Food - Drink
17 Italian Foods At Trader Joe's, Ranked
By JUDY MORENO
17. Cacio E Pepe Pasta Sauce
Trader Joe’s Cacio E Pepe sauce is your average jarred alfredo with a lot of black pepper. It's creamy, sure, but also bland and far too cloying.
16. Tiramisu Torte
The texture of this dessert was pudding-like and less than stable, and the chocolate sponge cake is a little bland. Despite these flaws, the tiramisu-flavored cream tasted great.
15. Gnocchi Alla Romana
This Gnocchi Alla Romana is made of semolina nuggets — dumplings, pretty much — flavored with a mix of cheeses and herbs, plus a dash of nutmeg for a little extra flavor boost.
The supposedly fluffy insides got a bit wet and mushy when baked, and the flavors weren’t strong. If we'd baked these from scratch, we'd think it was a great first effort.
14. French Onion Focaccia Bread
A traditional yeasted Italian bread, focaccia comes in many forms, and this TJ's product adds the flavors of French onion soup using cheese and other ingredients.
We had to dock points off of this bread because it was too dense and doughy. The bottom third of the loaf tasted almost underbaked, but the topping is deliciously flavorful.
13. Italian-Style Meatballs
These meatballs have a texture that's oddly spongy, and the sauce is also less than ideal. It's bland and sweet, not fresh with the flavors of ripe tomatoes and aromatic herbs.