The 10 Most Overrated Trader Joe's Items, According To Employees
Just go ahead and skip these products entirely.
Navigating the aisles of Trader Joe's can cause sensory overload. Between the bumping music giving "Club TJ's" vibes, to the seasonal eruption of new items, it's often hard to determine which of the store's popular items are actually worth the hype. Thankfully for you, dear reader, I used to work at Trader Joe's and have eaten my way through the majority of the products that line the shelves of Trader Joe's. In the interest of science, I also polled current and past employees of the store to get a wider consensus to confirm the most overrated products.
The concept of something being "overrated" or "overhyped" means the product must be first hyped to begin with. So the items featured here are both highly popular and sought after, but their quality doesn't match this level of notoriety and popularity. Of course, there are other items I'd avoid at Trader Joe's (but aren't popular for a reason), so that particular list will have to wait for another day.
So without further ado, here are the most overrated Trader Joe's products you can just go ahead and skip on your next TJ's run.
Speculoos Cookie Butter Spread
Trader Joe's Cookie Butter is way (way!) too sweet. It actually exemplifies all things that tend to go wrong with sweets and desserts at the store: That all you can really taste is sugar, but nothing else. As the kids say, this spread is very mid and is not deserving of all the hype.
Crunchy Chili Onion
If Trader Joe's Crunchy Chili Onion was your first (or only) introduction to the wonder that is chili crisp, it's time to branch out. This traditional spicy-crunchy Chinese condiment is something Trader Joe's should leave to the pros (some favorites of ours are made by Fly by Jing and Lao Gan Ma), since Trader Joe's uses the very un-traditional and distracting olive oil as a base, which totally clouds over the multi-textural dream that chili crisp should be!
Hash Browns
Many bad products at Trader Joe's just get worse thanks to their equally horrible packaging. Sadly, Trader Joe's hash browns are bad both inside and out, with a texture that always ends up never quite crispy enough. But wait, it gets worse, because thanks to its non-resealable packing, these hash brown patties always have the slightest hint of freezer burn as an added seasoning.
Kimbap
Truth be told, I really don't mind the kimbap, but it is the current Most Overhyped Product of many of the crew I interviewed. Eye rolls were aplenty when they discussed this particular item, with many employees wishing customers would "calm down" over this TikTok-viral item. This is mostly due to its overall blandness in relation to how often it sells out (and how often customers beg for intel on when it will be back). Plus, like other items, kimbap is pretty prevalent (and more delicious) when you pick up the ones sold at Asian grocery markets like H Mart.
Mandarin Orange Chicken
Much like the kimbap, Mandarin Orange Chicken earns the "it's just fine" stamp of approval from many Trader Joe's employees. The sticky orange sauce reaches glazed-donut levels of sweetness and the quality of the meat has gotten worse in recent years (many of the chunks of dark meat chicken are mostly just breading). You're better off just going to Panda Express.
Jingle Jangle
One of my favorite employee reviews of the this overhyped seasonal product reads as follows: "Someone once compared it to the sweepings from the candy room floor, and I can’t get that image out of my head." And now I can't get it out of my head either.
Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
One Redditor summed this product up so perfectly, likening this ultra-popular frozen item's taste to be closer to "airplane food." Sadly, many crew members I interviewed overwhelmingly agreed that this frost-bitten pasta with a nauseatingly sage-y sauce is not worth it.
Everything But The Bagel Seasoning
Everything bagels? Incredible. But Everything But The Bagel Seasoning is something that many Trader Joe's employees do not want to see on their own spice rack.
Not only does it often lack a whole lot of depth as of late (making most dishes you add it to just feel flat and "basic" according to employee interviews). Also, sometimes when you near the end of the jar, it's more salt than seasonings, making for a very sad, borderline inedible sprinkling experience.
Cauliflower Gnocchi
There's no other way to say it: These taste like the bits of dried glue that are stuck on the outside of a bottle of Elmer's Glue, especially if you follow the given instructions to pan-fry them (with half of them getting stuck to your pan. The only way these are made more-than-okay is by essentially roasting them to a crisp in plenty of olive oil in the oven or air-fryer. If you don't heed this advice, enjoy your edible glue.
Unexpected Cheddar (all forms)
As someone who used to run the cheese section at a Trader Joe's (and was a cheesemonger afterwards), I can say that there are just way more exciting cheeses at Trader Joe's. Their Unexpected Cheddar is absolutely fine (it's a mix of cheddar + salty parmesan and comes shredded and in a spread form), but it lacks any novelty after a few bites. You'd be much better off sticking with any of the grocer's English cheddars (like the caramelized onion) or a nutty alpine cheese like Comté.
This Is How Much Sugar Is In Your Favorite Cookies
Can Drinking Alcohol Shorten Your Life?
Food & Travel Experts Reveal 13 Must-Try Cocktails
I Tried The First-Ever THC Infused Aperol Spritz
