Friday, February 28, 2020

Trader Joe's Protein Patties


I had been looking forward to trying these since I heard they were coming. Meat substitutes constitute a large portion of my protein intake. I've tried every veggie burger I've seen in every grocery store.

Sadly, Trader Joe's new offering in this segment isn't among the best.

  • They barely brown at all, even if you cook them longer than the directions suggest. 
  • The taste and texture are fine, though nothing special. 
  • They're much thicker than most such products, which I'm sure some people will think is a plus. But for me it's a detriment, though only a minor one. My preferred burger buns are TJ's Brioche Buns, which are too thick to easily accommodate a thick patty. Or to be more precise, it's my jaws that can't simultaneously accommodate both. 
  • They're much more expensive than the competition from MorningStar, Boca, and Gardein, which are my current favorites. 
  • There's an inexcusable amount of unrecyclable plastic packaging here. 


Will I buy it again? 

I probably will just once, because I'm curious to experiment with cooking them a little differently and see if I can improve the browning. This is purely a cosmetic thing, though, so even if optimized wouldn't shift my overall assessment much. These have no chance of becoming my go-to plant-based burgers.

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