Trader Joe's Chicken Sausage Ravioli is one of the latest additions to TJ's long line of pre-packaged, refrigerated ravioli products, and like many of the store’s other chilled pasta offerings, it promises a quick, convenient dinner for busy weeknights. At $4.49 for a 9 oz package, it’s priced right in line with the rest of the lineup.
This thin stuffed pasta comes filled with chicken sausage, ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses, which sounds like a flavor powerhouse on paper. Unfortunately, the reality is a little more subdued.
The pasta itself is perfectly fine. It cooks quickly, the texture is tender without being mushy, and the thin sheets of pasta hold together nicely in the pot. If you’ve had Trader Joe’s other refrigerated ravioli varieties, the texture here will feel very familiar.
The bigger issue is the filling. Despite the promising ingredient list, the flavor is surprisingly mild—almost to the point of blandness. The filling is mostly a soft, white cheese mixture with only occasional small chunks of chicken sausage mixed in. Those bits do add a hint of savory flavor, but they’re sparse enough that the overall taste remains extremely subtle.
In fact, if you top this ravioli with a typical marinara sauce, the sauce tends to completely overshadow the filling. The pasta basically becomes a vehicle for whatever sauce you choose. Using just a light drizzle of olive oil lets a faint chicken sausage flavor come through, but even then it’s pretty delicate.
One thing that helped dramatically was adding Trader Joe's Aglio Olio Seasoning Blend. The garlic, herbs, and red chili pepper gave the ravioli a much needed flavor boost and turned a somewhat sleepy dish into something far more enjoyable.
To be clear, nothing about this ravioli is bad or offensive. It’s easy to cook, the pasta texture is good, and it works well as a base for sauces or seasonings. It’s just that the filling doesn’t deliver the bold flavor you might expect from chicken sausage and three cheeses.
If you’re looking for a mild, customizable ravioli you can dress up with sauce or seasoning, Trader Joe’s Chicken Sausage Ravioli will do the job. Just don’t expect the filling itself to steal the show. Despite its meatless status, I greatly preferred the recently-reviewed Vegetable Ravioli to this selection.
If you love the taste of coffee, then Trader Joe’s 2 Affogatos might be right up your alley. If you’re like me and mostly view coffee as a delivery vehicle for cream and sugar…well, buckle up.
First things first: this is an import. But not the kind you might expect. When you think affogato, you probably picture an elegant Italian cafe with a tiny spoon and someone named Giuseppe dramatically pouring espresso over gelato. Instead, this product is imported from Thailand, which was a bit surprising. Not bad. Just unexpected. Kind of like if someone tried to sell you Pad Thai imported from Italy. No offense to Thailand. It just feels like we swapped passports somewhere along the way.
Preparation is pleasantly simple. Keep the cups frozen, then when dessert time rolls around, dump the little packet of instant coffee into the center of the frozen dessert and add hot water. That’s it. In about ten seconds you’ve got yourself a DIY affogato situation.
Flavor-wise? Trader Joe's 2 Affogatos absolutely taste like coffee. No ambiguity here. The vanilla non-dairy frozen dessert does a nice job softening the bitterness, creating a creamy, melty coffee float vibe. But the coffee flavor still comes through loud and clear. For hardcore coffee fans like Sonia, this is a win. She gave it seven and a half stars and would most likely buy this product again.
For me, though? I’m more coffee-neutral. I don’t hate it, but I don’t exactly crave it either. And because the coffee flavor dominates, the whole experience leans a bit too espresso-forward for my taste. I'm throwing out six and a half out of ten stars.
Another downside: the servings are tiny. At $4.49 for two small cups, the portion-to-price ratio feels a little stingy. That said, I appreciate the creativity and the vegan-friendly approach. The dessert itself is fully vegan, which is cool. I’m also curious how it would taste if you swapped the hot water for hot milk—or hot oat milk or coconut milk if you want to keep it plant-based. That might make the whole thing richer and more indulgent.
Trader Joe's 2 Affogatos Vanilla Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts are neat to try, great for coffee lovers, but probably not a repeat buy for me. Still, if Trader Joe’s ever releases a full dairy Italian-import affogato, I’m absolutely lining up to try that one.
