9 Simple 3‑ingredient Meals From Trader Joe's Staples

Let's be real — even the most diehard cooks among us don't want to make a gourmet dinner every night. I absolutely adore spending hours in the kitchen, but after a long day of working a foodie job, the last place I want to go is back to the kitchen. But a girl's gotta eat, and when I host friends in the evening, I'm never without a plate of food at the ready. My secret? Trader Joe's. 

It will come as no surprise to anyone who's read my work before that I'm an avid TJ's fan. I shop exclusively at the store, unless it doesn't have something I need (looking at you, Worcestershire sauce). One of the reasons I've fallen in love with the chain is that it boasts a stunning variety of almost-fully-prepped foods. From already-marinated meats to pre-built ravioli, Trader Joe's offers some great meal-building components. I rely on these pretty heavily for those nights when I have friends coming over and just don't feel like cooking, or when I need to build a quick and easy lunch in the middle of a workday. The following are some of my favorite three-ingredient Trader Joe's meals. All are incredibly easy to put together, and some seem gourmet enough to get a barrage of compliments from guests — take all the credit yourself, or pass some along to TJ's. 

Up first is an easy, flavorful breakfast scramble that I like to prep regularly to make my mornings breezy. There are a few ways to customize this scramble while still sticking to the three-ingredient theme. I chose to use onions as a veggie alongside the obligatory egg. You could also use an egg substitute, substitute the onion for bell peppers, or introduce some cheese into the mix. But this simple combo of soy chorizo, onion, and a couple of eggs makes for a delightful base that you can play around with as you see fit. 

First, I slice the onions and sauté them in some olive oil for just a minute or two before adding the soy chorizo to the pan. Cooking soy chorizo is pretty easy, though sometimes getting it out of its casing can be a bit of an ordeal. Once the chorizo is cooked through, I scramble a couple of eggs in a bowl and pour them into the skillet, stirring everything until the eggs are fully cooked. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes and makes a hearty meal. I can get about five servings out of this when I use the entire soy chorizo package. If you have some small tortillas on hand, the mixture works really well as a breakfast taco filling — I'll also occasionally top it with feta cheese and hot sauce when I'm turning it into tacos. Of course, when you're running short on time, the easy three-ingredient meal still tastes fantastic on its own. 

I absolutely adore breakfast sandwiches, but I rarely want to bother with making all of the components for one, especially when I need to run out the door first thing in the morning. Sure, I could always buy frozen breakfast sandwiches, but it's just as easy to whip up a three-ingredient deal with some Trader Joe's staples. Personally, I think this little concoction is better than any frozen breakfast sandwich I've ever had. 

While there are a couple of different types of breakfast-y breads you could grab to make this sandwich, I typically go for the chain's whole-wheat English muffins (its crumpets would be another option, or its gluten-free breads, if you practice a gluten-free diet). Once you have your bread of choice, all you'll need is one of the chain's pre-made egg bites (located in the refrigerated section, right by the prepared foods) and its frozen breakfast sausage patties. Microwave the egg bite for one minute; if you have an air fryer, cook the sausage patty and the halved English muffin for four minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don't have an air fryer, you can microwave the sausage patty and toast the English muffin in a toaster.

Stack all the components together, and voila! You have a surprisingly filling breakfast sando that'll easily tide you over until lunchtime. If you feel like putting a little more effort in, top the sandwich with your favorite hot sauce, a bit of arugula, and/or a tomato slice. I like to eat these bad boys with sriracha mayo for an extra kick. 

If you're typically one to stay away from Trader Joe's frozen seafood selection, you're definitely missing out on some incredible buys (seriously, I could wax poetic for ages about the frozen swordfish fillets). For this flavorful three-ingredient masterpiece, take a trip outside your comfort zone and grab a box of the chain's frozen panko-breaded tilapia fillets, as well as a pack of mini tortillas (I got the Sonora-style tortillas, but obviously, you can get whatever suits your fancy) and the Southwestern salad kit. 

Make the salad kit while you air-fry a tilapia filet (or otherwise cook it according to package instructions). One filet will make me two pretty stuffed mini tacos, the perfect serving for a lunch-sized meal. You can toast the tortilla in a hot skillet for a minute if you'd like, but I think these tortillas are tasty enough to eat straight from the package. To assemble the tacos, cut up a few pieces of the tilapia fillet and add them to the tortilla alongside a generous helping of the prepared Southwestern salad. The dressing on the salad keeps this from being at all dry, but it's also a neutral enough dressing that you can add other condiments without worrying about clashing flavors. A drizzle of cream sauce, tartar sauce, or your favorite hot sauce would all be yummy toppings, but I don't feel the need to add anything extra to these little fish tacos — they're plenty flavorful as-is. 

Trader Joe's marinated meats can be a hit or miss, but I really like its shawarma chicken thighs; my only qualm with this offering is that the chicken thighs are always wildly different sizes, though I can live with that. There's a whole host of things you can make out of these marinated thighs with as few as two additional ingredients. My favorite easy way to enjoy them, though, is with some of the chain's frozen flatbread and tzatziki dip.

I adore the garlic naan found in the freezer section, but you could grab any flatbread or pita to make this lunch and still get delicious results. The tzatziki, however, is a necessary part of the ingredient trio — it has chunks of cucumber and is ultra-flavorful, providing a cool counterpart to the warm spices of the chicken thighs. I prefer to cook all the thighs at once in a skillet; a whole package will make about four of these wraps, so it offers a great way to meal prep for the week. I heat up the garlic naan in my air fryer for just a few minutes, and obviously, the tzatziki just gets spooned on top as-is.

This makes for a delightful little handheld meal. When I have extra ingredients (and a few extra minutes) on hand, I'll add some sliced cucumbers, chopped tomatoes, and feta cheese to the equation for an even tastier wrap that's more veggie-packed, but that's hardly necessary. If you make this in the morning to eat during lunch later, just pack the tzatziki separately so the naan doesn't get soggy. 

Yes, it was only a matter of time until one of Trader Joe's most famous frozen foods made an appearance on this list. What can I say? I'll never apologize for my basic TJ's opinions, and I'll always sing the praises of its Mandarin orange chicken, which has been a staple in my freezer for over a decade now. It's just too good, and best of all, it hardly needs anything extra to make a full meal. 

All I use in this three-ingredient Trader Joe's meal is the store's orange chicken, baby broccoli, and rice. The trio makes a meal that truly never gets old, a DIY Panda Express bowl that can satisfy my Americanized Asian food craving any night of the week. Making this does require a bit more prep work than the other meals I've talked about so far — I cook the chicken in my air fryer, sauté the broccoli in a skillet, and cook the rice in a pot — but it's still not nearly as labor-intensive as the average from-scratch dinner. Once all the elements are cooked, all you have to do is compile your bowl and make sure to pour some orange chicken sauce onto your rice as a final touch.

Want to do more? Top it off with some green onions, add some cooked onions into the mix, or bring bean sprouts into the equation. This is an easy go-to meal when I'm feeding a few people — the rice is filling enough that I don't have to worry about running out of food, and it looks just good enough to be easily presentable on your dinner table.

Remember that Southwestern salad kit we used in the fish tacos? I like to make those fish tacos at around the same time that I make these steak sandwiches, so the salad mix can do double duty (it really is a versatile kit!). In addition to the mix, you'll want to buy a Santa Maria tri-tip and your favorite sandwich rolls. I usually go for the soft rolls pictured above or TJ's ciabatta rolls. 

Assembling the sandwich is as easy as pie, especially if you've already made the salad mix for your lunchtime fish tacos. As far as making the tri-tip, you can use your preferred cooking method, but I typically use — you guessed it — my air fryer. Depending on the size of the tri-tip, I'll cook it at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes, flipping it halfway through. I prefer mine on the rare to mid-rare side; if you like yours more well-done, just cook it for longer. Always rest it for at least 10 minutes after it's done cooking, and then slice it and add some slices to your sandwich rolls, along with the salad mix.

As with the fish tacos, I like to add extra sauce to this when I have some on hand. I usually go for a creamy hot sauce, but I also don't think that's a necessary addition — again, the salad has enough dressing to keep the sandwich from feeling dry. Whether or not you toast your bread is totally up to you. I often find the above rolls to be nice and soft for a day or two after I buy them.

This salmon pinwheel salad is absolutely one of my most-loved Trader Joe's meals. It's so easy, full of protein, and offers a delicious way to get some veggies into my body. Not to mention, it's so flavorful that all my friends love this meal, and many end up making it on their own once they find out how easy it is to pull together. All you'll need is a package of the store's salmon pinwheels (which are packed with spinach and feta), some chopped kale, and an apple.

My foolproof way to cook these salmon pinwheels is — gasp! — in the air fryer, at 390 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12 minutes. I like to drizzle it with olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper on the pinwheel before cooking it. While the salmon is cooking, I massage the kale with a tiny drizzle of olive oil in a bowl, and chop up the apple. Massaged kale and apple go into a bowl together, and the salmon pinwheel gets placed on top once it's done cooking. That's it!

It's a perfectly satisfactory three-ingredient meal on its own, but when I have a couple of extra ingredients on hand, I won't hesitate to add them. If I have fresh lemons, I massage the kale with lemon juice instead of olive oil, and add an extra squeeze of lemon juice onto the salmon after it's plated. Slivered almonds also pair fantastically with this dish — they give a nice, nutty crunch and elevate it that much more. 

The last two entries on this list are variations of a basic pasta, sauce, and protein formula, but they're so different from one another that I figured each deserved its own place here. The first dish utilizes one of my favorite foods from Trader Joe's: its ravioli. If you've never tried the store's plentiful ravioli options, take this as your sign to grab at least a few on your next shopping trip.

For this dish, I prefer to use the cacio e pepe ravioli, but you could really use any of the store's other options. You'll also need to grab a bag of frozen raw Argentinian red shrimp and a jar of Alfredo sauce. Making the meal is simple — I heat up the pasta sauce on the stove with a little bit of water, then cook the ravioli in the sauce for about five minutes while the shrimp thaw in the sink. Then, I transfer the ravioli and sauce mixture to a new vessel, wipe out the pan, and lightly cook the shrimp just until they've curled. Top the pasta with the shrimp, and you've got a tasty, filling meal that's hard not to love.

If you're not big on shrimp, crumbled sausage (which makes a feature in the final meal) would be a great addition to this dish, or you could just use whatever protein you have on hand. You could even forego the Alfredo sauce if you want — often, when I make Trader Joe's ravioli, I find that finishing it with olive oil, salt, and pepper does plenty. The ravioli can do most of the heavy lifting on its own. 

Lastly, here's another tried-and-true three-ingredient Trader Joe's dinner that always impresses anyone I make it for. I'm proud to give all the credit to TJ's for this one — it's really a stunning meal for being so simple, and this is another one that friends have started making on their own once they learn how easy it is. I like to use the store's pappardelle pasta nests, which cook up nice and chewy, along with the hot Italian sausage, which is flavorful enough that I don't need to add any of my own seasoning. The third ingredient is jarred pasta sauce — I prefer a cheesy tomato-based sauce, but really, you could use any of the store's jarred sauces.

Remove the sausage from its casing and crumble it with a spatula as it cooks in a hot skillet. Once it's fully cooked through, add the jar of pasta sauce. Then, fill up the jar about ⅓ full with hot water, and stir that into the mixture. Once it's simmering, add a few nests into the sauce, making sure they're fully submerged. Cook the nests in the sauce for about 12 minutes. The sauce will reduce back down, so stir it every once in a while so your sausage doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. 

I've never added anything to this other than a tiny topping of grated Parmesan. This dish really doesn't ask for anything extra, and I'd even be wary of playing with it too much. Its biggest draw is its simplicity and the punch of flavor it packs, and I'd worry that dressing it up more would detract from its easy appeal.