I ate 13 Trader Joe's salads and ranked them. I found most of them to be cheap and pretty good. (2024)

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I wasn't optimistic about Trader Joe's Caesar-style salad.

First impression: I'm not a big fan of Caesar salads. Something about the creamy texture doesn't do it for me. This bag came with lettuce, cheese, croutons, and dressing.

I'd figured this would be a perfectly fine salad, but I didn't expect to rank it highly.

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As predicted, this wasn't for me.

Review: The salad was good, though I found it plain. The Parmesan didn't do it for me — I'd have preferred a slightly sweeter cheese. I enjoyed the Dijon dressing, but it wasn't enough.

I also found it hard to eat. The big chunks of romaine were unwieldy, and the croutons felt impossible to spear with a bite of oversized lettuce. This was my least favorite salad I tried.

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The Pacific salad with chicken seemed plain.

First impression: This salad had romaine and iceberg lettuce, grilled chicken, crispy rice noodles, roasted almonds, and sesame seeds, but it looked plain.

I'm not a huge fan of iceberg lettuce, and I was underwhelmed by the topping list. It seemed like a salad I might enjoy, but I sensed something was missing. It looked too simple. Also, I saw only two pieces of chicken.

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The salad wasn't bad, but I wished it had more toppings.

Review: I appreciated the quality of the well-seasoned chicken. The almonds and crispy rice noodles provided a nice texture. But it was still missing something, maybe another light vegetable. This felt too reminiscent of a McDonald's salad.

The dressing made this a quality, if uninspiring, meal. It balanced sweetness and tanginess to make this otherwise bland salad work.

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Trader Joe's Mexicali-inspired salad was loaded with toppings.

First impression: The Mexicali-inspired salad came with chicken, corn, peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, pumpkin seeds, Parm, and a jalapeno Caesar dressing.

It looked excellent, and I was excited to try the seasoned meat. I'm also a sucker for pumpkin seeds and sun-dried tomatoes, add-ons I always welcome in salads.

This was one of the rare times I was excited to try every component of a dish.

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The salad perhaps had too many toppings and flavors.

Review: There was too much going on here for this to be any more than just a good salad. I didn't find the jalapeno dressing very flavorful — it was more creamy than spicy. I also think Parm was a strange choice for a Mexican-inspired salad.

This salad was more salty than flavorful, even though it had many ingredients I enjoyed.

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The Chinese-inspired salad with chicken had solid ingredients.

First impression: The simple salad had grilled chicken, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, snow peas, and crispy noodles plus a soy-sesame dressing.

I predicted the dressing would carry the salad, as dressings tend to do. Prepackaged salads also live and die by the durability of their ingredients, and cabbage, snow peas, and carrots sounded indestructible.

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I was pretty underwhelmed by Trader Joe's Chinese-inspired salad.

Review: I've had better versions of this salad before a meal at a suburban-fancy Chinese restaurant. The carrots, cabbage, and snow peas were cold and crispy, which gave it a one-note quality.

The salad's soy dressing was enough to make this a good, if unmemorable, option. It was sweet and savory, with a tang that stuck with me after finishing the last bite.

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Trader Joe's barbecue-and-black-pepper Toscano chopped salad looked pretty good.

First impression: This salad looked delicious with its mix of green and red cabbages, carrots, broccoli stalks, kale, cornbread croutons, and black-pepper Toscano cheese.

It sounded like something that could get soggy easily, but most of the fixings came in separate bags. I appreciated the forethought.

Ultimately, barbecue salads are never as good as I think they'll be. Also, I found it a little weird to have a barbecue dish with no meat.

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The barbecue-flavored dressing made this feel a little weird.

The barbecue sweet-onion dressing threw me off. Putting barbecue anything on a cold dish almost felt sacrilegious. I appreciated the flavor of the sauce, but it felt like dunking coleslaw in the drippings at a rib joint.

I also wished Trader Joe's had included enough cheese, which was a highlight. I would've had to use the whole bag of cheese on one serving in this multiserving bag to be satisfied.

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Trader Joe's lemon-chicken-and-arugula salad came with couscous.

First impression: This salad looked wonderful with its pearl couscous, red quinoa, and spicy red-pepper dressing. I love a spicy dressing and hoped this would be flavorful.

I thought the couscous would balance the salad well. I also like quinoa in salads and don't think people use it enough.

Combine that with grilled chicken lying on a bed of arugula, the best type of green, and I had a feeling this would be a winner.

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The main downside of this salad was the spicy dressing.

Review: This combination of flavors was tasty. The lemon flavoring of the chicken was excellent.

The couscous was welcome. The arugula was terrific, and though the quinoa didn't have a distinct taste, it added a nice weight to the salad.

Ultimately, the dressing held this back. I like sweet or tangy flavors, but this had a little too much spice in it without enough flavor. Less was more with the dressing, but this may not be for you if spicy salads are a turnoff.

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Trader Joe's classic Greek salad seemed simple.

First impression: Who doesn't love a Greek salad? Who doesn't love feta cheese?

The salad looked fresh with its cucumber, red onion, red pepper, feta, and kalamata olives.

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The Greek salad was solid.

Review: Chicken would've been great with this, but it was still excellent. The feta was creamy, and the onions were a little sweet, which I appreciated.

The olives were tasty, but the feta made this dish. It had the perfect sharpness and consistency.

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Trader Joe's Southwestern chopped salad had a cabbage-and-romaine base.

First impression: This salad, which had a base of green cabbage and romaine, looked delicious. Cotija cheese and roasted pepitas sounded like good toppings.

I think tortilla strips are a great addition to most salads and are far easier to eat than croutons.

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The Southwestern salad was pretty tasty.

Review:It was delicious. Not my favorite, certainly, but a quality salad. I liked the balance of the cabbage and tortilla chips. The cotija added a smooth flavor that held the whole thing together.

The spicy Southwest avocado dressing felt more like a vinaigrette than an avocado-based dressing, which is usually creamy, but it was good.

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Trader Joe's harvest salad with grilled chicken seemed like a safe bet.

First impression: The harvest salad looked great with its spring lettuce mix, green beans, and corn. It had a nice blend of classic salad toppings, like hard-boiled eggs, grape tomatoes, and chicken.

I'm a fan of a Dijon dressing, and the packaging said this salad had a creamy one. This seemed like a safe bet.

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This salad felt like a solid staple even though it didn't stand out much.

Review: This salad offered an excellent combination of healthy ingredients and taste. Though I found it a little bland, the flavorful chicken gave it a dimension many other salads didn't have.

The cheddar cheese and creamy Dijon dressing paired well with the spring mix. No single aspect of this salad stood out, so I don't have a ton more to say.

However, I could see myself buying this one more frequently than others, considering how filling it was.

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I was excited to try Trader Joe's peanut-and-crispy-noodle salad kit.

First impression: This looked as well dressed as a Stanley Tucci character. The salad came with cabbage, romaine, peanuts, carrot, celery, fried rice noodles, green onion, and cilantro.

I was excited for the peanuts and the peanut-and-lime dressing, but I was afraid they'd be the only good aspects of this salad.

Still, I was more excited to try this salad than I was to try others.

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It was tasty, but it was missing something.

Review: The peanuts and the lime dressing added character. The dressing had an especially nice spice that made it next-level delicious.

Unfortunately, it mostly felt like the base for a more involved dish. I would have loved it if this salad had some chicken or tofu.

Still, I loved the inclusion of delicious cilantro, which I think is rare in a premade salad. It went perfectly with the crunchy peanuts, tangy lime, cool carrots, and cabbage.

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Trader Joe's elote chopped salad kit seemed to have a lot of solid ingredients.

First impression: Trader Joe's elote chopped salad had a base of chopped cabbage, green-leaf lettuce, kale, green onion, and dried sweet corn. I was excited to try its cornbread crumbles and crumbled cotija cheese, which I always love.

I also love it when salads have dried corn — it's so sweet and adds a tremendous secondary flavor. I didn't really see how this salad could go wrong, especially with the elote-style dressing.

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The elote chopped salad was delicious and missing only a protein.

Review: If this delicious salad had come with chicken, it easily would've been the best one on the list. With the corn and cornbread bits, the crunch was excellent. The elote dressing provided a smoky undertone reminiscent of Mexican street corn.

Sadly, the cotija cheese got a little lost, and I didn't think there was enough in the bag. Still, this salad was beautiful.

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The broccoli-and-kale slaw seemed like a good idea.

First impression: I love the concept of this salad with shredded broccoli stalks, kale, and radicchio. It also came with dried red sour cherries and blueberries, which I thought would really make the salad.

The slivered almonds and creamy dressing also seemed like they'd push just the right buttons. I'm not even a fan of broccoli, but I was confident this would be good.

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This slaw was fantastic.

Review: It was excellent — almost a perfect salad. The dressing was perfectly creamy, almost like a dollop of ice cream. The cherries and blueberries added a sweetness that might be overpowering to some, but I loved it.

This could be a bland salad if you don't get enough dressing, but it also doesn't need much. This was one of the salads I quickly returned to finish after writing the ranking.

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Trader Joe's Field Fresh chopped salad with grilled white chicken seemed like it'd be refreshing.

First impression: Trader Joe's Field Fresh chopped salad looked refreshing with its couscous, currants, and sweet basil dressing. I love couscous, and I predicted the currants would give it a nice kick and pair well with the basil. It came with toasted pecans, too, but I took them out because I'm allergic.

This looked like a complete salad, even though its cheese topper, Parmesan, is never my top choice.

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The chain nailed it with this salad.

Review: This was absolutely delicious. As I ate it, I could imagine myself on a summer picnic somewhere under a shady tree. The basil dressing was sweet as promised and tied everything together.

I'm also a sucker for cabbage, and I appreciated its crunchy presence.

The couscous was the perfect texture to upgrade this salad. It offered a vibrancy that no other salad could match. Even the chicken had a great savoriness that no other salad provided.

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Overall, there were no bad salads to be found at Trader Joe's.

There were many excellent salads in this taste test. Even my least favorite, the Caesar salad, was a quality option.

I went with the Field Fresh salad as my top choice because of its chicken and dressing. Really, the chicken was the tiebreaker.

The elote mix would've won if it'd had chicken — its cornbread crumbles, creamy cheese, and flavorful dressing were impressive. The broccoli-and-kale salad was also a close second.

Ranking these salads felt like splitting hairs — you can't go wrong with any salad on this list.