This Is The One Trader Joe's Tinned Seafood Item We'll Never Repurchase

If you're a beginner tinned fish fan who grabbed a can of Trader Joe's grilled sardines as a (seemingly) accessible entry point, we're sorry. Don't let this underperforming tin put you off the category as a whole. In fact, to longtime tinned fish aficionados, we extend condolences to you, too. In Tasting Table's ranking of nine Trader Joe's tinned seafood items, the Wild Caught Boneless Grilled Sardines in Olive Oil fell to last place; they don't belong anywhere near your seacuterie board.

The official Trader Joe's website describes its Grilled Sardines in Olive Oil as "wild-caught for us off the coast of Tunisia" with a firm, meaty texture in each deboned, split, grilled fillet. We had high hopes opening this tin, and were ultimately surprised that TJ's offering ranked last. As our taste-tester notes, upon peeling back the lid, the sardines were "flat, smushed, and already breaking up a bit. This was most likely due to the fact that they were grilled as opposed to steamed or smoked ... [The taste] was so unpleasant that we were both wondering if the sardines had gone bad." Alas, Trader Joe's grilled sardines failed to deliver in either the flavor or texture department, flaking into unappetizing chunks. The tin is printed with the descriptor "slightly smoky," but in execution, any smokiness was undetectable — or perhaps barely-there and easily overshadowed by the weird texture and overall lackluster flavor.

On the website, the grocer recommends serving the grilled sardines on crostini slathered in TJ's Garlic Spread-Dip — and indeed, with a thick blanket to mask 'em, they might actually perform decently. On their own, however, the grilled sardines are a skip. This seems to be a common criticism of the product. One Reddit thread dedicated to Trader Joe's grilled sardines reviews, "In another recent post I said I would eat any sardine, but these are a hard pass for me" (yikes). Commenters agree, writing, "Lemon juice & some fresh black pepper. By itself, awful," and "You definitely need to dress it up because flavor-wise it was bland." It's low-key a disservice to the tinned seafood sector at large.

Elsewhere online, a blog post on tinned fish fan site Sardeenz! is similarly unimpressed: "The 'spent some time on a well-used backyard charcoal grill' flavor was absent, as was any evidence of seasoning, even saltiness. [...] I won't be revisiting these after I decide how to dispose of the two cans I have left." Still, it's worth mentioning that Trader Joe's as a brand placed fairly highly in our ranking of 15 popular canned sardine brands, where Wild Planet's lemon variety ranked even higher than pricier gourmet names like Cento, Roland, and BELA. But nobody's perfect. Stick to these other 13 high-protein snacks from Trader Joe's, and take a pass on the Wild Caught Boneless Grilled Sardines in Olive Oil.