Trader Joe's Crispy Garlic and Trader Joe's Fried Shallots

Trader Joe’s Crispy Garlic and Trader Joe's Fried Shallots are the kind of products that make you feel kinda smug in the snack aisle. You’re not buying chips. You’re buying ingredients. Fancy toppings. Culinary enhancements. Definitely not something you’re about to eat straight out of the bag like a raccoon at midnight, although I must admit we did try both that way and they're not half bad.

Trader Joe's Fried Shallots on a burger

Anyway, both of these live in resealable bags, both hail from Thailand, and both feel suspiciously like they might come from the same magical allium factory overseas. The Crispy Garlic will cost you $3.29, while the Fried Shallots are a slightly more modest $2.49. Inflation is real, but apparently garlic still thinks pretty highly of itself.

Trader Joe's Crispy Garlic

Let’s start with the Crispy Garlic. These little guys look like almond slices, which makes them feel classy even as they’re absolutely wrecking your breath. The flavor is significantly more potent than the shallots. They’re fried in rice bran oil, and the result is deeply savory, crunchy, and wildly addictive. If you love garlic like we do, this is your jam. Or topping. Or handful snack.

The Fried Shallots are more familiar, more chill. Think fried onions, but with that shallot sweetness and depth. They’re fried in palm oil and are perfect on burgers, salads, rice bowls, noodles—basically anything that feels lonely. We threw them on a burger and immediately felt smarter than we are. They add crunch, a little zing, and zero regrets. They're also certified vegan (until you put them on a hamburger).

If forced to choose, we like the garlic just a tad more but that’s because we’re garlic fiends, not because the shallots did anything wrong. In a fairer universe, you’d just buy both. Which, spoiler alert, we would absolutely do again. Sonia will go with eight and a half stars on Trader Joe's Crispy Garlic. I'll go half a star lower with a solid eight. The beautiful wifey gives Trader Joe's Fried Shallots eight out of ten stars, and once again, I'll go just a half star lower.

Trader Joe's Crispy Garlic: 8.25 out of 10.
Trader Joe's Fried Shallots: 7.75 out of 10.