Pasta is a main food group in my diet. There’s so much you can add to it, so much variety. You can add fillings or toppings to make it healthier (maybe some spinach or arugula?), but whichever way you slurp up this carb-fest, pasta is delicious. Especially if you come from an Italian family like mine, spaghetti is one of the first words you learn, or see as a dinner option.
And while we all love Trader Joe’s for its beyond nutty trail mixes and cookie butter, they’ve also got their own brands of pastas to brag about, or shall I say, wonder about. While no pasta is bad pasta, let’s see which of Trader Joe’s pastas are the big cheese while others are more of a big sneeze, ranked in order from least delectable to all-around pasta legend.
11. Spinach Tortellini
I love my spinach tortellini. While I studied abroad, my flatmates and I would always get packs on packs from Sainsbury’s every week. But disappointingly, while this brand is not exactly inedible, it is fairly bland even with the ricotta and parmesan cheeses inside. Why is that?!
You’d expect the sharp and creamy flavors to offer a much-needed contrast to the savory spinach. But nope. That’s why it’s my least favorite, because you have such high hopes for the potential of this pasta, only for them to be let down by blandness. EH. Moving on.
10. Gnocchi al Gorgonzola
Gnocchi is my favorite kind of pasta. Little dumpling balls filled with potatoes, yes please! But blue cheese is the bane of my existence. Who wants to eat moldy cheese?! Don’t you throw things away once they have mold? Speaking of, just tossed a few slices of bread from my fridge yesterday because of their moldy status.
Anyhow, if you like gorgonzola, then this gnocchi is an easy dinner option during the week to just pop in the microwave. However, if you hate the pungent cheese as much as I do, then this Trader Joe’s pasta is a hard pass.
9. Porcini Mushroom and Truffle Triangoli
While I was amazed at how delicious and cheap truffles were in Europe (because we were closer to Italy, I suppose?), the inclusion of truffles in this triangular version of ravioli does not help the bitter taste of the Porcini mushrooms. While you can add cheese on top, which can improve any pasta by a landslide, Trader Giotto’s pasta is not as scrumptious as one would like. Perhaps adding sauce will mask the unappealingly earthy flavor?
8. Organic Pesto Tortellini
The frozen Organic Pesto Tortellini is a vast improvement on the Spinach Tortellini. The taste of the cheese is much more pronounced, probably thanks to the pesto.
But, when you microwave this frozen meal, the pesto also runs the chance of becoming far too watered-down and adding too much liquid to your pasta. I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly the biggest fan of my pasta sitting in a pool of water.
7. Perline Pasta & Prosciutto
Prosciutto di Parma is one of my favorite thinly-sliced meats. In sandwiches, on top of pizza, on top of pasta, with fruit. But inside of pasta? Yes, please. Mixed in with some beef and breadcrumbs, this Trader Joe’s pasta with prosciutto makes a decent dinner with a side salad.
6. Macaroni & Cheese
Making a bad version of macaroni & cheese is a pretty difficult pursuit. And this Trader Joe’s pasta, either Reduced Guilt version or not, is nothing to feel guilty about. Easily microwaveable and not too filling of a portion, TJ’s mac n’ cheese is worthy of the status as one of America’s national dishes.
5. Chicken Pot Pie Ravioli
No one would think to put chicken pot pie and ravioli together, right? This Trader Joe’s pasta is like a full meal but in pasta form. With veggies, broth, and chicken packed inside each one, it’s one of the most unique raviolis on the market that happens to taste great, too.
4. Arugula and Parmesan Ravioli
This Arugula and Parmesan Ravioli does what the previous spinach tortellini struggled to achieve — a perfect blend of iron-enriched leafy veggies and cheese. THANK YOU for this blessing of sharp cheese and nutrition. This is the Trader Joe’s pasta we came for.
3. Butternut Squash Triangoli
Fall is year-round with this Butternut Squash Triangoli. Fall vegetables should not be confined to just one season, and Trader Joe’s pasta game is at its best when you plop a package of these into your pot on the stove. Easily refrigerated or frozen, and tasting just as good stored either way, these triangles of plump vegetation are complemented perfectly with some shaved parmesan cheese sprinkled generously on top of every bowl.
2. Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina
We’re a gnocchi family. My mom’s favorite Trader Joe’s pasta, the Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina is a quintessential representation of the traditional variety of gnocchi to which we are all accustomed. Made with starchy potatoes and surrounded by a rich tomato sauce and globs of mozzarella, this gnocchi can only be improved by an addition of —none other than — parmesan on top.
1. Sweet Potato Gnocchi
The glory of Trader Joe’s pasta offerings. Sweet. Potato. Gnocchi. With butter and sage. Ask anyone I’ve ever lived with in America. I STOCK UP on these whenever I go to Trader Joe’s. Healthier by their namesake composition of sweet potatoes as opposed to regular potatoes, this gnocchi tastes like little puff balls of sweet heaven doused in sage and parmesan. Yes. Yes. And more yes.
Here we are. A list of the best and worst varieties of Trader Joe’s pasta offerings. And while the sweet potato gnocchi reigns supreme in its worthiness of big cheese status, go stock up on all this Trader Joe’s pasta before other people catch on and grab them first.