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

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

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