Trader Joe's Hidden Gems You've Been Overlooking

Carlie Hoke / Mashed

I'm convinced that the secret to happiness can be found inside a Trader Joe's. The vibes are immaculate, and so are the grocery options. The somewhat elusive grocery store carries items not found anywhere else, as the vast majority of products are exclusive to Trader Joe's. Every season it seems like new products are trending. It's the products that go unnoticed that you should really pay attention to, though, as they could become staples in your kitchen.

I'm a regular Trader Joe's shopper, and I've been filling my kitchen with its low-key goodies for years. I've combined my own experience with the grocery store's products and the opinions of other veteran shoppers across the internet to create a list of surprisingly underrated products. If you don't have a Trader Joe's in your neighborhood yet, you're far from alone. The grocery chain is particular about where it places stores, but these hidden gems from Trader Joe's are worth a significant drive to your closest location, because they're as good as they are unique.

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Boxed pancake mix is a staple in many households, and Trader Joe's households stand out at the breakfast table. The grocery store has a rotation of pancake mixes it places on the shelves throughout the year, some of which stick around a bit longer than others. If you're ever exploring the dry goods aisle, make sure to note which pancake mix is hanging around. If you're lucky enough to spy a purple box of ube mochi pancake and waffle mix, at $3.99 each be sure to grab a couple boxes of this hidden gem.

Surprisingly, Trader Joe's carries a handful of ube flavored products. Ube is a type of purple yam and is popularly used in desserts; ube tastes like a nutty root vegetable. The pancake mix is on the more subtle side, though the earthy ube flavor and purple coloring is present in the cooked pancakes. The mochi part of the product comes in with the texture, and when cooked according to the instructions, the pancakes have a chewy center.

Trader Joe's ube mochi mix is great for a special breakfast or for the foundation of an at-home trendy dessert. The best thing about this pancake mix is that kids love it, and it doesn't need any additional sugar coating, like syrup, to taste great. The subtle sweetness and uncommon taste are practically eaten right out of the pan, not even making it to a serving plate.

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Trader Joe's is one of the best grocery stores to buy cheese, and its burrata was once one of the only items carried that wasn't exclusive to the chain. Now, Trader Joe's has its own brand of the hybrid cheese. Burrata consists of mozzarella on the outside and stracciatella on the inside, making it a messy, yet wholly satisfying cheese. It appears as a ball of mozzarella, but oozes the creamy, loose curd stracciatella when cut into. This burrata instantly elevates flatbreads, dips, pizza, and more –– just replace your usual cheese with a pulled apart burrata ball.

The Trader Joe's burrata is pretty standard in size to other brands, with two balls of burrata packed in a brine, each of which have about two servings worth of cheese. Buying burrata at Trader Joe's will also save you some money, as other brands are typically a bit pricier than its $4.99 price tag. The only drawback of this cheese is that, once open, you should use it all within two or three days for optimal freshness and safety.

You'll find stracciatella packaged by itself not far from the burrata in the cheese section. While the filling won't give you the full burrata experience, it is more affordable and could be a better option for those who won't be able to use an entire package of burrata within a few days.

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This is another item I buy every time I'm at Trader Joe's, and I try to keep a pack on hand for effortless meals. It's quick and easy, you just take one from the freezer and pop it in your oven for a few minutes. I put it in the oven the same time I turn it on, and hope to the preheating gods that it turns out good. It always does, no matter if it cooks just right or I happen to leave it in a few minutes too long. Its forgiving nature is a blessing for the Type B cook. In fact, some people keep them in the oven that extra few minutes on purpose to make them crunchier, which is smart for soup or dip lovers looking for an alternative to crackers.

When made perfectly, this garlic naan is great for flatbreads, homemade pizzas, chunky wraps, and to eat alongside salads. This frozen package comes with four large pieces of naan. At just $2.99 per package, Trader Joe's offers the product at a lower price point than even budget stores like Aldi, which prices its garlic naan at around $3.50. Garlic lovers will want to grab a pack or two, because the noticeable chunks of garlic that this naan comes covered in provide immense flavor.

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Out of everything on this list, the vegan kale, cashew, and basil pesto is the one item I never leave Trader Joe's without. My fridge is only without it when I'm desperately in need of a Trader Joe's run. In fact, I use its absence as a sign that it's time to make the drive to my closest Trader Joe's, as my whole kitchen feels empty when it's gone. It's an elevated pesto, with kale and cashew butter, along with garlic and lemon, both adding to the texture and flavor of this fresh tasting sauce.

If you have never been to the grocery store, let this pesto blend be one of the items you buy on your first Trader Joe's visit. It's a stellar introduction to the versatility of the store's products, as you can put this pesto on practically everything. It's great as a condiment for sandwiches, on pasta as a sauce, and used as an ingredient in your favorite salad.

You may have to do a little searching to find the vegan kale, cashew, and basil pesto in your local Trader Joe's. It's located among the many dips and unique flavored spreads at the end of the veggie aisle. It's hidden beside trendy and popular packages of garlic spread, tzatziki dip, and chimichurri sauce. Don't discount this humble pesto, though, because it can compete with all its flavorful friends at $3.99 each.

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The flavor of the organic elote corn chip dippers is absolutely amazing, and hands down the best tasting chip around. The one catch is that they are incredibly spicy. This may be a great thing for many, as spicy chips are very in right now. If you're anything like me, though, they may be above your threshold for heat. I typically buy the plain corn chips and imagine I'm eating the elote version the whole time. However, I wish I could power through the heat, because the elote version is far superior to any chip flavor I've tried.

Elote is Mexican street corn, which is a heavily seasoned and slathered grilled corn on the cob. As a flavoring, elote tastes sweet and spicy with a slight tang of lime and a certain butteriness. The corn chips aren't the only thing the beloved grocery store has coated with elote flavoring. Trader Joe's Everything but the Elote Seasoning and the Everything and the Elote Greek Style Yogurt Dip are worth trying as well.

When it comes to the corn dippers, the elote seasoning isn't the only thing making these chips elite. At $2.99 a bag, these dippers are a wider corn chip, making pretty much all other corn chips look lacking in the scoopability department. This is a huge plus, because the chips are amazing with avocado and other dippable snack companions.

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Trader Joe's does a great job of carrying products that the average shopper may have never heard of or tried before. For being relatively small, the grocery store has quite a selection of cultural foods, including Danish Kringle. Kringle is a sweet tasting Danish pastry that is formed from a ring of rich dough, usually with a flavored filling. Often, it is almond flavored. You can find Kringle in Trader Joe's bread and pastry section — oftentimes it is overlooked because of its subtle packaging.

I wouldn't call this item seasonal, because the store has it pretty often, but Trader Joe's doesn't have this stocked all the time. The flavors, though, rotate with the season. Raspberry, almond, pecan, and cheesecake are among some of the flavors Trader Joe's has been known to carry. If you spot it — for $9.99 — when you're there next, snag it, because this danish is to die for. Don't let the inconspicuous white bag it's contained in fool you into ignoring it. It's great for bringing to get-togethers, or freezing if enjoying at home with not many to share with.

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The spices section at Trader Joe's should not be slept on. There are so many jars of dried herbs and spices here that should make it to your kitchen's spice rack. Even the seasonings that have similar versions at mainstream grocery stores are worth stocking up on here. However, plenty of Trader Joe's spices are unique blends that aren't going to be easy to find elsewhere, and they can be used to transform dishes in unexpected ways. The Mushroom & Company multipurpose umami seasoning blend is one such spice.

Umami as a seasoning is brilliant, as umami is associated with savory food. Mushrooms are one of the many ingredients that carry this umami taste. This Trader Joe's seasoning takes flavor from two types of mushrooms –– white button and porcini. It's not just dehydrated mushrooms, though, because this umami seasoning — which retails for $2.99 — also employs mustard seed, onion, thyme, and other spices.

There's not really a limit to what this seasoning could go with, whether it be other umami leaning foods or ingredients with other flavor profiles. Experimenting in the kitchen with new recipes is fun with this Trader Joe's umami seasoning, but seeing what it can do to your tried and true dishes could open up a new culinary world right at home.

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Trader Joe's has a great selection of freeze dried and simply dried fruits, which you can find in the nut aisle. These freeze dried strawberries are elite, as I've tried a lot of different brands of freeze dried strawberries and these come out on top. They are not chewy or super crunchy textures, just puffy and crumbly sweetness that should be present with a freeze dried strawberry. These are great for snacking on, putting in kids' lunches, or adding to drinks for flavoring and aesthetics. 

The great thing about freeze dried fruit, and these little strawberry morsels, is that there are next to no additional ingredients. They're very much true to their label, which is almost never the case with processed products these days. Trader Joe's leaves extra sugar out of this grocery item as well, which we are grateful for. For the price of $2.99, this brand offers more for less than many competitors.

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If you've never checked out the canned food section of Trader Joe's, you're missing out on some amazing products you won't be able to find anywhere else. It isn't the canned aisle you're used to; most of these canned foods you can eat right out of the can, and the Greek chickpeas with parsley and cumin are no exception. Everyone loves hummus, but we can't forget about their predecessor chickpeas. These are great on their own, paired with Trader Joe's premade tabbouli salad, or thrown on a pan and fried under eggs.

Chickpeas by themselves can be kind of bland, but they are brought to life when other flavors are brought into the mix. Trader Joe's obviously knows this, because this canned good comes seasoned and ready to use at $2.49 a can. They're not so seasoned that you can't use them with other ingredients and dishes, though. The perfect balance of flavors for whatever you want to use them for, these Greek chickpeas should be on your shopping list.

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One of the hardest parts of a busy day is finding time to prepare a satisfying and balanced meal. Sure, meal prepping is an option, but that can take a huge chunk of time out of your day. Trader Joe's offers uncooked meats to prepare your own recipes from scratch, but a sometimes overlooked section is its precooked and packaged meats. Trader Joe's offers a few precooked chicken options, and the balsamic rosemary chicken breast is one of the best.

The chargrilled chicken is ready to eat right out of the package, but I always heat it up on a pan before adding it to my favorite meals. It's a great salad or rice topper and the pre-seasoning and balsamic glaze allows for the chicken to soak up flavor before use. The package comes with enough chicken to complement a meal for a whole family or for use on multiple meals for a single person.

Chicken is notoriously an affordable protein, and you'll almost always budget better when buying raw chicken to cook at home yourself. However, Trader Joe's balsamic and rosemary grilled chicken comes pretty close at just $7.99 for 12 ounces of cooked, cut, and seasoned chicken.

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Cereal bars typically take up half an aisle in your run-of-the-mill grocery store, but Trader Joe's is intentional with its products. Trader Joe's doesn't carry many more cereal bars than its "This *insert flavor here* Walks Into A Bar" brand bars, because it doesn't really need to. Strawberry, apple, blueberry, and a rotating seasonal flavor are available in this cleverly named snack priced at $2.49 a box. Pumpkin, peach, and fig have all been seasonal flavors before, but the future could hold even more variation.

These bars make great on-the-go snacks, or additions to kids' snack drawers or baskets. They are great alternatives to the sugar coated cereal bars you find at most grocery stores, because this bar has less cereal and more fruit filling. Remember, Trader Joe's doesn't use artificial coloring, so this bar is already heads above similar products in other stores.

The only downside to these bars is that they are on the crumbly side. One quick fix to this is to stick them in the freezer, which is a great way to make them into a quick dessert. A frozen bar also acts as a cold pack for lunches!

Carlie Hoke / Mashed

I may have had the upper hand for this list because I have years of experience trying out trending items and finding my own favorite hidden gems at Trader Joe's. To create this list of Trader Joe's hidden gems that you've been overlooking, I used my own knowledge of the brand and products as well as research from corners of the internet that hold Trader Joe's in high regard.

At least half of the items on this list are products that I swear by and try to keep stocked in my kitchen. These snack and meal necessities may be tried and true for myself, but I checked popular lists of tasty Trader Joe's items as to not include any well known products here. I also searched online communities of Trader Joe's fans to find items I may not have tried out yet, as well as find any cult favorites that may not be widespread yet. The result is a list of items that are unique and high quality, but fly under the radar for most people.