15 Unhealthiest Trader Joe's Foods You Can Buy
Few grocery store experiences are quite as fun as a trip to Trader Joe's. Not only does the chain offer high-quality pantry staples at affordable prices, but it also has a knack for blending flavors to create food items you never knew your taste buds needed. After all, this the supermarket responsible for headline-making products such as Pumpkin Spice Hummus, Speculoos Cookie Butter Beer, and the sadly discontinued (but immortal in our hearts) Philly Cheesesteak Bao Buns.
Now, while the majority of its product line may be tasty, not all foods at Trader Joe's hold up quite as well in the health department. Plenty of its offerings are über-indulgent — meaning they come with high levels of fat, sugar, and sodium. Even the most innocuous-looking Trader Joe's product may be surprisingly dense in calories.
You can always check the nutritional value of an item before adding it to your Trader Joe's basket. But if you're looking for some guidance before heading to the store, we've done the research to help you avoid those not-so-healthy purchases. To ensure you skip the worst offenders on your next trip, here are some of the unhealthiest Trader Joe's foods you can buy.
1. French Onion Macaroni & Cheese
There's no such thing as a non-indulgent mac and cheese (even if there is, we personally don't want to try it). By its very nature, copious amounts of creamy cheese and hearty pasta will come with a boatload of fat and calories. Yet Trader Joe's French Onion Macaroni & Cheese takes things to the next level. Along with the usual building blocks of mac and cheese, this frozen meal includes a French onion soup-inspired topping (complete with a layer of crispy croutons), which takes a toll on its nutritional value.
A single serving of Trader Joe's French Onion Macaroni & Cheese contains 50% of the recommended daily allowance of saturated fat allowance. This soars to 125% of your daily allotted saturated fat intake if you eat the entire box — which is often the case with mac and cheese. With nearly 1,000 calories and 1,240 milligrams of sodium in each package, as well, it's no surprise the French onion mac and cheese divided fans of Trader Joe's regarding its poor nutritional profile. This product may be delicious, but considering the detrimental impact, it may not be worth the short-lived joy in the long run.
2. Cheeseburger Burrito
Trader Joe's has a knack for unusual combos, and that's never been more evident than with its Cheeseburger Burrito. The store itself describes this product as a "momentous meeting of two casual culinary colossi" — which couldn't be a more accurate moniker. By combining the elements of your favorite juicy burger — including beef, onions, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and condiments — and wrapping it in a flour tortilla, the store's created culinary magic.
What isn't so magical are the nutritional numbers on the back of each package. Both cheeseburgers and burritos tend to be extremely salty foods, so it should come as no surprise that sodium is the main issue here. A single burrito contains a whopping 1,190 milligrams or more than half the recommended daily sodium intake. Even with a fairly strong 27 grams of protein and 4 grams of dietary fiber per serving, the overwhelming amount of sodium contained in each item — combined with a hefty 31 grams of fat and 90 milligrams of cholesterol — makes this Trader Joe's burrito the very definition of an unhealthy meal.
3. Pastry Bites with Feta Cheese & Caramelized Onions
Trader Joe's frozen food aisle is legendary thanks to items like its Pastry Bites with Feta Cheese & Caramelized Onions. A single box comes with 12 bites total, with each one enveloping a smooth mix of feta, cream cheese, and caramelized onions inside a perfectly flaky, buttery pastry.
Now, speaking from experience, it's hard to stop at just one pastry bite. Each one is deceptively small and incredibly addictive, after all. More than that, it's easy to forget that a single serving is actually four pastry bites, which contains 18 grams of fat – 12 grams of which are saturated. While the type of saturated fat in butter might actually be good for you, it's hardly ideal to find so much fat contained in just four bites — particularly since that single serving comes with 60% of the recommended daily intake of saturated fat. Simply put, you can't discount the fact that consuming more than a single serving of this Trader Joe's food item is extremely plausible when judging the nutritional impact of these frozen pastry bites.
4. Pumpkin Spread
Pumpkin spice lovers should make Trader Joe's their first stop come fall. The chain has one of the most generous selections of pumpkin-flavored products around, and some — like the Pumpkin Spread – have become year-round offerings. This spread has the consistency of a jam and is intended to work with the likes of bagels, cheese, or cold cuts. Unfortunately, just like jam, this pumpkin-based spread also comes with a pretty shocking amount of sugar.
A single serving of Pumpkin Spread contains 12 grams of sugar or 24% of the daily amount recommended by the FDA. While this means the suggested intake of added sugar comes to 50 grams per day, given the undeniably negative impact of excess sugar on the body? It may be worth adhering to the stricter guidelines set forth by the American Heart Association, instead, which recommends no more than 36 grams of added sugar per day for men and no more than 25 grams for women.
Either way, there's a good chance you'll end up doling out multiple servings of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spread and ingesting far too much sugar without even realizing it. Hence, this product belongs among the store's unhealthiest foods.
5. Southwest Style Chicken Quesadillas
Don't let the fact that each quesadilla contains 23 grams of protein fool you: there is nothing healthy about Trader Joe's Southwest Style Chicken Quesadillas. Yes, the amount of veggies — including corn, spinach, and red bell peppers — in each tortilla is pretty generous. Still, the melted mix of Monterey jack and pepper jack cheese inside each one has these quesadillas soaring in the fat department.
Each quesadilla contains 19 grams of fat and 11 grams of saturated fat (a substantial 55% of your daily recommended saturated fat intake). Additionally, Trader Joe's isn't stingy with the sodium in these quesadillas, with 440 milligrams per serving — meaning this food item isn't ideal for anyone concerned about their heart health. There are much healthier ways to get your protein fix, starting with making your own quesadillas at home. Check out our classic chicken quesadillas recipe for a great place to start.
6. Brie en Croûte
"Brie en croûte" is French for "brie baked in a pastry crust" — which tells you everything you need to know about this ready-to-bake treat. Offered seasonally during the autumn and winter, Trader Joe's Brie en Croûte contains an entire wheel of double cream Brie and is intended to be split into four servings (although whether you actually manage to do that is between you and your kitchen).
If you do stick to a single portion, you're in for a hefty serving of saturated fat. Each serving contains 12 grams of saturated fat, in addition to ½ gram of trans fat. Although that doesn't sound like a lot, in an perfect world? We'd be eating 0 grams of trans fat each day given its negative impact on heart health. Of course, this is often easier said than done, as some trans fats may masquerade as hydrogenated oils — which is why you should always check food labels if you're avoiding trans fat.
7. Korean Style Beef Short Ribs
According to Trader Joe's, its Korean Style Beef Short Ribs are made using "lean beef." However, that doesn't necessarily make this a "lean" meal. Marinated in a simple yet delicious mix of soy sauce, garlic, and brown sugar, the ribs pack one heck of a fatty punch. A single piece contains 27 grams of fat, including 12 grams of saturated fat (yikes).
Now, the fat content of this Trader Joe's food would be bad enough if you stuck to a single rib. But when you sit down to eat dinner with your family, it's highly unlikely that your meal will consist of a single rib. While the rest of the nutritional information for these short ribs isn't quite as alarming as the fat content, the situation is hardly ideal. Each rib comes with 230 milligrams of sodium and 75 milligrams of cholesterol — too much of which can increase the number of fatty deposits in your bloodstream. So if you're searching for healthy foods at Trader Joe's, skip the Korean-style ribs.
8. Tteok Bok Ki
Tteok Bok Ki has its origins in a 19th-century Korean cookbook, where it's described as a meal fit for royalty. While it doesn't feel quite as high-class to scoop a bag out of your freezer, each serving of this Trader Joe's food promises a somewhat authentic Korean street food experience. All you need to do is boil or fry the mini rice cakes, douse them in gochujang sauce, and enjoy them in all their spicy, squishy goodness.
Interestingly, unlike a lot of other fried foods, fat isn't the concern here. Instead, it's the sodium and sugar content that raises alarm bells for nutritionally focused shoppers. Just 1 cup of the tteok bok ki contains 420 milligrams of sodium and 10 grams of added sugar. Additionally, any customers adhering to a keto diet will be concerned by its 61 grams of carbohydrates. While carbs are necessary for energy, consuming an excessive amount can cause our blood sugar to spike and increase the risk of both heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
9. Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches
Nobody buys ice cream expecting a healthy snack. But there's sugary food, and there's food alarmingly high in sugar ... and Trader Joe's Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches belong very much in the second category. Like countless other ice cream sandwiches, this frozen treat combines two chocolate chip cookies with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. What sets these apart is the fact that each sandwich is rolled in chocolate chips around the outer edge, adding another layer of sweetness to an already saccharine snack.
The result is 32 grams (yes, really) of added sugar per sandwich. In other words, you'll have devoured 64% of your daily added sugar intake without even eating a meal. The saturated fat and cholesterol content aren't too great, either, with 10 grams and 40 milligrams, respectively. Of course, sweet treats are made to be just that — a treat. We're not saying Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches don't have value as the occasional indulgence, but we definitely wouldn't recommend making them as a daily post-dinner ritual.
10. Uncooked Ground Buffalo Burgers
Trader Joe's is extremely proud of the fact that its Uncooked Ground Buffalo Burgers are produced without the use of hormones or antibiotics, going so far as to put it on the box in big, bold letters. The bison used for its burgers are raised in open ranches, where the animals are given free choice over their own diets of whole grains and prairie grass.
One detail Trader Joe's doesn't promote quite as loudly is the fat content in said burgers. Despite being labeled as 80% lean and 20% fat, one patty contains 16 grams of saturated fat or 80% of your daily recommended intake. For comparison, that's nearly three times the amount of saturated fat found in a McDonald's cheeseburger — bun and all. You'd even end up consuming fewer total calories with a Mickey D's cheeseburger, as a single buffalo burger patty contains 370 calories versus the 300 calories in the fast food burger.
11. Pretzel Bread Pudding
There's a lot going on in Trader Joe's Pretzel Bread Pudding, which explains why it's so delicious — and why it's so unhealthy. A gooey, sweet-and-salty mess of pretzels, salted caramel sauce, traditional egg custard, and, of course, bread, each individual pudding cup is packed with high amounts of just about everything.
As you would expect, the sugar content is the biggest issue. A single pudding cup contains an incredible 21 grams of added sugar (nearly half of your daily recommended intake), 10 grams of saturated fat, 610 milligrams of sodium, and 70 milligrams of cholesterol. Its ingredient list also features caramel color, which has proven pretty divisive in the food industry. To be clear, the ingredient is what gives Coca-Cola its signature color, and is found in the occasional baked good, as well. However, some research has found that caramel coloring may contain ammonia contaminants that could potentially be carcinogenic, so it may be best to skip it (and this food item).
12. Vanilla Almond Spiced Chai Protein Smoothie
It's no secret that the majority of protein shakes taste, well, terrible. A lot of brands dose their shakes with artificial sweeteners to mask the chalky taste of protein, which also allows those companies to promote the drink as sugar-free. Yet that's not remotely the case with Trader Joe's Vanilla Almond Spiced Chai Protein Smoothie.
The protein shake has proven popular with the grocery store's regulars but also caused alarm over its over-the-top sugar levels. Somewhere between the chai tea, almond, coconut cream, spices, and pea protein powder, Trader Joe's has loaded this vegan shake up with 30 grams of sugar — all of which are added. It's also an extremely calorie-dense drink as each bottle contains 320 calories. Sure, you get a decent dose of protein at 15 grams, but that hardly seems worth sipping away 60% of your daily recommended added sugar intake.
13. Perfectly Pickled Pups
It hurts our soul to criticize Trader Joe's Perfectly Pickled Pups because the concept is genius. Miniature, snackable frankfurters coated and fried in a pickle-flavored batter? Yes, please.
The main thing that turns us off from this real-life snack of our dreams is the sodium content. Four of these tiny, pickle-flavored, corn dog-like bites contain 850 milligrams of sodium. Should you power through the entire box (which isn't particularly hard, considering there are only eight Pups in each box), you'll end up ingesting a staggering 1,900 milligrams – putting you towards the upper limit of the amount of sodium you're supposed to eat in an entire day.
While it's not quite as extreme, the amount of saturated fat in each Perfectly Pickled Pup isn't ideal, either. Thanks to the combo of beef, batter, and breadcrumbs, four pieces contain 4 grams of saturated fat, while the entire box contains 10 grams. Heartbreaking though it is to admit, you may not want to make this Trader Joe's food a regular fixture in your daily snack rotation.
14. Lemon Pesto Sauce
Though they often play second fiddle to the actual carbs found in a pasta dish, it's all too easy to overlook the salt and fat found inside many store-bought pasta sauces. As we recently discovered in our investigation into the unhealthiest pasta sauces you can buy, there are plenty of nutritional fiends lurking on the shelves of your local grocery store. Sadly, that includes Trader Joe's Lemon Pesto Sauce.
Like the worst pasta sauce offenders, the root of the issue is an excess of sodium and fat. A single serving of this citrus-flavored pesto contains 610 milligrams of sodium, after all, though you'll probably use more than that with your pasta. You won't be short on fat, either. In fact, even if you do manage to stick to the jar's ¼ cup serving size, you'll still end up stirring a sizeable 25 grams of fat into your pasta.
15. Breaded Cheddar Cheese Curds
It should come as no surprise that Trader Joe's Breaded Cheddar Cheese Curds are far from healthy. Each bite-sized piece is a glorious pairing of Wisconsin cheddar and flavorful, crispy breading. We could wax poetic about how indulgent they are and even throw in a few compliments for the amount of calcium (240 milligrams) and protein (9 grams) offered with each serving. Unfortunately, the positive points end there.
Every serving of these frozen cheese curds contains 620 milligrams of sodium and 5 grams of saturated fat. What makes these numbers worse is that a single serving is merely four tiny blocks of cheese – which you could realistically devour in a matter of seconds. With that in mind, if you end up treating yourself to enough Trader Joe's Breaded Cheddar Cheese Curds to actually satiate your appetite? You may find yourself consuming more than half the amount of sodium and saturated fat you're supposed to eat in an entire day in one sitting.
Methodology
To discover the unhealthiest foods sold at Trader Joe's, we spent a lot of time doing one of our favorite things: checking out the Trader Joe's website. We studied the nutritional information of hundreds of products retailed by Trader Joe's, comparing the amount of added sugar, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium in each food with the daily recommended values provided by the FDA.
We also checked the calorie count of each food, though we were much more interested in those foods with empty calories — AKA those that provide a quick hit of energy (from, say, eating too much sugar or other carbohydrates) without any actual nutritional value via the likes of fiber or protein.