Of all the many things you might find at a Thanksgiving Dinner spread, I think I like stuffing most of all. I mean, ideally, you're never really eating stuffing all by itself. You're gonna have turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce to go with it. But I mean, if I had to pick just one item from Turkey Day that's my favorite, it's stuffing. I am a carbivore, after all.
There's a cornbread stuffing mix that you make yourself. We like that one. Also, there used to be a cornbread stuffing that came pre-mixed with chicken sausage in it. That one was so-so, but I don't think it's available this year anyway. Trader Joe's even sells stuffing-flavored potato chips. Those things are awesome. And we did a short video review of their stuffing-flavored popcorn. Sonia and I enjoy that product a lot, too.
Right now, we're focusing in on Trader Joe's Cornbread Stuffing with Roasted Apples, Dried Cranberries, and Savory Herbs. This might be my favorite Trader Joe's actual stuffing product. The popcorn and potato chips got the highest scores on our blog, but if we're talking actual breading/dressing/filling/stuffing then I think this is the best one we've seen from TJ's.
It's very moist and slightly sweet. It's salty and savory, but the apples and cranberries add a nice fruity taste to the breads, herbs, and spices. It's soft and fluffy. We heated ours in the oven right in the tray that it comes in, and it came out great. I'm told it winds up a bit soggy when prepared in the microwave.
$5.99 for the 17 oz container, found in the refrigerated section. Would buy again. Sonia didn't grow up eating pumpkin pie or cranberry sauce, but she did grow up with turkey and stuffing, and she likes this product as well. We'll probably have this again for Christmas Dinner. We'll both go with eight out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Cornbread Stuffing with Roasted Apples, Dried Cranberries, and Savory Herbs.
Can you believe it's Thanksgiving week already? Man, 2025 has absolutely flown by. It's a great time to remind yourself that no matter what you're going through, no matter how hard things have been, even if things in the world don't look the way you want them to, there is ALWAYS something for which to be thankful.
I could wax poetic about the holiday ad infinitum and name all the things I'm grateful for, but this here is a food review, so let's get to it. We're looking at Trader Joe's Cranberry Sauce. I'll give you the TL;DR up front: I LOVE the taste, and I'm not a huge fan of the texture.
$3.29 gets you a 12 oz glass jar of sauce made with nothing but cranberries, sugar, water, and pectin. That's it. That's the entire ingredients list. Love it. It's very sweet, very tart, and is absolutely bursting with real cranberry flavor.
Unfortunately, the cranberry skins are left intact to the point that certain bites are somewhat chewy. There's a grittiness to the texture, too. Although I grew up with the ultra-smooth Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce at most of my Thanksgivings, I don't mind a bit of fruit pieces floating around in the condiment, but this is too far in the opposite direction.
I really love the taste as well as the texture of Trader Joe's Cranberry Orange Relish. It's got like a...well, like it's a similar texture as pickle relish but obviously not the same taste. That's still my favorite "cranberry sauce" from Trader Joe's and gets my full endorsement as a Thanksgiving Day fare recommendation. This offering is just a tad too chunky for my preference. If it were pureed a bit more, I think it would be great. Some folks will love the "au naturel" style sauce complete with cranberry skins, seeds, etc. Others won't.
I like this better than Trader Joe's Cranberry Ginger Chutney which has too much vinegar flavor for both Sonia and me. We both love Indian food and enjoy the vast majority of chutneys, but that sauce was a thumbs down for us. And of course, if you're looking for something similar to this shelf-stable product but refrigerated and more recently produced, there's always Trader Joe's Fresh Cranberry Sauce which comes in a tub rather than a glass jar.
We'll be having the cranberry orange relish again this year for Turkey Day. This one will be great for some folks and just okay for others. Watch our video review for more thoughts and commentary. Seven and a half out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey for Trader Joe's Cranberry Sauce. I'll go with an even seven.
