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Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Trader Joe's Vegan Tikka Masala

It's never been the taste of vegetarian or vegan foods that's kept me from swearing off animal products entirely. It's primarily the cost and lack of availability of viable meat-free alternatives. And although arguments can be made that vegetarian diets may even be cheaper than meatful diets, we're a long ways off from being able to purchase meat-free corn dogs from the average street vendor or chickenless nuggets from the Mickey D's on the corner.

That being said, Trader Joe's is one of those rare places where meaty foods and meatless foods are pretty much on a level playing field. There are plenty of options in both camps, and strict vegetarians probably don't feel like they're missing out on all that much. This product is a prime example. TJ's is a great place for meat eaters to discover that Meatless Mondays won't kill them—or that they can be "part time vegans." In fact, we've already reviewed a vegetarian tikka masala dish on this blog, as well as a non-vegetarian one.

Like the previous two tikka masala dishes, this one has some amazing sauce. It's full of Indian spices and flavor, it's creamy, and it's mildly hot. It's almost as good as masala sauce I've had from actual Indian restaurants. The rice is your basic basmati—the kind we usually see in these frozen Indian dishes from TJ's—flavored with oil and cumin, and as always, it blends very well with the sauce and other elements. 

The vegan meat substitute was fairly neutral in flavor, which allowed the sauce to be the dominant taste of the dish. If anything, the vegan chunks tasted just ever so slightly soy-ish, with a breadiness about them as well. It wasn't an unpleasant flavor at all—on the contrary, it was delicate and satisfying, despite a decided lack of potency. 

Texture-wise, the meatless chunks did a decent job of imitating white meat chicken pieces, if but perhaps a mite bit more chewy—certainly not to the point that I would complain. In fact, I've definitely had actual chicken that was far more rubbery than this on more than one occasion. I should note at this point that I did heat my entree in the microwave, although conventional oven instructions are given. Even though I've become far more proficient at traditional cooking in the past few years, my rule of thumb is that if it comes in a plastic tray with clear film on top, I'll go ahead and nuke it...or if I'm really hungry and don't want to wait the extra 20 minutes. In this case, it was both.

$3.49 at our local TJ's, six minutes in the microwave, and a reasonable calorie count for tikka masala...this gets a thumbs up from me.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

16 comments:

  1. If you was blindfolded and would you tell the difference between this vegan one and the regular chicken masala?

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    1. Yes, I would be able to tell the difference. And I would prefer the regular chicken version slightly. I think we gave that one 9.5 stars. But this vegan version isn't bad by any means.

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  2. The sauce was my biggest concern. I love the Chicken Tikka sauce, and I don't know how you could make it anywhere as good without yogurt, butter, cream, or milk.

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    Replies
    1. Good point, Meredith.

      I thought the sauce was really good. Looks like it was coconut milk based...

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    2. Then I'd have to say you haven't had good non-dairy sauces. I've had a drove of many versions over the years, and this tikka masala sauce is very tasty, if not superior to the overly-heavy dairy-based sauces with that cloying bite of heavy cream you don't get with the compliment of a nice coconut cream. Check out some recipes for non-dairy tikka masala and try them yourself - I think you will be pleasantly surprised to find you don't need dairy whatsoever to create a superior Indian sauce.

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  3. Weird that it contains more calories (430) than the regular chicken version (only 360 calories) since it doesn't have all the cream and butter.

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    1. That is really strange. I hadn't noticed that...

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    2. The sauce is based on coconut milk and cashews, both of which are super fatty.

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  4. I really like this. I'm not vegetarian but honestly I haven't been impressed with the quality of TJs chicken products. Used to love the Orange Chicken 5 years ago but past times I've gotten it is been way too weirdly stringy, odd hard bits, and "grissley" (which chicken shouldn't have really).

    So this is great for my tikka masala fix without having to deal with awful quality chicken.

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    Replies
    1. Yes. Everybody says the orange chicken isn't what it used to be. Sad.

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  5. This is easily one of my favorite TJ dishes. As someone with a dairy allergy I love to find stuff like this without the dairy and I think the coconut milk based sauce tastes great! I find the vegan "meat" completely unoffensive, which as others have said, is better than I can say about some of the TJ chicken...

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  6. I just tried this for the first time for lunch have to say the sauce was on point; super tasty and perfect amount of spice. The soy chicken didn't have a bad taste or texture, but reminded me of a meatball as opposed to a chicken piece. That said, I would definitely grab this again for a fast lunch. I bet it'd be good with the Trader Joe's Vegetable Pakoras (which are amazing!)

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  7. Forgot to add to post - I'm vegan so it's been a few years since I've actually had chicken tikka masala but this was a pleasant surprise to microwave Indian food :)

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  8. I just tried this and had to stop first bite and look at the box again to confirm it was NOT meat. It was more like a chicken meatball, but I am not familiar with the original chicken Tikka Masala. This is very good and on my regular list now.

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  9. I'm having it now and it's amazing. The sauce has all the right flavors and a perfect body. The "meat" is surprisingly good! I find it to be more of a meatball than a chickeny chunk but the texture and light flavor compliments the dish very well. I couldn't be happier! I'm newly vegetarian btw- 1 year in April.

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  10. I could eat this every single day, perhaps, and never grow tired of it. I couldn't imagine a more delicious vegan microwave dinner. I eat it slowly and enjoy it incredibly. I haven't tried the chicken version, but if I'm so super satisfied with this non-dairy sauce, why go and spoil that by trying something you guys say is so great but has milk in it, right? Even my very Mexican husband who wasn't crazy about Indian food when we went to an Indian restaurant enjoys this so much that he has asked me several times to buy at least three or four at a time!

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