The Best Trader Joe’s Foods of 2025

Trader Joe’s spent 2025 like so many of us: looking for an escape from reality. They may have run out of eggs and yogurt a few times (at my store), but they never seemed to run out of chocolate-covered crunchy munch-y doodads. Phew! Would I find sweet relief in funnel cake french fries? Maybe! I tried like hell, at least. After a year of grocery shopping with my new stuff radar, and trying some gruesome goods (how did they make such terrible cinnamon rolls?), here are the new products that I’d buy again—plus the staples I always pick up.

Best New Sweet Treats

Exactly what you want in a sour candy belt—a large quantity, first of all, a chewy chew, and enough citric acid to make you pucker up against your Botox’s every last grip.

Absolute Willy Wonka shit here. These are root-beer-flavored candies with popping bits that fizzle like soda. They make me feel like, even if I’m paying 50% more for health insurance next year, there are morsels of joy in this world. Until those morsels are discontinued.

You can find versions of these at regular grocery stores and HomeGoods and whatnot, but good lord, they are good. The package contains individually wrapped fat little waffles that are somehow crisp and fluffy, with just enough sugar coating to seduce you. Nutritionally meaningless (no protein added!), they are junk food for junk food’s sake.

A great mindless snack: freeze-dried berries bound with that mysterious yogurt coating that makes me question what yogurt even is. If you get your kicks on strawberry-flavored candy/ice cream, you’ll be all over this. If you prefer less cutesy-flavored snacks, try real strawberries—they still hold up.

Best New Savory Products

Come on, it’s not that spicy. The balance of mango to habanero is great, and the texture is dense and creamy, not watery or suspiciously smooth. A nice option when your avocados are perpetually unripe.

These thin, waffle-like chips have an alluring texture I’ve never encountered in a chip before (which is saying something) and a barbecue-adjacent flavor. I want them with a tuna melt, a sloppy joe, really every sandwich from here on out.

Another fun new chip, these are extra buttery with a sturdier, more rustic presence than your typical potato shard. The garlic isn’t too rank either. Swoop into whichever dip your heart desires—perhaps giardiniera or buff chick?

The trendy yet not new cured meat is finally at Trader Joe’s. And even if they didn’t splurge on the kind of mortadella bespeckled with pistachios, it’s flabby in a good way with white splotches, like beautiful pork fat stained glass. Even on the thicker side, the slices are still satisfying to pleat and shove into your mouth at the kitchen counter. Never forget that Bon Appétit has a recipe for Mortadella Moments. Now this is your moment.

I feel it’s my duty to point out that, while the year was mostly a parade of inconsequential snacks, Trader Joe’s did introduce some staples for those who like to cook. Ground lamb! Affordable, ruby red, and not too gamey. Put it toward this gloriously green pasta or this 10-minute stir-fry.

The ravioli department always goes hard, but these are a new favorite, with a pierogi-reminiscent filling. Great to hoard in the freezer for emergencies.

This super seedy, unabashedly wholesome bread makes me feel like I’m having avocado toast at Sqrl circa 2016 (I’ve never been, TBH). This one’s for my fiber lovers. Also freezes splendidly.

Best New Frozen Stuff

The combination of mango, pineapple, banana, coconut cream pieces, and passion fruit purée tastes like a dumb frozen cocktail you’d have at a swim-up bar at an all-inclusive resort where everyone is beautiful and someone will be murdered by the end of the week, but no one knows who until the season finale.

I loved these silky, delicate noodle rolls filled with plump shrimp. Trader Joe’s dim sum selection continues to excel. Try the Pork and Ginger Soup Dumplings and Teriyaki Mushroom Mini Bao Buns too.

The Uncrustables dupe that sparked a lawsuit! Even if the shape is different and the filling more sloppy, these make me want to play freeze tag and laugh so hard on the playground that I pee my pants. Youth is fleeting; PB&J is forever.

Pop these custard-filled fishies in the air fryer and your kitchen will start to smell like a doughnut shop. This is exactly the kind of delight my local Meijer would never stock (Kroger, however, is starting to wise up with their variety).

This frozen pizza has a surprisingly fluffy crust and a more complex sauce than others at Trader Joe’s, but how you cook it really changes the results. Preferably: the highest heat you have, on a preheated pizza stone or baking sheet.

C’est chic as hell! You have to proof these for six or so hours before baking, but the result is a super flaky, sugar-dusted croissant nest I can’t easily find elsewhere.

Goofy and a good time. Do you have to add your own powdered sugar to complete the funnel cake fantasy? Yes, but you can handle that. Put out a communal plate of these dessert fries at your next party, book club, seance, etc., and watch the mood, or shall I say spirits, lift. These are not of this world, but the next.

Best New Drinks

Just sweet enough, and that’s all I ever wanted in a matcha lemonade. Will get you through the last hour of a long road trip, a dreaded meeting, or a 4.5-hour Kill Bill showing.

I fell pretty hard for these creamsicle-flavored seltzers, even though I’m not a Seltzer Person. They have more going on than a one-note lime seltzer, without tasting creamy in a freaky way. Just trust me. Good.

Classics We Never Want Discontinued

Not counting, like, blueberries and the barbecue-cut salmon, these are the ongoing Trader Joe’s icons that I (almost) always pick up, in order of life essentiality.

• Ridge-Cut Potato Chips and Truly Tortilla Chips: sturdy and properly salty
• Strained Thick & Creamy Greek Yogurt Plain: basically Fage?!
• Homemade Flour Tortillas: thin and stretchy; blast in a cast-iron skillet until bubbly
• Banana Pudding Flavored Ice Cream: summer only, a dream
• Unexpected Cheddar: sharp enough for cheese plates, melty enough for quesadillas
• Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups: duh
• Taiwanese Green Onion Pancakes: so flaky and chewy; turn into an egg sandwich
• Chana Masala: the No. 1 TV dinner
• Roti With Red Curry: party appetizer to pair with beer
• Grilled Pitted Green Olives: stuff with feta, pop in a martini, and tell the kids to go play outside
• High Protein Organic Tofu: no pressing needed; unrivaled for nuggets
• Mac and Cheese Bites: give me 5,000
• Very Cherry Berry Blend: blend with sweetened condensed milk into soft serve
• Coffee Bean Blast Ice Cream: really is a blast
• Butternut Squash Ravioli: just add brown butter
• Buttermilk Ranch & Vegan Caesar: elite refrigerated dressings
• Little Gems: a status lettuce variety for those elite dressings
• Italian Bomba Hot Pepper Sauce: a staff staple for a reason
• Dill-icious Chopped Salad Kit: the chips are croutons!
• Chantilly Cream Vanilla Bean Mini Sheet Cake: unholy
• Chocolaty Coated Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Bites: hiking snack
• Coconut Milk: good luck finding it anywhere cheaper
• Any of the coated pretzels: but especially the “celebration cake” ones