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Thursday, February 8, 2018

Trader Joe's Chicken Sausage Breakfast Burrito


Oh, fast food breakfast sandwiches. They will always be my vice. A few years back, I'd eat two of them a morning a few times a week, and wonder why I was about a hundred pounds overweight. Those days have passed, and I'm in a better place and all, but still...can't quite give up the breakfast sandwich. Fortunately I'm down to usually only one a week now, on Fridays as a treat. Seems reasonable enough a prize for lasting thru a long week up to that point, with a little added something to get me the rest of the way home.

I have my usual go-to spot, but anytime I hear anything new about a breakfast sandwich somewhere, my ears instantly perk. So only naturally, when I heard of the new Trader Joe's Chicken Sausage Breakfast Burrito, I had to give it a try.

Not that TJ's exactly has a sparkling history of mornin' wraps. I'm with Nathan on those - gross and nondescript. The burritos, I mean, and not Nathan. He's a pretty good guy.

As with most things, there's plusses and minuses here. First, it's in the refrigerator section, and not frozen. This means there's a definite fresher quality to the whole shebang that plays out through things like tortilla and egg texture, and there's no chance of any frozen little chunks here or there which torpedo any decent shot at breakfast. Indeed, everything's pretty on point in that regard. To heat, there's both oven and microwave options, which Sandy and I tried both - the oven, unsurprisingly, is the superior option by far, with the tortilla getting nice and crackery-cripsy, as opposed to soft and flaky and crumbly and kinda limp. Of course, you might not always have half an hour to heat a breakfast burrito, and if you did, you could probably easily make a better one yourself, so there's that.

Each element is good and solid in its own right - tortilla is representative, the eggs of decent quality, the cheese present but lacking much distinction, and the chicken sausage and potatoes holding up their end of the deal. Problem is, there's kinda an overall lack of flavor. Nothing is good enough to really stand out on its own, and there's not even enough spice added to really do too much. Granted, this just means you could easily doctor with your favorite salsa or hot sauce or whatever else you wanted, if you wanted to. I kinda just wish there was something more to it - more sharpness to the cheddar, or more savoriness from the sausage, or a little peppery kick, or something - but nope.

Then there's the price. It's $3.99 for the burrito. That doesn't strike me as great bargain for something I have to heat myself and probably add more stuff to. Heck, my go-to breakfast sandwich of choice costs less and I can pile high with veggies and customize to my heart's content. Man, I love touchscreen menus...

Overall, the sausage breakfast wrap is a good, not great, bite. It fills a void and uses up a lot of your discretionary nutritional values for the day. Sandy and I shared a burrito both times we had it for breakfast, and with some fruit and coffee it was more than adequate to hold us over til lunch. But I struggle to see the point of its existence - it's not often I'd find going to TJ's more convenient than a drive-thru or convenience store for a bite. Plus, I've learned through too many embarrassing shirt stains that burritos are absolutely not meant to be consumed on the go, which this seems tailored to...just odd. Maybe I'm completely whiffing on something here. Can't seem to muster more than a halfhearted three for it, while Sandy goes in a little higher.

Bottom line: Trader Joe's Chicken Sausage Breakfast Burrito: 6.5 out of 10 Golden Spoons

5 comments:

  1. Try the "combo" burrito/chimichanga cooking technique for faster and better prep. First, microwave for about 30-60 seconds less than full-microwave cooking time. Then put the mostly-cooked burrito in a heated skillet for about 2 minutes on each side, or until it begins to brown. Gives the tortilla a nice crisped flavor without drying out the fillings.

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  2. A while back i helped the son of a very good friend, he was just starting his first (low paying) job and is tall and slim with the metabolism of, well, a tall slim active guy in his early 20s. I taught him to make something similar with eggs and cheese and beans and veggies and pickled jalapeƱos and we rolled a mega batch to keep in the freezer.
    He told me later most became a midnight snack or dinner more often than breakfast (since he would buy cheap bagels with cream cheese at the nearby shop)- anyways- i have a point!
    I think these TJs ones would be a great breakfast for basically a very active young male, or great split between two people like you did- but yeah, like we did it’s certainly easier and more cost effective to make your own to have on a regular basis.
    Ttrockwood

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  3. These just don't sound appetizing to me. Ocourse there is the fact I'm not a fan of eggs in their straight liquid chicken form. That aside I don't understand why they don't put other things in the burrito to make the flavor more complex like salsa, green chiles or jalapenos. At the very least I could have made it a chicken chorizo sausage.

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  4. Long time reader, first time commenter... If it’s okay I’d like direct you to my YouTube channel, specifically my breakfast pizza video. I use Trader Joe’s naan as the base. Super simple to make at home or if you have a toaster oven in your break room at work, you can do some prep the night before and cook in a few minutes at work. Seriously this is my favorite breakfast and it’s also inexpensive.
    https://youtu.be/yRaTsbi9Fc4

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  5. TJ's needs to sell egg patties. But with spices and cheese in the patties. Perfect for those hankering to make homemade sandwiches in dorm room

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