Trader Joe's Frozen Takeout-Style Hit Is Also Meal Prep Ready

A visit to Trader Joe's is not complete without a walk down the frozen food aisle, abundant with convenient meals, many of which are as good (or better) than takeout. But if you ask us, there's one especially good frozen takeout-style meal that makes meal prep a breeze: TJ's Mandarin Orange Chicken. 

The popular Trader Joe's item is a hit among shoppers for several reasons, including quality taste, but the store's item is also extremely customizable — making it a perfect meal prep protein. On Tasting Table's review of meal-prep-ready frozen meals at the popular retailer, writer Emily Hunt praised the orange chicken for its affordability (the item retails at $5.49 per 22-ounce package, though prices may vary) and for the fact that "it makes for an easy and filling addition to many meals."

Trader Joe's ready-to-cook frozen breaded chicken comes with a separate packet of Asian-style orange sauce, making it perfect to keep on hand in the freezer to complete and enhance a variety of dishes. You can serve the prepared chicken as instructed after cooking it the oven or air-fryer at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, with or without the sauce depending on your mood. From there, you can enjoy the chicken bites with straight-forward sides that are easy to make on the spot or a day or two ahead of time, like steamed white rice or other Trader Joe's frozen hits including vegetable fried rice, frozen naan, and frozen veggies medleys.

Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken makes for a simple meal prep solution, and one that allows for creative expression and convenience. For instance, you can incorporate the cooked frozen chicken into meal prep weekly themes by using it across a variety of meals throughout the week — but with slight twists, so things don't get boring. This could look like serving the Mandarin Orange Chicken in a salad with cucumbers, avocado, and creamy or fruity dressing one day for lunch. The next day, you could bake up some of the chicken, omit the sauce, and serve it atop sesame noodles for a quick and easy meal solution that brings the hearty protein without having to cook the meat from scratch.

While the infamous frozen orange chicken is good as-instructed, you can also spruce up the sauce packet is comes with to make any meal prep meal feel (and taste) a bit more homemade. To give Trader Joe's Mandarin Chicken the ultimate upgrade, sauté some fragrant aromatics like onion, chopped garlic, or minced ginger in the pan before heating the orange sauce and tossing it with chicken. You'll find that some simple aromatics go a lot way and pair perfectly with the sweet sauce to serve the chicken with simple sides like white or brown rice.