Trader Joe's Hot Smoked Salmon Fillet

Sonia and I grabbed this product from the fridge at TJ's in haste, neither of us remembering that it had already been reviewed on this blog. In our defense, it's been over five years since the post went up, and we weren't the ones that reviewed it.

I thought about simply bumping that old post and plopping a short video at the bottom, but I think I'll just let that one stand on its own since we've got a significantly divergent take on this item. If you care to read the review from my esteemed former colleague just click here:

Trader Joe's Hot Smoked Salmon Fillet Take One

It's quite possible suppliers have changed in the past five years or that the quality of the fish has improved or simply that my erstwhile Pittsburghian counterpart "got a bad batch," but we found a much smaller layer of dark gray salmon next to the skin on our specimen. Also, we found our salmon to taste pretty good overall.

My biggest gripe would be that the smokey flavor was just a little overbearing. Some folks love that smokey flavor, but I can only tolerate it in moderation. Sonia was fine with the smokiness here.

We found a salmon spread recipe on thekitchn.com involving this salmon, mayo, onions, and lemon/lime juice. That combo was absolutely superb. The acidity of the lime juice and the creaminess of the mayo counterbalanced the smoke flavor nicely, and it made an extremely satisfying appetizer that actually wound up being our dinner.

We finished the product in a single sitting that way, serving the salmon spread on both water crackers and white rice. Get a look at the actual product by checking out the YouTube Short below.

$8.99 for the 6 ounce ready-to-serve package. In the end, I'd prefer unsmoked salmon for most situations, but this product is convenient and has plenty of potential when mixed with other ingredients. Would buy again. Seven and a half out of ten stars from me. Eight and a half out of ten stars from Sonia.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli

Some products just don't need a pumpkin version. And other things seem like they were created for the express purpose of being stuffed with the large orange gourd. In my humble opinion, this product falls into the latter category. That is to say, "Why the heck haven't we tried pumpkin ravioli before?"

Pretty sure this and a gluten-free variety have been floating around Trader Joe's seasonally for a few years now. Can't remember if it wasn't available or if we just passed it over on purpose in favor of other fall flavors, but I'm glad we're getting around to it now. It's good.

Pumpkin is actually the number one ingredient in this unique fall pasta. After that, we've got ricotta and mozzarella, along with a subtle and appropriate blend of spices and sweeteners including both brown sugar and honey. We do have nutmeg, allspice, clove, and cinnamon in the mix, but the product manages to avoid becoming a pumpkin pie spice product somehow and maintains a savory, squashy essence despite its honey sweetness.

Sonia and I ate our ravioli with just a touch of butter and salt. I can't imagine a sauce that would enhance this product rather than clash with it, but some folks say it goes well with Trader Joe's Autumnal Harvest Pasta Sauce. As much as I like that sauce, I think I'd rather reserve it for more neutral pasta products. This pumpkin ravioli has a really nice taste just on its own and I wouldn't want it to compete with any additional flavors. A sage brown butter sauce might be an exception.

$3.99 for the 9 oz pack. It comes refrigerated but you can freeze it if there's a chance you won't use if before the best by date. We would buy this product again. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey and me for Trader Joe's Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Tarte au Brie et aux Tomates

This classic thin crust "tarte" begs comparison to another longstanding Trader Joe's mainstay: Trader Giotto's Pizza Margherita. Both have thin crusts, though the one on this offering might be even thinner than the margherita's. Both are fairly stripped down and simple in terms of presentation and toppings, and both are sourced internationally, this one from France and the margherita from Italy.

Cheese-wise, we've got Brie and creme fraiche on this product, which combine for a unique, rich, and creamy quality. I'm not even that big a fan of Brie, and I'm quite sensitive to all moldy cheeses thanks to some odd allergies, but this combo didn't bother me at all in terms of a reaction, and it did provide the dish with a very interesting gourmet essence.

Instead of marinara sauce, we're looking at flattened cherry tomatoes. Again, I'm not fond of tomatoes in their purest form, but since they emerge from the oven fully cooked, I was willing to give them a chance. We were both happy with their flavor. 

The main problem that Sonia and I both perceived is that tomato sauce can be spread quite evenly over an entire pizza whereas actual tomatoes are less consistent. That is, one bite will contain an entire cherry tomato and the next bite might not have any tomato at all. Sonia, in particular, wanted a lot more tomatoes.

The braided crust was excellent. It's thinner than I'd usually prefer, but it was flaky, crispy, and very flavorful. The dough seemed to be of exceptional quality. We both almost wished Trader Joe's would sell the crust by itself to be customized and topped at home before baking.

At $4.49, this one's 30 cents cheaper than its Italian counterpart. This style of tarte is apparently very common in Alsace-Lorraine, but to a typical American consumer it might seem a bit fancy or even pretentious. 

In the end, both Sonia and I liked Trader Giotto's Pizza Margherita a little more than this dish but for slightly different reasons. It might not be number one on our shopping list, but a repeat purchase is definitely not out of the question. Sonia and I will both throw out seven and a half stars for Trader Joe's Tarte au Brie et aux Tomates.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Caramelized Onion & Bell Pepper Turkey Patties

I might be the odd man out here, but I'll generally gravitate toward a turkey burger before I'll choose the more common and more traditional beef patty. Same for Sonia. If we're going to eat red meat, we'd both prefer buffalo (bison) burgers before beef, but those aren't exactly ubiquitous, so it's largely moot point.

All that to say, we love turkey burgers and have had many throughout the years. See: Trader Joe's frozen turkey burgers. I assumed these would be, like, my favorite thing ever since I'm also a big fan of caramelized onions and bell peppers. And while I did enjoy the veggies mixed right into the meat, I felt like there was something just slightly off that I couldn't quite put my finger on at first.

Meanwhile, the beautiful wifey raved about her burger. She said she was shocked at how much she loved it. She was originally thinking of adding seasoning during the heating process, but I talked her out of it, noting that for the purpose of review we should taste them sans fixins, at least at first.

She was amazed at how not bland the burgers were, embracing the onions, peppers, and interesting seasoning blend, though we both did note that the caramelized onions mentioned on the packaging didn't show up visibly in the burgers nor in the flavor profile in any meaningful way. We had the burgers with cheese, mustard, arugula, and pretzel buns in the end, both deciding that any additional seasoning was unnecessary.

After the fact, I did a bit of recon and checked out traderjoes.com to see if they mentioned what kind of turkey meat was used. Sure enough, they specify on the website that these turkey burgers are made of 100% thigh meat, though it's not specified on the product label. I've mentioned before that I'm a white meat and poultry breast kinda guy. Turkey burgers where white and dark meat are mixed work quite well, too, in my humble opinion. This dark meat only stuff doesn't taste quite as good to me.

Also, wtf is "cultured onion juice"?

TL;DR—I like the veggies cooked into the patties but I don't like that they're made of only dark meat. Sonia absolutely adores Trader Joe's Caramelized Onion & Bell Pepper Turkey Patties.

$5.99 for four patties, found in the refrigerated section.

Sonia's score: 9 out of 10.

Nathan's score: 7 out of 10.

Trader Giotto's Penne Arrabbiata

I feel like there are more Italian folks in the northeast than anywhere else in the country, and thus the northeast is absolutely brimming with authentic Italian restaurants. Every town with a thousand people or more has at least one decent sit-down Italian place run by a family that's passed down recipes from father to son or mother to daughter for many generations.

The midwest has some Italian restaurants, for sure, but they're a bit farther and fewer between, and the real gems might be a little harder to find. Maybe it's the lack of a single Italian restaurant in our current neighborhood, but you might have noticed we've been picking up a good many Italian dishes from TJ's these past few months. I'm not sure how I've missed so many "Trader Giotto" products over the years, but better late than never, I suppose.

All that to say I've never tried arrabbiata pasta prior to this dish, so I have no idea what I'm talking about. If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you'll know that's never stopped me in the past and it certain won't stop me today. First thoughts? It's good but not great, IMO.

The spice blend that's there is nice, namely garlic, chili pepper, and white pepper, but it's pretty tame by our standards. Sonia and I both felt the Calabrian Chili Pasta Sauce had more tongue-tingling heat and a more interesting overall flavor profile than the sauce on this pasta. How authentic this arrabbiata sauce is, we can't say, but while it's nothing to write home about, it's nothing to complain about either.

The pasta was pretty run-of-the-mill penne. It was just a tad more al dente than either of us would have wanted but it was still pretty decent for having been so recently frozen. We found parmesan cheese added a nice creamy tang that was very welcome, and we also added some red pepper flakes to give it more of a kick.

In the end, it's a thumbs up overall, but we'd still gravitate towards boiling our own pasta and adding our own sauce. $3.49 for the 3 serving bag. Imported from Italy. We would possibly buy Trader Giotto's Penne Arrabbiata again.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Green Chile Chicken Bowl

Shockingly, this chicken bowl did not come from Canada, as so many other selections from Trader Joe's did. I guess we're to assume it's a domestic product despite its Mexican-inspired-ness. Although, I suppose they might not tell us each time an item is imported. Either way, it's a tasty dish. Let's take a look.

There's quite a lot of dark meat chicken in this bowl. I might be on the record saying I only like white meat, but in this case, I'll make an exception. The meat isn't greasy or low quality at all. It's finely shredded and has a very soft, succulent quality even after heating in the microwave. There's honestly just as much chicken in the bowl as rice, if not more. They didn't skimp.

The flavor is nice, too. There's a modest amount of heat from the green chiles and spices, which include black pepper, chili pepper, cumin, garlic powder, and oregano. Sonia and I both really liked the seasoning combo and didn't even feel the need to add our own spices.

Drawbacks? There's not enough cheddar cheese—what little was there was very nice. The whole thing is mushy. We both thought the mix could have used some crisp veggies like corn or chunks of bell peppers. Neither issue is a dealbreaker by any means.

$4.49 is about a dollar more than I'd want to pay for something like this, but it's decent food and very convenient. You can heat it in the oven but we opted for the microwave and weren't disappointed. Sonia will go with eight out of ten stars on Trader Joe's Green Chile Chicken Bowl. I'm down for seven out of ten.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Seafood Boil

You know what my favorite type of seafood is? Corn on the cob. Ah, it'll be harvest time soon and we'll be casting our nets in the bay and pulling those ears of corn out by the hundreds. Yum. Then we'll boil them up along with a bunch of other ocean critters like sausage and potatoes, similar to what we have here with this quaint, seasonal Trader Joe's product.

Matter of fact, it might be done for the year right now. No matter. This review will still be good next year if this product comes back. There might still be a few stragglers out there in TJ's freezers here and there. I'm not sure how that works, quite frankly, and I don't care. Or like the beautiful wifey and me, you might have this sitting in the back of your freezer at home and you're wondering when to boil it up.

Like my old man always said, "There's no time like the present." Sounds good. Let's fire up the big black pot on the stove and get boiling.

The only authentic cajun style cooking I've really ever had was at The Gumbo Pot at the Farmers Market in Los Angeles. I'm not calling it authentic myself. My old friends with their extended family from Louisiana told me it was legit, and it seemed pretty tasty to me. Catfish. Gumbo. Crawfish. You name it, they served it, and it was very flavorful, spicy, and delicious.

This Trader Joe's product? Oddly, the only element that seemed to really flaunt any cajun spice was the sausage, and as many of you know, I'm not a huge fan of pork sausage. The texture and taste of the seafood was fine, but none of it was really bursting with sassy Southern spices. The potatoes were soft and unoffensive, but again, not particularly flavorful. The corn on the cob was interesting. If anything, it absorbed more of the cajun spices than anything else, but still, it begged for a dusting of chile lime or cayenne pepper.

It's a fair amount of food, but Sonia and I easily polished it off in a single sitting. There were only three little corn on the cob pieces in the whole mix, four slices of sausage, a half dozen shrimp, and three or four pieces of each other element. For ten bucks, it's a little steep for grocery store fare.

Again, this was a seasonal item which may or may not be back for next year. We had it in the back of the freezer and there are my thoughts, for whatever they're worth. Sonia ate her portion without complaint but she had to add plenty of extra seasonings. She'll throw out six out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Seafood Boil. I'll go with five out of ten.

Bottom line: 5.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Tortilla Española

Over 20 years ago, I visited Spain briefly. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything quite like this during my few days there. I was able to sample some paella in Madrid, but I mentioned on this blog that I actually liked Trader Joe's Seafood Paella more than the dish I had in Spain.

Sonia didn't grow up with anything quite like this either. It's new to both of us, and it's nothing like a "tortilla" in the way we both think of the word. This item is more like a dense omelette made of potatoes, eggs, and onions, primarily. In fact, that's it. Except for a bit of salt and oil, those are the sole ingredients.

The product isn't too oily, even after adding a bit to the pan we cooked it in. It's a nice, clean, hearty breakfast food, filling and simple. It darkened a bit around the outside edges of the "tortilla" and got just a tad crispy by the end of the heating process. The rest of the dish was soft, warm, and moist, but not so damp as to feel wet or soupy at all. If anything, I would have wished for more of the onion flavor. It wasn't pungent enough if you ask me.

I ate mine without any toppings or condiments, though it had crossed my mind to dabble a bit of hot sauce here and there. Sonia added cheese, garlic, hot sauce, and black pepper to hers yet still insisted she enjoyed the plain product even before dressing it up.

$5.49 for the 6 serving omelet. Product of Spain. Would buy again. Eight out of ten stars from Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Tortilla Española.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Spicy Peanutty Noodle Bowl with Chicken

It's only recently come to my attention that peanut butter is largely an American phenomenon. I've heard conflicting stories, but some claim that peanut-based sauces on foreign dishes—such as Pad Thai—is only a recent adaptation and that the authentic dishes in their respective countries of origin are rarely, if ever, made with peanut butter. The USA is routinely among the highest per capita consumers of peanut butter in the world, along with Canada—which just happens to be where this Trader Joe's item is produced.

What's working here: the taste. It's a nice sweet peanut vibe overall. The veggies provide some earthy greens and there's a modest amount of chicken flavor.

What's not working: the portion is too small. Sonia and I shared this for lunch knowing it was a single serving, but I don't think it would have filled me up even if I'd eaten the whole thing. Despite a significant amount of calories, carbs, and sugars in the mix, the dish wasn't very filling. It's not very spicy at all. We would have preferred a bit more heat.

There was nothing unpleasant about the texture, but I would have liked something more to chew on. The ground chicken is pulverized into oblivion and I wouldn't have minded actual peanuts or peanut halves in the mix. It's just a bit too mushy. That said, none of the veggies were stringy or offensive, as bok choy in particular can be sometimes. The noodles had a nice soft feel, too.

$3.49 for the bowl. Despite a few shortcomings, Sonia and I both liked the taste enough that we would buy it again. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey for Trader Joe's Spicy Peanutty Noodle Bowl with Chicken. I'll throw out seven stars.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Dill Pickle Mini Falafel

In case you're new here, I should mention that I really love chickpeas and chickpea derivative products like hummus and falafel. Neither Sonia nor I are vegan or vegetarian, but we both enjoy Mediterranean dishes and we've reviewed numerous other falafel products from Trader Joe's right here on this very blog. See: Trader Joe's Heat & Eat Falafel, Trader Joe's Falafel Chips, and Trader Joe's Falafel Mix. And we've reviewed a bunch of pickle-flavored stuff, too.

Evidently, this pickle falafel has been around for at least two years. Not sure how it evaded my sights all this time, but we're finally getting around to buying and trying it now. Better late than never, I always say.

Only conventional oven and microwave heating instructions are listed on the bag, but a quick internet search revealed that 390° for 7 minutes in an air fryer works just fine too. The product smells faintly of dill pickle and other falafel spices like garlic and onion. They're called "mini falafel" because they're about half the size of your typical falafel ball. They're still a bit too big to be considered "bite-sized" but they're headed in that direction.

The pickle taste is faint but there. It compliments the flavor of the garbanzo bean base. Anything you'd pair with traditional falafel would work with this product—tzatziki, hummus, tabouli, tahini, or zhoug. You could serve it with rice, pita, or a salad. Or you could do like we did and make falafel soft tacos with tzatziki, shredded cheese, and arugula in a flour tortilla. Yum.

They're crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and quite dense. They're not too dry, not too oily, and plenty versatile.

They contain canola oil, as many TJ's products do, which we're not thrilled about, but all things considered they're tasty and convenient and we'll each throw out a score of 8/10. $4.29 for the 12 ounce bag, found in the frozen section. Vegan. We would buy Trader Joe's Dill Pickle Mini Falafel again.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Giotto's Pizza Margherita

Now here's a product that has really stood the test of time. I can't tell you exactly when it debuted, but I can tell you that Sonia has been purchasing Trader Giotto's Pizza Margherita since before we met circa 2005, so we're probably talking 20+ years on TJ's shelves. That's noteworthy. I've only had it one other time prior to this review, years ago, and it's finally time to give this bad boy its well-deserved day in the sun.

I mean it's nothing fancy. I think its simplicity is its strength. We're talking nothing more than dough, sauce, and cheese—but it's high-quality dough, sauce, and cheese. Just seven minutes at 425°F and you're ready to chow down.

The crust comes out crispy and slightly chewy. It's a relatively thin crust, which Sonia loves and I'm okay with when the occasion calls for it. If it's cold out and I'm absolutely starving, nothing but a thick, oily deep dish breading will hit the mark. But it's summertime and I'm rarely craving something so heavy, so this Pizza Margherita is just perfect for lunch these days.

There's plenty of tomato flavor, of course. The mozzarella cheese is smooth, creamy, and subtle, and it allows the basil flavor in the sauce to come through just a bit. There's also a hint of garlic and onion underneath it all. It's a nice, clean, uncomplicated flavor.

Of course, you can dress it up some if you're feeling frisky. Sonia and I were more than happy to have it plain, but it wouldn't clash with any basic pizza toppings if you wanted to add them a la carte.

$4.79 for the three serving pizza. Product of Italy. It's adequate for two adults for dinner. Will buy again. Nine out of ten stars from Sonia. Eight out of ten from Nathan for Trader Giotto's Pizza Margherita.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's (Refrigerated) Chicken Tikka Masala

I've always been a fan of chicken tikka. It's basically chicken tandoori made with boneless and skinless chicken breast. It's served dry, while its cousin chicken tikka masala is served in a creamy, tomato-based sauce like the dish we have here. Sonia and I have both had some pretty tasty tikka masala in our day, too, so Trader Joe's has their work cut out for them.

This product comes refrigerated, not frozen, so you've only got a week or so to consume it. The heating instructions involved either 5 minutes in the microwave or 25 minutes in the oven. We opted for the conventional bakey box because we were leery of rubbery chicken. 

The texture of the meat was fine, but our basmati rice dried out a bit. It got a tad crunchy by the end of the heating cycle. We've both had tikka masala with thicker sauce, but the relative thinness of this offering didn't bother me, while it did bug the beautiful wifey to some extent.

She also thought the sauce lacked flavor. And though I have had more pungent masala sauce once or twice, again, I was fine with the spice level and taste of the topping here, noting elements of tomato, onion, garlic, turmeric, paprika, and ginger. Nothing to complain about in my opinion.

Still, the dry, crunchy rice, relatively small serving size, and higher price tag will have a negative effect on our score of this product... 

We actually recommend either the frozen Chicken Tikka Masala or even the Vegan Tikka Masala over this refrigerated variety. It's been a long time since we've purchased either of those products, but assuming they're more or less the same as when we reviewed them, they're consistently good and optimized for going straight from the freezer to the microwave with pleasant results.

$6.99 for two servings. Seven out of ten stars from Nathan for Trader Joe's Chicken Tikka Masala. Sonia's score: 7/10 as well.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Organic Uncured Grass Fed Beef Hot Dogs

Ah, nothing's more 'Murican than throwing a package of hot dogs on the grill in the middle of the summer, sun high overhead, beads of sweat on your forehead from the heat and humidity, Old Glory waving above the front stoops of each house on the block, birds singing, dogs barking, children laughing, and the smell of salty, smoky meat wafting through the air. Almost heaven.

On this occasion, however, we opted to cook these weenies indoors. I think the George Foreman approximates a grill somewhat better than an air fryer does, plus we haven't fired it up in quite a while, so we dug deep in the kitchen cupboard and dusted off the old relic. Still worked like a charm. In minutes, we had some nice brown hotdogs ready for buns and toppings.

And the ingredients here don't get much cleaner or simpler. We've got organic beef, water, and a dozen or so organic spices and seasonings. Nice.

They tasted pretty standard for all-beef hotdogs. Not bad by any means. But honestly, I think I prefer the taste of Hebrew National for reasons I can't quite put my finger on.

Texture-wise, the casings on these dogs really hindered my enjoyment of them. With most bites, there was a moment of hesitation where the chunk of meat refused to separate fully from the rest of the hotdog and a bit of skin had me yanking the product away from my face while I clutched the beef with my teeth and pulled in the opposite direction. Once again, Hebrew National for the win in terms of texture. I'm only using Hebrew National because they're the gold standard for all-beef hotdogs in my experience, and I do believe most Trader Joe's carry them, too.

About six bucks for six hotdogs. While the ingredients are impeccable, I just can't go too high with my score since there's a better product on the shelf right next to these puppies. Once again, we're always interested in hearing your opinion of the product, so fire away in the comments section. Nathan and Sonia will go with the same score here for Trader Joe's Organic Uncured Grass Fed Beef Hot Dogs.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Egg Salad

Sonia loves eggs. Maybe not every morning, but most mornings, the first things she'll do after getting up is fire up the coffee maker and grab a few eggs from the fridge. Within minutes she's sipping java and making an egg sandwich with cheese or some sort of omelette.

Me? I like eggs, but I kinda have to be in a certain mood. If I force myself to eat eggs when I'm not hungry for them, I get a little nauseous. But every once in a while I get a specific hankering, and in those instances only eggs will hit the spot. I'm weird like that.

It's a similar situation with egg salad and egg salad sandwiches. If we're traveling and we stop for gas at any random convenience store, Sonia will gravitate toward an egg salad sandwich, if available, more often than not. But it's usually pretty low on my list of preferences...unless I've got that craving.

One thing we do agree upon: this egg salad is not very good. It's bland. It lacks richness, creaminess, and flavor. It tastes and feels watery. Things like mayonnaise and mustard are listed in the ingredients, but they simply don't show up in the flavor of the product, so we wound up adding our own. We both tasted something similar to dill in the egg salad, but there's no "dill" mentioned on the packaging. We're perplexed on that one.

This isn't the first sub-par egg salad we've seen from TJ's. The Spicy Ranchero Egg White Salad comes to mind. I thought maybe egg yolks would help but apparently not. They're 0-2 as far as egg salad is concerned.

Now chicken salad, on the other hand, is a different story entirely.

If we lived any closer to a Trader Joe's, I think this might have been a "no-hassle refund" type situation. As it stands, we'll probably just force ourselves to finish this tub. I mean, it's edible, but this is most definitely not a repeat purchase. Sonia's score: 5/10. Nathan's score: 4/10

Bottom line: 4.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Salmon Burgers

This ain't our first ride at the Trader Joe's brand salmon rodeo. At a quick glance, we've reviewed around 20 salmon items throughout the years, including salmon bacon, salmon pastrami, a salmon poke bowl, not one but TWO kinds of salmon jerky, and even salmon with Everything but the Bagel pre-applied.

You can dig around those old reviews on the blog yourself if you're interested. Some of those salmon offerings were among the very best Trader Joe's products we've ever seen and others were among the very worst. But it's moot point, really. The vast majority of those fishy morsels have gone the way of the dodo as so many of TJ's items do eventually. Oddly, these salmon burgers have been around quite a while and yet we've never taken an official look. Let's change that...now.

$7.49 gets you four frozen fish pucks of boneless, skinless Alaskan salmon. It's good quality fish and the portions are adequate. As per usual, the stove top heating instructions are wildly inaccurate and not even worth reading. I just kept flipping the discs every few minutes until the meat tanned a bit and started darkening in a few spots. I think I had them on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes by the time it was all said and done.

In terms of "fishiness," I feel like it's definitely a stronger flavor than, say, mahi mahi. But for those of us that like the taste of fish, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I made a sauce with mayo, sriracha, lemon juice, and garlic powder that went great with them. I used pretzel bread rolls and feta cheese, too. We were fresh out of greens at the time, otherwise I would have tossed a big stack of arugula on the sandwich to make the ultimate fish burger.

Sonia raved about them served that way. She's down for four and a half stars and a repeat purchase. I think they're worthy of four stars and a thumbs up. If you're one of those folks that doesn't like fishy fish, I'd steer you towards the above-mentioned mahi mahi burgers, but I don't think I've seen those around lately. So...maybe some other kind of white fish would do the trick. But if you don't mind fish that tastes like fish, I think Trader Joe's Premium Salmon Burgers are a great, convenient choice.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Dog Food...For People 10th Anniversary Edition

Breaking news! It's back...for a limited time only. Get your 10 Year Anniversary Edition Dog Food...For People while supplies last!

Trader Joe's Corn & Cheese Arepas

Sometimes I just have to rant about Trader Joe's preparation instructions. I recently saw a tweet, or an X post—or whatever the heck we're calling those now—from a similarly frustrated dude, and it read: Man, Trader Joe's really is just guessing at the cook times huh? Truer words were never spoken. How that tweet only got one like, I'm not sure. We can't be the only ones.

Throughout the years, I've had plenty of folks indicate that indeed TJ's heating directions are often way off the mark—usually on the short end of the spectrum. And still others have taken it upon themselves to tell me that Trader Joe's is right and that I'm a blithering idiot. That's fine. I'm no culinary wizard. That's no secret. It could be user error to some degree, for sure.

But in this case, following the stovetop instructions to a T, I wound up with a product that was still frozen solid in the middle. I mean the outer portions of the corn cakes were browning and wanting to stick to the pan and the middle portions were like a cornbread and cheese flavored popsicle. I mean, I didn't eat it that way, of course. I threw it into the oven and tried heating it through on a cookie sheet.

Fortunately, it worked. After a spell in the oven, the griddle cakes were nice and brown and just lightly crispy in a few places, and the cheese in the middle melted beautifully to the point where the cakes wanted to slide off the top a little.

The taste? It's a grilled cheese sandwich made with cornbread instead of wheat or white. We've got a large slab of soft, creamy mozzarella cheese in between two griddle cakes made of corn—not a far cry from American cornbread. It's slightly sweet, dense, and filling. The overall vibe falls somewhere in between home-cooked comfort food and something you'd get from a street vendor.

Why is this not a thing here in the states? It's not even really a thing in Mexico. ¿Por que? This treat comes all the way from South America, Colombia in particular. I love it. I want more.

$3.49 for two big arepas. Gluten free. Would definitely buy again. I recommend either thawing completely before heating on the skillet or using the conventional oven heating method. Apparently there are makeshift air fryer heating instructions floating around in cyberspace. I would have gone that route had I realized it beforehand. Anyhoo, four and a half stars from me. Four stars from Sonia for Trader Joe's Corn & Cheese Arepas.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Chicken Burrito Bowl

Well, this product looks a bit like the recently-reviewed Chicken Shawarma Bowl. It's still a microwavable serving of poultry straight outta the Great White North, but now we've got Mexican-style burrito ingredients instead of Middle Eastern cuisine. Hey, at least we're on the right continent this time around.

And while this isn't the most flavorful burrito con pollo I've ever tried, I'll give it an "A" for effort and a passing grade if you're hungry, on a budget, and/or pressed for time. At $3.49, this product is significantly less expensive than any comparable offering from Chipotle, Qdoba, or Moe's Southwest Grill. It's also not quite as tasty and obviously not fresh, but sometimes those are necessary sacrifices for those of us living life in the fast lane.

Just 4-5 minutes in the microwave yields a piping hot single-serving meal with plenty of chicken, rice, quinoa, and bits of tomato, corn, and pepper. It's not a terrible dish by any means, but it lacks that piquant kick that an authentic burrito provides. We've got some chili powder and chipotle pepper paste in the ingredients, but those flavors are way too faint in the final mixture.

Even if you're not looking for something spicy, you'll want to dress this bowl up if you can with more sour cream and cheese. If you're consuming this product at home like me, it might be prudent to break out some tortillas, lettuce, and salsa and make little tacos with this as the base. You could probably stretch the single bowl to at least two servings that way while greatly improving the taste at the same time.

If I still worked in cubicle-land, I'd consider buying this product once in a while for a work lunch, provided I could slather it with Tapatio, Cholula, or Texas Pete. Let's be nice and say three and a half stars a piece on Trader Joe's Chicken Burrito Bowl.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.