Whether you’re hosting a birthday party, holiday event or just your average movie night, it can be an absolute nightmare for those who don’t like (or have the time) to cook.
Enter Trader Joe’s. The grocery chain has hundreds of delicious goodies that are ready to go or just need to be heated up — and voila, your guests will never go hungry. Same goes for partygoers who need a last-minute dish to bring.
We have you covered when it comes to ideas on the best Trader Joe’s appetizers, side dishes and sweet treats that’ll make your next party that much more festive.
Mini Quiche Duo
Brittany Sulc
Our rating: 9 candy canes (out of 10)
Bottom line: Forget preparing a quiche appetizer on your own, and just run by Trader Joe’s. These crispy, flavorful mini quiches are always a hit and offer more variety than you would ever be able to come up with on your own.
Quiche Lorraine
Brittany Sulc
Our rating: 6 candy canes
Bottom line: You could also go big or go home with this quice. Anything with ham and cheese is guaranteed to be good. Our only reason for not giving it more stars is because we want it to be way bigger.
Parmesan Pastry Pups
Brittany Sulc
Our rating: 7 candy canes
Bottom line: Another amazing Trader Joe’s appetizer, pastry pups are to die for. The name pups comes from the fact that they’re miniature hot dogs wrapped in buttery puff pastry and topped with parmesan. Pick up at least two boxes, because these will disappear as soon as you serve them.
Creamy Spinach & Artichoke Dip
Brittany Sulc
Our rating: 9 candy canes
Bottom line: Making spinach and artichoke dip used to be a labor of love. Now, you can heat it up in minutes. If this is what heaven tastes like, dying might not be that bad.
Fried Olive Bites
Brittany Sulc
Our rating: 8 candy canes
Bottom line: Unless you hate olives, cheese and joy, get these immediately.
Green Bean Casserole Bites
Brittany Sulc
Our rating: 7 candy canes
Bottom line: Small dinner parties don’t necessarily warrant making an entire green bean casserole. These have all of the tastiness of the full dish, only served in bite-sized pastry cups.
Mac and Cheese Bites
Our rating: 9 candy canes
Bottom line: Mac and cheese can be messy at a holiday party. Try heating these fried mac and cheese bites for the ultimate crowd-pleaser without all the serving utensils.
Toscano Cheese With Black Pepper
Our rating: 10 candy canes
Bottom line: Trader Joe’s cheeses deserve their very own story, to be honest. But this Toscano cheese with black pepper is the perfect combination of creamy and peppery to enhance any food spread.
Unexpected Cheddar Cheese
Our rating: 7 candy canes
Bottom line: OK, it’s really just cheddar cheese, but the hints of parmesan are unexpected and are perfect for those who love salty cheeses.
Crescent Rolls
Our rating: 7 candy canes
Bottom line: Crescent rolls are pretty much a requirement at any respectable Thanksgiving spread, and these impressed us. They could be a little flakier, but all in all, they’re great.
Buttermilk Biscuits
Our rating: 6 candy canes
Bottom line: Trader Joe’s does it again, making life so much easier with perfectly good biscuits that require virtually no prep. Just don’t overbake them or their crumbly, buttery goodness takes on the texture of a chunk of concrete.
Pumpkin Spread
Our rating: 6 candy canes
Bottom line: It’s pumpkin butter that’s savory enough to spread on those biscuits we just mentioned. Not ground breaking on its own, but definitely worth trying.
Green Goddess Dip
Our rating: 8 candy canes
Bottom line: No holiday party can have too many dips, which is why we recommend this Green Goddess Dip to add a healthier element without having to skimp on serious flavor.
Organic Buffalo Style Hummus
Our rating: 6 candy canes
Bottom line: Speaking of flavor, this hummus is exactly that. Some might argue that it has too much flavor when all they really want is hummus. We’ll let you decide.
Fall Harvest Salsa
Our rating: 6 candy canes
Bottom line: There’s nothing wrong with traditional salsa, but this fall-themed version is fun to have out on the table for variety. It’s sweeter than ordinary salsa, thanks to apples and butternut squash, so think of it as an autumn version of mango or pineapple salsa.
Organic Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
Our rating: 9 candy canes
Bottom line: You simply can’t have salsa on the table without these blue corn tortilla chips. They’re super salty — just how we like it — which balances well with the sweetness of the previously metnioned fall harvest salsa.
Pistachio Pomegranate Crisps
Our rating: 7 candy canes
Bottom line: Your feelings about these will likely depend on whether or not you like the texture of these unique crackers. If you loved the mini toast slices in Chex Mix as a kid (or now), you’ll love these, too.
Philly Cheesesteak Bao Buns
Our rating: 9 candy canes
Bottom line: Here’s an appetizer that’s really like a mini-meal. Eat a couple, and you may not have room for dessert. But they’re so good, you won’t think twice.
Turkey Sausage Stuffing Fried Rice
Our rating: 7 candy canes
Bottom line: Thanksgiving delicacies don’t have to stop at Thanksgiving. This Trader Joe’s product combines tender fried rice with veggies, stuffing and turkey sausage. Yum.
Breaded Turkey-less Stuffed Roast With Gravy
Our rating: 4 candy canes
Bottom line: Alright, it’s not bad. It’s entirely edible and is quite flavorful, as long as you know what you’re signing up for. A perfectly cooked turkey roast it is not, but as a reasonably tasty meat-free alternative, we give it a thumbs up, especially if you forgot that one of your guests is vegetarian.
Cornbread Stuffing Mix
Our rating: 5 candy canes
Bottom line: It’s not as good as Grandma’s, but it’s a good base that you can spruce up to your liking.
Cornbread Mix
Our rating: 6 candy canes
Bottom line: Cornbread is cornbread, honestly. Like the cornbread stuffing mix, it’s decent on it’s own, but it’s much better when you dress it up with honey butter and diced jalapenos.
Cranberry Sauce
Our rating: 5 candy canes
Bottom line: Trader Joe’s cranberry sauce is pretty good and miles better than the weird, congealed junk from a can. For serving alongside turkey, we wish it came in a bigger jar. As a spread to add into turkey sandwiches, we’d raise the rating to at least an eight.
Turkey & Pumpkin Mole Burrito
Our rating: 5 candy canes
Bottom line: What is pumpkin mole sauce? We don’t know. It makes for a festive treat, though, that could be split in half to share.
Turkey Pot Pie
Our rating: 6 candy canes
Bottom line: Have you ever hosted a pot pie party? We’ve been to one, and we loved every minute of it. This turkey pot pie is one of Trader Joe’s new items for the season, and color us impressed. With turkey, roasted veggies, stuffing and creamy gravy, it’s like comfort food nestled in a buttery, flaky crust.
Fruit & Nut Crisps
Our rating: 5 candy canes
Bottom line: Our verdict is out on these. They’re somewhere between crunchy and chewy with ingredients like tart dried cranberries and almonds, they’re very flavorful.
If you serve them with cheese, however, it drowns out the taste of your favorite sharp cheddar. Try serving them with whipped cream cheese instead.
Dark Chocolate Drizzled Plantain Chips
Our rating: 5 candy canes
Bottom line: We couldn’t leave out this healthy food hidden in chocolate. Plantain chips tend to be harder and less sweet than banana chips, but these passed the judgment of a 7-year-old as a valid treat, which makes it worth putting out for the kids.
Butter Toffee Pretzels
Our rating: 8 candy canes
Bottom line: Now we’re delving into pretzel territory, with this mashup between savory pretzels and sweet, buttery toffee. We definitely recommend.
Dark Chocolate Pretzel Slims
Our rating: 6 candy canes
Bottom line: Similar to the plantain chips, the dark chocolate version of TJ’s pretzel slims has some antioxidants in addition to crunchy, salty pretzel thin paradise.
Apple Cranberry Tart
Our rating: 8 candy canes
Bottom line: We hate to say it, but going to Trader Joe’s is almost as good as going to a real bakery at this point. They’re really good at making pastries, and these tarts are no exception.
They can be served at room temperature, but nuke them for 30 seconds and add a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, and they turn into a whole different experience.
Chocolate Covered Wafer Cookies With Peanut Butter Filling
Our rating: 8 candy canes
Bottom line: If a Kit Kat and Reese’s peanut butter cup had a baby, this chocolate bar would be it. Definitely buy as many as you can to hand out as party favors.
Chocolate Almond Biscotti
Our rating: 5 candy canes
Bottom line: Classic biscotti with a cozy almond flavor and dipped in chocolate? We’ll take two.
Apple Blossoms
Our rating: 8 candy canes
Bottom line: Remember those Trader Joe’s apple cranberry tarts we mentioned earlier? These are nearly the same, just minus the cranberry.
Dark Chocolate Covered Raisins
Our rating: 7 candy canes
Bottom line: Anything covered in chocolate is a win in our books, and dark chocolate raisins are a classic. Snack on these and hot buttered popcorn to hit your next movie night out of the park.
Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Our rating: 8 candy canes
Bottom line: Ever noticed that young children care more about how many snacks they have rather than how large they are? Pretend that five of these tiny peanut butter cups count as a huuuuge treat, and they’ll be none the wiser.
Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups
Our rating: 7 candy canes
Bottom line: Call us immature, but we prefer the flavor of peanut butter to that of almond butter. Even so, these were creamy and decadent, and we’d definitely buy them again.
Dark Chocolate Covered Caramels
Our rating: 6 candy canes
Bottom line: They’re not bad, but they could be better. Trader Joe’s dark chocolate covered caramels are chewy and melt in your mouth, but a milk chocolate version topped in sea salt would be even better.
Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Dipped Peanuts
Our rating: 6 candy canes
Bottom line: A bowl of what tastes exactly like peanut M&M’s is a super-easy staple to have out at parties.
Super Sour Scandinavian Swimmers
Our rating: 8 candy canes
Bottom line: Same goes for a bowl full of these tasty treats. Scandinavian Swimmers are Trader Joe’s punny remake of Swedish Fish. The plain flavor is a little boring, but the sour version will make even the biggest sour candy fan pucker up with pure happiness.
Fruity Chewy Candy
Our rating: 5 candy canes
Bottom line: To add to the list of treats that Trader Joe’s remade, their fruity chewy candy is virtually the same as Starburst candy. We actually prefer the Trader Joe’s version, though, particularly their raspberry and strawberry flavors.
Organic Pops
Our rating: 8 candy canes
Bottom line: Offering lollipops to kids after they already gorged themselves on buckets of Halloween candy isn’t the best idea, but these are at least organic. As far as flavor goes, we tried the lemon and watermelon, and both were flavorful without tasting artificial.
Sour Jelly Beans
Our rating: 6 candy canes
Bottom line: They’re just sour jelly beans, but if you like sour candy, you’ll love these. Trader Joe’s, if you’re listening, try making a jelly bean gift set with 50 flavors, both sweet and sour. We’d buy it in a heartbeat to give to all our favorite people.
Fruit Jellies
Our rating: 7 candy canes
Bottom line: Trader Joe’s fruit jellies are like the classier version of gummy candy. They’re shockingly juicy. It’s like real pieces of fruit turned into candy.
Almond Butter Almonds
Our rating: 7 candy canes
Bottom line: It did strike us as funny that someone took an almond and thought, “Hmmm, you know what would make this better? Let’s coat its blended-up siblings.” Once we tried one, however, we stopped laughing. It was a good idea that you need to experience for yourself and share with your friends.
Egg Nog Yogurt
Our rating: 8 candy canes
Bottom line: OK, this would only really work at a holiday brunch or maybe as a dessert. It’s literally (slightly) healthier egg nog in a cup, so figure out a way to mix it into your holiday festivities. You won’t be sorry!
