8 Fan-Favorite Trader Joe's Snacks That Were Sadly Discontinued

Trader Joe's is known for two things: reasonable prices and its plethora of snacks. If you hit up TJ's for your regular grocery haul, you'll find all the pantry staples you rely on week after week. But you're more than likely to leave with a cart full of frozen food, desserts, and other goodies you don't really need, but that were all too good to pass up.

With everything from popular staples like Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups to unique twists like Organic Cacio e Pepe Puffs, Trader Joe's is a true innovator of snacks. The grocery chain introduces new products all the time, which means there's always something different to try.

However, not all of those treats stand the test of time. Trader Joe's has been known to pull products from its shelves for a number of reasons. Some are seasonal or limited-time only, while others are simply removed because they're not selling well enough. Here are eight discontinued Trader Joe's snacks that shoppers miss.

Not to be confused with Trader Joe's Coconut Cashew Candy Clusters, the Coconut Cashews had a much simpler preparation. These were just raw cashews with a coconut-flavored coating. Don't knock it until you try it: The combination of coconut and tree nuts may sound like an allergist's nightmare, but these were delectable. Coconut Cashews were eminently poppable and weren't overly sweet, nor did they have that artificial coconut flavor — the coating was made with ingredients like coconut milk, coconut powder, and coconut oil.

Coconut cashews started appearing on Trader Joe's shelves in 2013. They were removed from stores almost a decade later, in 2022, although Trader Joe's doesn't appear to have issued an official announcement on their discontinuation. 

Trader Joe's stores still offer a coconut-flavored almond, but it's not the same without the added subtle sweetness of the cashew version. Thankfully, Aldi also sells a coconut cashew that makes a decent dupe, if you're craving this forgotten flavor.

On the savory side of things, some shoppers fondly remember when Trader Joe's used to offer its own take on Funyuns. Like the brand-name version of this classic snack, Snack-O's consisted of a corn base, but unlike Funyuns, they were baked instead of fried and seasoned very differently. Fans of Snack-O's swear they tasted different enough that regular old Funyuns are no substitute; think of a sweet onion chip, and you'll have some idea of how they tasted.

Snack-O's began hitting Trader Joe's shelves around 2014, but had been discontinued by the beginning of 2025. The chain introduced a similar product in the interim: sour cream and onion-flavored lentil and rice rings in 2022. These are pretty good, and also baked instead of fried for those who want a healthier onion ring snack. But they taste much closer to Funyuns despite having a different main ingredient, and don't really scratch the Snack-O's itch.

Hula Cruncha was a Hawaiian-inspired snack mix consisting of popcorn and a type of airy rice cracker called kakimochi arare. The whole thing was seasoned with a blend of tamari (a type of soy sauce), onion, paprika, garlic, rosemary, and parsley, which made for a nice umami punch punctuated by a vinegary kick. 

Fans of the product noted its similarity to Hawaiian Hurricane popcorn, a popular movie theater snack in Hawaii, and also a gourmet microwave popcorn brand. Hurricane popcorn isn't as readily available in the continental U.S., and can be expensive when ordered online. Many adherents of this unique snack mix found Trader Joe's spin a worthy alternative, especially at the low price per bag.

Besides being delicious, though, Hula Cruncha also served as a gluten-free alternative to Hawaiian Hurricane, where the name brand uses a regular soy sauce, which is typically brewed with wheat, TJ's added in tamari (which is usually gluten-free). That made Hula Cruncha, with its naturally gluten-free corn and rice, a safe savory snack for people with gluten intolerance.

Unfortunately, Hula Cruncha was discontinued around 2022, and shoppers haven't seen any sign of it on store shelves since. If you're able to find kakimochi arare at your local Asian grocery store, though, you may be able to make a reasonable approximation with some microwave popcorn and the proper seasonings.

Once upon a time, Trader Joe's used to sell a 16-ounce tub of tapioca pudding. This was available at least as far back as 2009, when it could be found on store shelves alongside the chain's notorious Belgian Chocolate and Rice Pudding tubs. Its Tapioca Pudding might not have been as popular as the other two flavors, but each of the three was hailed as the best in its class by pudding fanatics.

It's not clear exactly when TJ's discontinued the tapioca pudding, but the Belgian chocolate and rice pudding varieties were pulled from shelves in 2021. The tapioca variety may have disappeared around the same time. However, snack pack versions of chocolate and rice pudding were introduced in 2025. 

Fans of the original Belgian Chocolate and Rice Pudding swear the snack packs taste different, but they're not bad, and at least they're still available in some form. The tapioca dessert, meanwhile, has yet to make a return to Trader Joe's stores in any form.

Only Trader Joe's could turn those tooth-cracking, half-popped kernels that sit at the bottom of an undercooked bag of microwave popcorn into a delicious snack. Partially Popped Popcorn, introduced in 2015, was exactly what it said on the bag. These salty, buttery kernels weren't quite Corn Nuts, and weren't quite popcorn, but sat right in the middle of the two, with crispy shells on the outside and smooth, airy popcorn on the inside.

Trader Joe's still offers regular old bagged popcorn, which comes in a variety of different flavors, including white cheddar, hot honey, and peanut butter caramel, to name a few. There's nothing wrong with any of these, but every single one of them is fully popped. 

A brand called Halfpops briefly sold a similar product, even offering a few different flavors, but they appear to have been discontinued, too. You may be able to get your crunchy popcorn fix with Corn Nuts' Partially Popped line, which comes in butter, white cheddar, and spicy cheddar flavors.

Trader Joe's potato chips come in all sorts of flavors, from sweet onion to garlic butter to ghost pepper. One variety you'll no longer find in stores, though, is Trader Joe's Peruvian Potato Chips. Seasoning-wise, these were nothing to write home about; they were dusted with a little bit of salt, and that was it. But they were made with a blend of red and purple potatoes — both native to Peru — and that made all the difference.

First, these potato varieties taste different: the red ones are sweeter, and the purple ones earthier and nuttier than typical Russet or yellow potatoes. They're also crunchier; if you're the type who raids every bag of chips for the extra crispy, folded-over chips buried at the bottom, you would've loved these.

Unfortunately, Peruvian chips were quietly discontinued in the years that followed. As for alternatives, Sprouts offers a similar blend under the Peruvian kettle chips label, while Inka Chips' Papas Crujientes Nativas also make a good substitute.

In 2017, Trader Joe's introduced another flavor of potato chips that quickly became one of its most divisive. Honey butter flavored chips were just that: potato chips coated in a honey and butter-flavored seasoning. They were based on a similar Korean product that became so popular, it provoked convenience store proprietors to implement a strict one bag per customer rule.

No dip was required to enjoy these extremely rich chips with a sweet-and-salty pop that some say made them hard to stop eating. Others, however, didn't understand the hype. Some found the honey butter flavor underwhelming, leaving the chip relatively flavorless. Still others found them far too sweet, which seemed to clash with the saltiness they'd normally expect from a potato chip.

Honey butter chips were pulled from Trader Joe's shelves the year after they were introduced, for reasons still unknown. However, this is one discontinued product that's very easy to replace. Check out the snack aisle at your local Asian grocery, and you'll likely find multiple brands of honey butter-flavored chips. Haitai/Calbee is the original brand, and still a solid choice.

If you were looking for something to eat while sipping on your Trader Joe's tea, you might want to try the chain's British-style crumpets. These are similar to English muffins: Both have the characteristic nooks and crannies, but proper crumpets are spongier, thicker, and slightly less sour than their American counterparts.

Trader Joe's still sells a six-pack of plain crumpets, but some shoppers may recall that it also used to offer a cinnamon-flavored variety beginning in 2011. These were irresistible with just a little bit of butter and sugar, almost resembling a churro, although a smattering of jam wouldn't go amiss on top, either.

Cinnamon crumpets were discontinued at some point and are no longer available in Trader Joe's stores. In a pinch, an unflavored crumpet with a little dusting of cinnamon on top will do, but it'll never quite live up to the baked-in version.