6 Trader Joe’s Dinner Hacks with 5 Ingredients or Less | Allrecipes

Think you can’t make a satisfying dinner with just five ingredients? Think again. Nicole is back in the kitchen with six complete dinners using only Trader Joe’s staples and shortcuts — each dish with five ingredients or less.

She kicks things off with the viral Trader Joe’s lobster bisque pasta, a creamy, crowd-pleasing dish that comes together in minutes. Then it’s onto a one-pan stir-fry starring frozen wontons — a shortcut you’ll want on repeat. She follows that with a cheesy, dump-and-go enchilada bake, then transforms your favorite party dip into a comforting spinach artichoke chicken pasta. Nicole also builds hearty, Asian-style rice bowls that are endlessly customizable and weeknight-friendly. And to finish strong, the easiest crispy fish tacos you’ll ever make in the air-fryer.

Whether you’re cooking for one or feeding the whole family, these Trader Joe’s dinner hacks are perfect for busy nights, beginner cooks, or anyone who loves smart shortcuts and bold flavor — with minimal effort.

Timestamps:
00:00 Trader Joe’s Dinners
00:21 Trader Joe’s Lobster Pasta
03:59 One Pan Dumplings
06:03 Easy Dump and Go Enchiladas
09:36 Spinach Artichoke Chicken Pasta
12:54 Asian-Style Bowls
15:37 Fish Tacos

Ingredients:

Trader Joe’s Lobster Pasta
-Lobster Bisque
-Frozen Red Argentinian Shrimp
-Pasta
-Cherry Tomatoes
-Grated Parmesan Cheese

One Pan Dumplings
-Chicken Cilantro Mini Wontons
-Stir Fry Veggie Blend
-Soyaki
-Coconut Milk
-Chili Onion Crunch (optional)

Easy Dump and Go Enchiladas
-Black Bean & Cheese Taquitos
-Enchilada Sauce
-Hardwood Smoked Pulled Chicken
-Shredded Cheese

Spinach Artichoke Chicken Pasta
-Spinach Artichoke Dip
-Chicken Breast
-Rigatoni Pasta
-Tomatoes
-Feta Cheese with Herbs

Asian-Style Bowls
-Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs
-Vegetable Fried Rice
-Soyaki
-Peanut and Crispy Noodle Salad Kit

Fish Tacos
-Battered Fish Nuggets
-Southwestern Chopped Salad
-Tortillas
-Mango Habanero Guacamole
-Salsa

_________
Allrecipes Magazine is now available!
U.S. subscribers, subscribe here: http://armagazine.com/subscribenow
Canadian subscribers, subscribe here: http://themeredithstore.ca/p-282-allrecipes-subscription.aspx
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Allrecipes
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allrecipes/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/allrecipes/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@allrecipes

Inside these bags, I’ve got groceries to make six complete dinners using those famous Trader Joe’s shortcuts. Each one of these six dinners has five ingredients or less. For some of the recipes that only have four ingredients, I justified a fifth. When you go in with a game plan, it’s easy to kind of stick to your list, and you really save money that way. I’m starting with the ever so viral Trader Joe’s lobster pasta. This thing has gone crazy because it’s just a smart dinner. The five ingredients here are the pasta. This pasta is a 99 cents. The magic ingredient, the lobster bisque, some Parmesan cheese, some tomatoes, and then they have frozen lango lobster tails. Lobster. It’s not real lobster. They are always out of the lango tails. So, a good substitute are these Argentinian shrimp. They’re a shrimp, not a lobster, but they kind of have that kind of sweet, almost buttery kind of lobster texture. And per usual, whenever we do these pantry staples, do not count. Let’s go. This is also a one pan meal that comes together in no time. I’m only using half a pound of pasta, so it’s really 50 cents worth. Get the pasta going. The sauce starts with just a little bit of onion and garlic. You got it? Just slightly. I don’t think it’s going to bleed. It’s very shallow. Not I can hide it for a minute. I think it’ll stop in a second. I’m I’m doing that. I don’t know. I don’t want it to show. It’s not even open. It’s just like super tiny when you Yeah, I’ll do the tiny chefs. They’re just like us. When the onion is softened, then in goes tomatoes. whatever tomatoes you want. Then I’m going to cook these down till they’re soft and they kind of burst and they’re going to help make the sauce. This will cook for about 5 minutes. Because these shrimp are a little bit longer, I’m going to just cut them in half just to make it a little more bite- size. I’m going to season this up with a little bit of salt and pepper. I could have should have used cut the tomatoes in half just to make this go faster, but as they start to soften, you can kind of mash them up. Just kind of get those juices flowing. There it went. The first. [Music] We’ll just We’ll fix it later. All right. Once your tomatoes have softened, then in goes the lobster bisque. Maybe I do need to start wearing aprons. All right. Then we’re just going to cook this until it simmers and the shrimp is cooked. See how fast this is though? Oh, it smells good. Saucy and delicious. And now goes in the pasta. And then to finish it off, Parmesan cheese. I went with the cheap stuff today. You can go nicer. Still the same amount of ingredients. And then some fresh lemon. Hopefully you have this on hand. If not, you’re going to have to buy sixth ingredient. Little crushed red pepper. Mhm. All right, let’s dish it up. That’s just a delicious meal that looks like it’s more than 20 bucks, but it’s not. Don’t skimp on the sauce. We got plenty. Taste the shrimp. M. That shrimp is cooked perfectly. I might like it better with the shrimp. It’s easy. It’s affordable. This is perfection. We’re off to a good start. Next up is my one pan dumpling dinner or wantton. 20 bucks to feed your family. Five ingredients here are the chicken and cilantro mini wontons. There are four servings, but we like these a lot, so I bought two bags, but it’s still one ingredient. this stir fry veggie blend. This has bok choy, snow peas, broccoli, cabbage. It’s like the perfect thing for this dinner. This is one of their famous little sauces. It’s this soyaki. So, it’s like a teriyak sauce, but nothing weird in here. A little coconut milk. And then really optional, so this could be a four ingredient dinner, is chili crunch. It’s a great way to finish this dish off. I’m going to put a half a cup of this directly into the dish. Did you just measure something? I did. I want more. And then I got some coconut milk, the full fat kind. About a half a cup of this. And then a little bit of water. So I’m going to do half a cup of water. All right. Then just dump the veggies right in. Kind of toss them around in that sauce. Also going to sprinkle this with just a little bit of salt. And then you just put your wontons right on top. That’s it. This just goes into the oven 375 for about 25 to 30 minutes. Smells so good. I uncovered it the last like five minutes or so. Here’s what we’ve got. I’m going to give it a little toss. And this is how I serve it up. Just try to get plenty of veggies and wantons. Some little chili crunch. Look at that. A little of the crunch. A little of the oil. And there’s your one pan dumpling dinner. Get like some veggie and wantton on there and then give it a little swim through the sauce. Y’all don’t understand how good this is. You can drink that juice. It is like heavenly. This is a 12 out of 10. You want to make this one? M. Next up, how does a four ingredient dinner sound? Even better than five, I got you. This is a easy dump and go enchilada style dinner. So, instead of enchiladas, the shortcut here are these taquitos. I got the black bean and cheese. Taquitos. They’re enchilada sauce, which I’ve heard is very good. And then they have lots of different varieties of cooked chicken. I chose the pulled chicken here because I think it’ll be nice and shreddy to go on top and then cheese. So, because this dinner is four ingredients, you can add something to make it five. This like chopped salad. I thought this would be delicious to put on top or on the side. And this can be your fifth ingredient. So, you get the meal plus a side. This whole meal sits at like almost exactly $20. And that includes, you know, like expensive cheese. Grab a casserole dish. Dad gum it. Sorry I’m bleeding again. Laura, can I get another band-aid? Okay, back to it. We’re just going to lay these down. Still like a family size meal. Oh, well that just fits perfectly. And then I’ve never bought this chicken before, but I’m hopeful. This is a pound cooked, so it started as more than a pound. This is going to be a lot of chicken. Like this way of cooking sometimes. These are the meals when you don’t want to cook. These are great ideas. This is a lot of chicken. Told you. Loading up on the protein here. All this is like $7.99. That’s definitely cheaper than buying and cooking your own. All right. And then the enchilada sauce. Oh yeah, that’s good. Yeah, we’ll just put the whole thing. That looks so good. This is another thing that you buy once and you can get two uses out of it. Cheese it up. I hope y’all don’t call me and ask me for measurements on these. Measure with your heart. Putting this in the oven 350 until it’s all cooked, bubbly, brown, hot, and delicious. Oh yeah. Oh, lots of bubbles. Look at this. This looks so good. And the fact that this was a four ingredient dinner. You can look at this and pick what you want as a fifth ingredient if you want anything. I’m going to do the little bag of salad because it already has a little sauce with it. But you could also just pick up an avocado or some guacamole or sour cream. You know what? You do you. Serve it with a little elote salad. Feel like I want a little something else on there. Boom. Just looks so My mouth just started watering. Oh my gosh, this is so good. I wouldn’t even be scared to throw this in a dish and bring it to somebody, you know, who moved into a new house or had a baby or something. I mean, look, the chicken is real. It’s not like mystery meat chicken. You can tell that that’s like real chicken, real corn tortillas. The cheese is like so creamy. The sauce is perfection. I could go on and on. This is spinach artichoke chicken pasta. Um, I’ve seen it just with the pasta, but of course I want to make these full dinners, so I added in chicken. The shortcut solution here is this creamy spinach artichoke dip. This is in the freezer section. I’m going to want this like really saucy, so I got two of them, but it’s still one ingredient and it’s it’s like less than four bucks for each one. For this one, I got this chicken that’s just chicken. This looks just like freshly grilled chicken breast. I’m going to chop this up and put it in. Then whatever pasta you want. So, I’m doing this kind of like the lobster pasta. For your fourth ingredient, you can make this whatever. You could just do more spinach. You could do artichoke hearts. You can leave it out if you want, but I like to incorporate another veggie. And this is also going to help create a sauce. And then, because I had room, I could add a fifth ingredient. So, I’m doing this feta cheese with herb. So, it’s like a flavor combo cuz it’s got multiple, you know, seasonings in this one cheese. That’s it. Five ingredients. Let’s do this one. I’m going to put a little oil down at the bottom so it doesn’t stick too much. Add in our blocks of dip. Okay. And then I got these cute little tomatoes. I’m just going to pop them in just like this after I give them a rinse, of course. So, these tomatoes are pretty cheap, but there are cheaper ones, too, if you want to save a few bucks. All right, I’m going to do a little salt and pepper. Maybe a little more drizzle of oil on those. All right, then I’m just going to pop this into the oven until it’s all melty and saucy. Feel like this is going to be another restaurant meal. Oh yeah, look at that. We’re going to take these tomatoes off the vine. They should just pop right off. Stir it up. Hopefully this is all Oh, yeah. Look at that. Oh, kind of burst these tomatoes a little bit. That’s a good pasta sauce right there, guys. All right, and just kind of chop up this chicken. This is another one also around $8, I think. Eight or $9. Stir in the cooked pasta. I can’t I can’t not make a mess today. Little sample. Oh, yeah. This is going to be good. reserve a little pasta water just to kind of make sure it stays saucy to finish it off and just to make sure that chicken is fully heated through. I’m going to top it with some feta and put it back in the oven for just about like 10 more minutes. 5 to 10 more minutes. This is another one worthy of company. You would not look at this and think that only has five ingredients. That spinach artich choke dip has the cheese pools. It shouldn’t be this good. It just shouldn’t. It’s just perfect. It’s got just the right amount of cream and cheese and the uh tomatoes addition kind of breaks up some of that richness so you get that kind of burst of acid in there. I would serve this to company. I never pictured myself as a convenience product kind of person, but here I am killing it. I have another four ingredient dinner. When I saw these meatballs, I knew I had to do something with them. This is pineapple teriyak chicken meatballs. And then they also have just the regular chicken meatballs. And then I thought I buy this all the time. I love this. It’s just an easy, quick side dish. So, with those ingredients and a couple more, I’m making Asian style bowls. We already have this from earlier, so technically it could be a threeingredient dinner and this peanut and crispy noodle salad kit. It’s all about the different toppings and you just kind of make your own. But this has all those things in one bag and it has a little like saucy dressing. I’m going to do the pineapple teriyak chicken meatballs. I thought it would go so well with this dish. soyaki sauce right over it. Get some oil. You want like a neutral flavored oil. So, I’m doing like avocado oil or you could do vegetable oil, whatever. And get that down on the bottom. And then you just dump your rice right in. Once you get your rice in, you leave it alone so that it can get crispy and brown on the bottom. I like to give it one stir to coat everything in the oil and then I leave it alone. All right, check out the rice. Slightly sticking to the bottom. And that’s what you want. So that it gets some of that crusty crunchiness. Let me taste it. They season it so well. Doesn’t really need anything. So that’s done. Meatballs. All they had to do is really heat all the way through. And we have done that. Let’s build our bowls. It’s got cabbage, cilantro. What else? Green onion, peanuts, carrots, celery. I could save all these for toppings to just build the bowl. Maybe I’ll do that. I’m going to go ahead and put these crispy noodles into the salad. And then this is a peanut and lime dressing. They thought of everything. All right. Down with my rice first. It’s our base. Then our meatballs. Definitely want some of that sauce. Our veggies on top. Sprinkling of our peanuts that came with the salad. And that’s it. I think, you know, for an optional fifth ingredient, I feel like I’m going to want a little kick. So, I’m going to go a little Sriracha. You never would have thought this was made with four ingredients. Come on. Let me get the perfect bite, which won’t be hard cuz it’s already all in here. M. There’s a ton of flavor in this bowl. Having these like crunchy veggies, the rice is perfection. And that sauce, that soyaki sauce, that will be a staple in my kitchen. Now, can’t stop what you know. For my final trick, fish tacos. And the star of the show here are these battered fish nuggets. This whole box was $5.99, I believe. Kind of like the bowls. This has a bunch of ingredients in one. I love like a slo when it comes to fish tacos versus a lettuce. And so, I thought this would be perfect. the southwestern chopped salad and then your tortillas. And with fish tacos, I like something usually a little tropical. So, this is a mango habanero guacamole that I think is going to be so perfect. I think it’s going to be fine with just four ingredients. However, if you want a salsa, that could be your fifth ingredient. This one comes out to be a little over $20. This might be the more expensive one of the day, but you can switch these ingredients out and make it cheaper for sure. for the fish. I’m going to cook this in the air fryer. When it comes to frozen, like fried foods, the air fryer, it’s like what it was made for. And while that cooks, I’ll just toss the salad. And then I’m also going to toast up my tortillas because that just makes them way better. I like to go straight over the burner. And then just flip. I think battered. It’s going to get a little less crispy than if it was just breaded. They did have a crispy panko breaded one. All right, fish done. Tortillas grilled and warmed. I just did the dressing and the green mix. What I’m looking for is the crunch. That’s all I really care about. And that is why I love using cabbage in fish tacos. It’s not creamy. I thought the dressing was going to be creamy, but the guacamole is creamy. So, we still got it all. I want to taste this. It’s good. Oh, it’s got the kick. Feel like it needs a little salt cuz it’s almost a little bit sweet. So, it needs just a little salt to balance it. You know, you can jush things up. You don’t have to be committed to the way it is. That fits two of these perfectly. Mango guac. I feel like you don’t need salsa because the dressing has like the tang. But here’s your five ingredient taco Tuesday solution. It’s good. I’ll try it with salsa. Mhm. sauce is good with it. Oh my gosh. Who is that? Who’s I didn’t know what it was. I just could tell she was doing something. Sorry, wasn’t expecting that. Um, okay. Besides needing some napkins, you don’t need anything else for this. This is totally a dinner you can do with four to five ingredients and do it well. It’s good. By looking at these six dinners, you know this looks like it took more than 25 to 30 ingredients to prepare, but it didn’t. From pre-made sauces and soups to bag salads to pre-cooked meat, those are the things you need to be looking for to make this happen. These are just suggestions, but I hope I’ve inspired you to get creative and hit up that fridge and freezer section.