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

(Note: Since I wrote this, Trader Joe’s came out with a new flavor of these: Pineapple Teriyaki Meatballs).

Trader Joe’s CHICKEN MEATBALLS “Seasoned, Fully Cooked, Gluten Free”

INGREDIENTS: All Natural Chicken, Sea Salt, Oregano, Basil, Vinegar Powder, Garlic powder, Onion powder, Rosemary, Black Pepper, Parsley

These meatballs looked interesting enough to me to try out and review. They’re sold fresh in the refrigerated case in a vacuum pack.

They are fully cooked, ready to heat and eat. Made from “all natural, minimally processed chicken, no antibiotics”. These are Gluten Free, simply made from chicken with a few simple seasonings. Vacuum packed, they can easily keep at least a week or more in the fridge unopened. For longer storage just freeze them (to defrost I just leave them in the fridge overnight).

I’ve found with these meatballs to be very convenient for a super fast easy protein to use to come up with an quick easy meal. I find them pretty tasty if just the tiniest bit rubbery (if I compared to my own homemade chicken meatballs). I think they would be even better if they had a little bit of binder (bread crumbs eggs, veggies or the like). If you’ve ever made meatballs you know they will come out softer with a little bit of some kind of “binder” in them. Meatballs generally have bread crumbs, eggs, and milk.

I do suggest you be sure to brown them, as I think a little browning improves them. Therefore I suggest don’t just nuke these, cook and brown them up in a nonstick or seasoned pan with a little butter or oil.

I use the “Stove Top” method mentioned on the package, browning with some butter and/or olive oil. I sometime cut them in half, or quartered or sliced up as that increases the surface area for browning. If you want them whole that’s fine too just turn them to get all sides brown before serving. When they are golden brown, turn off the heat, toss a tablespoon of water or stock, or lemon juice in and cover the pan immediately to let them steam a bit which will soften them. A sprinkle of lemon juice perked them up nicely. Before cooking them I like to sprinkle them with either Smoked Paprika or AJIKA blend which helps browning even more, plus adds nice flavors.

These will be good with some sauce of your choosing… Sriracha Mayo or Garlic Dip mixed with lemon juice… Or even just some ketchup and/or mayo….Magnifique Sauce. Your favorite BBQ sauce. Sweet Chili sauce… Basically any sauce you like will work and improve these.

Here is a one way I’ve served them. Cut into halves, browned up and put on top of a bed of lentils that I had made a few days before. Another way was in a Wrap on a flour tortilla.

*Grilled Chicken Meatballs on a bed of lentils*

WRAP – *Chicken meatballs sliced and grilled, and served on warm flour tortilla with avocado and Magnifique Sauce. Added lettuce then wrapped up.*

These can easily become dinner along with some sides, say rice or potatoes, or pasta and a veggie. I think these might match well with any one of TJ’s simmer sauces (Thai or Indian). You could brown them, add sauce, simmer a few minutes and serve. Maybe toss in some frozen green beans or peas in the sauce as well? Serve on top of rice or noodles or pasta. Or just with pita or Naan? What about making these Italian style? Brown and add your favorite jar of tomato sauce. Toss them with pasta and you have an easy dinner. Or maybe brown them, slice up, and put them into a pita with some lettuce and some sauce? Or just serve them sliced up on top of a salad? So you might find these a handy thing to have in your fridge. TJ’s Chicken Meatballs are $3.99 (12 oz, about 16 meatballs in the package). Figure maybe 4 per person/portion? 4 meatballs have 16 gr of protein with 150 calories!

Now on the other hand with just a little effort you can make your own chicken meatballs! No really, it’s pretty easy. While these are very convenient of course, your own homemade ones will be way better.

RECIPE – HOMEMADE CHICKEN MEATBALLS: Take a package of Trader Joe’s fresh ground chicken (~~$3.99~~ $4.49 a pound). Put in a bowl. Mix in one egg, 2 tablespoons milk, 1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs or Panko… 1/4 tsp Salt & Pepper (Optional seasonings, even better with some chopped scallions, parsley, garlic, cilantro? Add a tablespoon of AJIJKA spice or Smoked Paprika. Mix ingredients thoroughly. Put in fridge for 1/2 hr to firm up. Form (using wet hands) into small meatballs. Flatten them for patties (more surface area to brown). Put into a nonstick pan with butter and/or olive oil. Sprinkle on Smoked Paprika. Cook 4 minutes per side, turning till browned. Deglaze pan with 1 tbl water, lemon juice, add butter and pour pan sauce over chicken.

(my Homemade grilled Asian style chicken patties with grilled rice)

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/all-natural-pasture-raised-heirloom-ground-chicken-075613

DIY Shawarma Chicken (Recipe)

The other day, I wanted SHAWARMA CHICKEN but I was a bit resentful at the current price of a package of TJ’s Shawarma Chicken. It now costs about $11-12 ($6.50/lb. currently) way up from what it orginally cost. I knew I had some boneless chicken thighs in my freezer, and I have spices of course and Greek yogurt. Why not just do a DIY SHAWARMA style chicken on my own and save some dough!? So I did just that. How did it turn out? Delicious! You can easily do a DIY Shawarma Chicken if you want to save some money, and who doesn’t these days with the constant inflation and sticker shock when you go shopping?

I used Trader Joe’s boneless skinless chicken thighs that I had in my freezer (I defrosted the chicken overnight in the fridge) Or buy fresh boneless skinless thighs; they will easily be about $2 cheaper per pound (if not more) Vs. TJ’s Shawarma Chicken which has crept up in price a few times from the original $3.99/lb to $6.49/lb as of this post.

DIY Shawarma Chicken Recipe: Put chicken in a bowl and add 3 tablespoons of Greek Yogurt. Add a few teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. Crush 4 cloves of garlic with a little salt and mix into chicken. Add a few spoons (to taste) of ZHOUG Yemeni spicy green sauce. Mix. Even this very simple version will work fine, however to make this better we should add ground spices with “Middle Eastern” flavors. Here’s some ideas for Trader Joe’s spices you can add :

Trader Joe’s EVERYDAY SEASONING (grinder), Onion Salt, Ground Turmeric, Ground Cumin, TJ’s AJIKA blend, TJ Smoked Spanish Paprika, TJ Zaatar spice blend, Black pepper, PINK SEA SALT. A pinch of cinnamon. A small glug of olive oil. MIX everything well so all the spices are mixed in. Let it marinate in fridge for 2-6 hours or overnight or up to 2-3 days. When ready to cook, just make it as you normally grill TJ’s Shawarma chicken thighs. You can of course also make this instead with CHICKEN BREASTS if you prefer white meat but just be very careful about not overcooking them. I like to cook a sliced onion in the same pan as I grill the chicken.