toasted Ciabatta Roll soak up the olive oil as the Cheese accompanies an array of leftovers in sandwich form.”
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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