Trader Joe's Turkey-Less Stuffed Roast With Gravy

This is the first of ten consecutive days of reviews of the things Nina and I tried at our all-Trader-Joe's Thanksgiving meal. 


I saw this last year around the holidays and almost bought one, but I was put off by its size--it says it feeds eight. But when I decided to do Thanksgiving dinner for us this year, and to do it all with products from Trader Joe's, I knew this had to be the main course.

While looking online for other reviews in order to know what to expect, I ran across somebody mentioning this very similar product from Gardein. If you compare the size, ingredients, and general appearance of these two items, I think you'll agree that it's highly likely that Gardein is the manufacturer for TJ's. (They're not identical, but close enough that I strongly suspect TJ's asked Gardein to make a few tweaks to the original product to be sold under the TJ's label.) This was good news, because Nina and I have had several meat-substitute products from Gardein, and they are uniformly excellent.

This proved to be no exception. I don't think it will fool anybody into thinking it's turkey, but it's good. The protein is a combination of soy and gluten. It comes with vegan gravy, which I thought was the best part, enhancing both the roast and the mashed potatoes I made on the side.

Given TJ's known propensity to understate cooking times, I baked this for 50 minutes instead of the recommended 40-45. It came out just right that way.

It stuck to the roasting pan more than I anticipated. If I did it again, I would give the pan a spritz of Pam before cooking.

The stuffing allegedly contains cranberries, but I couldn't detect any.

All in all, a success.

Will I buy it again? 

Definitely.

Nina's View

I thought this was really quite good, if a tad bland. Were I preparing it, I would amp up the flavor profile a little with some herbs. But the texture is excellent and the gravy is very nice. This makes an entirely acceptable main course for a celebratory meal.