Trader Joe’s is an excellent grocery store for ready-to-eat meals that require very little — really only heating or assembling. The wide variety of salad kits is just the tip of the iceberg. The beloved grocer has a lot of salad kits with all kinds of fun mix-ins. Cornbread croutons, anyone?
I spent the last month eating every single Trader Joe’s salad (11, to be exact!), to figure out which are the best of the bunch. Like all taste tests at The Kitchn, I took this showdown very seriously. I tried several bags two or three times to really boil down my favorites.
These are the three I’d happily add to my cart again and again.
Credit: Ali Domrongchai Credit: Ali Domrongchai
1. Elote Chopped Salad Kit, $3.99 for 12 ounces
This list is in no particular order, but … if I had to choose one favorite it would be Trader Joe’s Elote Chopped Salad Kit (so it’s appropriately placed at number one). First spotted on shelves in early 2023, the salad is basically a deconstructed Mexican street corn.
It’s packed with Cotija cheese, cornbread crumbles, and a creamy-spicy dressing to go with a cruciferous mix of green and red cabbage, green leaf lettuce, carrots, kale, and green onion. It’s just as savory as its O.G. inspiration, and it is a salad that I will absolutely be buying on repeat.
Credit: Ali Domrongchai Credit: Ali Domrongchai
2. Organic Mediterranean Style Salad Kit, $3.99 for 13 ounces
This Mediterranean Style Salad Kit surprised me. The romaine lettuce, shredded broccoli stalks, celery, and crisp radicchio base brings a bounty of texture that’s only amplified by the seasoned flatbread strips, roasted chickpeas, and dried tomatoes. Plus, there’s crumbled feta cheese!
And then there’s that refreshingly herby red wine vinaigrette. TJ’s should bottle and sell it. The salad kit is absolutely a sleeper hit, and makes for a wonderful light lunch. Serve with chicken breast, or a bowl of grains or some frozen dumplings, and you’ve got yourself a robust meal.
Credit: Ali Domrongchai Credit: Ali Domrongchai
3. Sweet Chili Mango Complete Salad Kit, $3.99 for 11 ounces
I’m well-acquainted with this salad kit. It’s the base of my three-ingredient stir-fry. The cruciferous base cooks down easily in a wok, and the sweet chili sauce is golden on ground meat. As I’ve found over the past month, it also makes an equally delicious salad (shocker!).
I wouldn’t say the dressing outwardly reminds me of Thai cuisine, which it’s inspired by. But it’s sweet, tangy, and still great in its own right.
What are your favorite Trader Joe’s salads? Tell us in the comments below.
The Weekly Checkout
Sign up for The Weekly Checkout to get the most up-to-date grocery news, tips, and highlights.
Subscribe to The Kitchn!