19 Trader Joe's Hacks You Should Try At Least Once

Trader Joe's is a mecca for health nuts, bargain hunters, unique snack enthusiasts, and anyone who loves food. The nautically themed stores can be found all over the United States, and the empire's expansion doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon. TJ's has firmly cemented its place in the heart of pop culture and especially on social media, with gigantic Facebook groups, numerous podcasts, and plenty of Instagram and TikTok groups dedicated to celebrating the store and its products.

These fan sites are gold mines when it comes to hacks for Trader Joe's products. Food trends are all over the place on the internet, many of which involve taking simple foods and "hacking" them by combining, swapping, or eliminating elements or ingredients. Considering TJs' popularity, it should come as no surprise that most hacks and fads wind up on one Trader Joe's fan page or another —  but while some of these tips and tricks are fantastic, others leave much to be desired. How do you know what to try and what to avoid? We dug through the morass and came up with Trader Joe's hacks you simply MUST try at least once.

Fusion food has a real stronghold these days. Hop online or check out your local restaurant scene, and you'll see fusion foods like Korean BBQ tacos, tandoori chicken burgers, falafel banh mi, and a whole host of others. Asian and Mexican/LatinX foods are two of the most commonly combined fusion styles, and it's items from these two cuisines that led to this Trader Joe's hack that had TikTok amazed.

Shortly after TJ's unveiled its frozen Beef Birria, TikToker @foodieonfleek posted a video in which they microwave the birria (which comes in a rich, spicy broth) and combine it with a cooked pack of ramen noodles, doctoring the dish with extra broth, fresh cilantro, onions, and lime for a mind-blowing combo exploding with flavor. Try it at home and add whatever accoutrements call your name.

If you're looking for a flavorful meal that comes together with zero prep in about ten minutes, this needs to be added to your quick dinner rotation. This Trader Joe's rice hack marries a carton of TJ's Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup and a frozen bag of Peruvian-Style Chimichurri Rice with Vegetables for a mouthwatering and filling entree. Each of these items makes a nice side dish, but the soup isn't very filling, and most people don't want to sit and eat a plate of rice.

However, when these two are combined, something magical happens. Neither is overpowering, but rather, the soup's citric tomato and smoky red pepper flavors perfectly complement the herbaceous, aromatic rice. It's a killer combo and a belly-filling dish you'll want to return to again and again — test out other rice and soup fusions, too.

There's nothing like homemade pizza on a fresh-made crust ... but while making pizza dough from scratch isn't very difficult, it's something that needs to be planned far in advance. Luckily, most supermarkets now sell ready-to-go pizza dough, and Trader Joe's is some of the best. Pizza dough can be put to use for more than just pizza — the dough can transform into anything from dinner rolls to pita bread to cinnamon rolls.

Trader Joe's pizza dough also offers the perfect shortcut to buttery soft pretzels. You can make traditional pretzel twists, pretzel pieces, or whatever whimsical shapes you desire by plunging the shaped dough into a mixture of boiling water and baking soda, then sticking the pretzels in the oven to finish them off. Brush them with some butter and seasonings of your choice, and you've got a top-notch appetizer for a Superbowl party, game night, or movie marathon.

Whether we're fangirling over TJ's pre-made salads, sandwiches, and wraps; ogling the vast display of bakery items, or wandering the frozen aisles in a daze, there's no denying that Trader Joe's has convenience foods down pat. One of the tastiest (and dare we say... cutest?!) of TJ's frozen entrees is the Cheese-Filled Fiocchetti with Pink Sauce. The scrunchy fiocchetti pasta balls are filled with three kinds of Italian cheese and then cooked with a gorgeous pink tomato and cream sauce.

While the frozen fiocchetti and sauce are plenty filling on their own (carbs and cheese alert!), we can't help but feel the dish is sort of a grown-up mac 'n cheese, lacking any true diversity of flavor. Luckily, there's a three-ingredient TikTok hack to spruce it up — just add TJ's Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Sausages and fresh spinach after the pasta's cooked.

If there's a comfort food that tops a classic grilled cheese, we've yet to hear about it. Grilled cheese sandwiches can be made using whatever bread and cheese you have in your pantry or fridge, and they're a great way to use up ingredients that are about to meet their expiration dates. Most of us turn to white or wheat bread for our toasted cheese sammies, but if you're adventurous, try out this tasty bread swap for your next grilled cheese: Instead of bread, use garlic naan.

Garlic naan adds a level of buttery, pungent flavor to your grilled cheese while also providing a very different textural experience from grocery store bread. The sky's the limit when it comes to what type of cheese you can use. Try it out with melty fontina, lightly sweet Havarti, or classic sharp cheddar, and see what tickles your fancy.

Ice cream cravings can be pretty intense, especially if they hit late at a time when most stores are closed. Cravings are often tough to ignore, and while you might be tempted to brave the late-night characters loitering outside your local 7-Eleven for a pint, it's much easier (and cheaper!) to make it at home.

With a simple Trader Joe's two-ingredient ice cream hack, you'll find yourself digging into a delightful ice cream-adjacent dessert in no time. Grab a pack of frozen blueberries (or berries of your choice) from the freezer, pour them into a cup, cover the berries with milk, and stir. Let it sit for a couple of minutes while the berries soften, then stir again. You'll wind up with a slushy-texture "ice cream" that could stave your craving until you can get the real thing.

Beignets are a staple in New Orleans, and a stop at Cafe du Monde or Morning Call is pretty much a prerequisite for anyone visiting the Crescent City. While nothing compares to munching on a fresh-off-the-press beignet piled a mile high with powdered sugar while wandering the French Market, it is possible to make beignets at home.

The traditional way of making the deep-fried delights is quite time-consuming, but we found an easy crescent roll hack for beignets that will have the fritters on your table much sooner. Deep fry squares of Trader Joe's crescent roll dough in oil until golden brown, then douse them in powdered sugar, and voila — beignets in about 25 minutes. Don't forget your chicory café au lait to truly recreate the NOLA experience.

It's been a couple of years since the avocado toast craze first swept the nation, but plenty of us still enjoy the healthy, delicious combination of toasted bread and mashed avocado. These are really the only two ingredients one needs for avocado toast, but c'mon — it's so easy to jazz things up with balsamic glaze, a fried egg, prosciutto, or whatever you have on hand.

The internet has another suggestion for a creamy, cheesy addition to avocado toast. Inspired by Trader Joe's creamy Green Goddess Dressing, TikToker @chicago.dietitian suggests blending avocado with cottage cheese and then using this mixture to top your toast. It's deliciously smooth and rich; and you can purchase avocados, Small Curd Cottage Cheese, and your favorite bread right at TJ's, the store that inspired the combo.

Trader Giotto's (the name TJ's adorably slaps on its Italian-inspired products) has a superabundance of pasta items, and the ravioli in the refrigerated section makes an excellent Tuesday night dinner with little prep. If you're looking for something a little more complex than plain ravioli boiled in water, it's easy to use Trader Joe's ravioli to make a no-frills lasagna by swapping traditional lasagna noodles for the stuffed pasta.

Ravioli lasagna can be as simple as taking Trader Giotto's 4-Cheese Ravioli and layering it with tomato sauce and mozzarella and parm — but it's easy to get even more creative. Try stacking the Honey-Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli with ground turkey cooked down with TJ's Autumn Harvest Pasta Sauce and shredded cheese, or elevate your Meatless Monday by layering Porcini Mushroom and Truffle Ravioli with Alfredo sauce, baby portabella mushrooms, shredded mozzarella, and gruyère.