Trader Joe’s Appetizers at Aldi
When at Aldi in Portugal we found Trader Joe’s appetizers in the frozen foods section and decided to give them a try!
Independent Grocery Review
This is an independent grocery review by Traveling Through Food, based on firsthand experience with the product. We purchase and try products ourselves, and our reviews reflect our honest opinions and whether we would buy them again.
Trader Joe’s Mozzarella Sticks
Aka “Palitos de Mozzarella”
Ingredients
Ingredients in English via Google Translate- (lol) our own:
Breaded sticks (lol) 80%: mozzarella cheese (milk) 33%, wheat flour, water, turnip oil, rye flour, potato flakes, potato starch, salt, yeast, modified potato starch, rice flour, sugar, thickener: methylcellulose; spices, dehydrated parsley, dehydrated basil, garlic, onion, spice extract, leek extract.
Chili sauce 20%: sugar, water, paprika 0.5%, chili 0.5%, modified corn starch, alcohol vinegar, apple juice concentrate, salt, acidulant: citric acid.
Nutrition Facts
In English per 100g:
- 312 calories
- 15g fat
- 6g saturated fat
- 33g carbohydrates
- 2g from sugar
- 9.7g protein
- .82g salt
Cooking Instructions
How to make Trader Joe’s Mozzarella Sticks:
Oven: Preheat the oven (bottom and top heat) to 180 °C. Place baking paper on the oven tray and put the deep-frozen product on the paper. Cook for 9 minutes. Let stand 2 minutes before consumption.
Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Poppers
AKA “jalapeños con queso fresco empanados”
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS: JALAPENOS PEPPERS WITH FRESH BREADED AND PRE-COOKED CHEESE: Breaded [flour (wheat, rye, rice), water, rapeseed oil, salt, sugar, yeast, spices], canned jalapeño pepper filling 18% (jalapeno pepper 18%, water, salt, acidulant: acetic acid; hardener: calcium chloride), fresh cheese (milk) 17%, water, modified potato starch, potato starch].
Nutrition Facts
In English Per 100g:
- 263 calories
- 13g fat
- 3.8g saturated fat
- 32g carbohydrates
- 2g from sugar
- 2.3g dietary fiber
- 3.8g protein
- 1g salt
Cooking Instructions
Oven: Preheat the oven (bottom and top heat) to 180 °C. Place baking paper on the oven tray and put the deep-frozen product on the paper. Cook for 13-14 minutes. Let stand 2 minutes before consumption.
Cook Along
Before Baking
After Baking
As you can see there was a bit of a blow out with the. jalapeño poppers.
Trader Joes Appetizer Review
In this very elegant plating (lol), you’ll notice a sauce stripe down the middle.
Interestingly enough, Trader Joe’s appetizers makers felt that the same sauce is appropriate for jalapeño poppers as well as mozzarella sticks which I find very bizarre, personally.
Mozzarella sticks should have a marinara type sauce while jalapeño poppers would have more of a salsa vibe if anything, imo.
But how do they taste?
I guess that you can probably tell by this photo that the mozzarella sticks in the oven do not have quite the same cheese pull as in the package photo.
The “jalapeños con queso fresco empanados” were really tasty despite completely blowing out by the end of bake time.
Our Review — Worth Buying?
Would we rebuy Trader Joe’s appetizers again? Sure, occasionally.
If you have a deep fryer I bet they would be amazing, because what isn’t amazing in a deep fryer?
Otherwise they were good for every now and again and also inspired me to make jalapeño poppers at home (not breaded because that makes it a lot easier lol)
Next time you’re having a little movie day at home these could be fun to pop in the oven and enjoy. =]
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