If vegetables could win Oscars for Best Performance in a Crispy Batter, Trader Joe’s Crispy Shiitake Mushrooms would be up there with a tearful acceptance speech, thanking the air fryer and a mysterious supplier in Vietnam for their success. Sure, anything tastes better when battered and fried—let’s not pretend zucchini fries are revolutionary—but these mushrooms have set out to dethrone your basic onion ring. They’re promising gastropub elegance in your sweatpants. Can they deliver, or are they just another soggy snack pretending to be fancy? Let’s find out.
I’ve had plenty of deep fried crispy mushrooms at my local bars and taverns over the years. They are a great accompaniment to beer and other bar snacks. They are usually served with some type of dip, many times of your choosing. In the USA, probably a ranch or blue cheese dip is most common but something like a buffalo dip might also be served.
When I saw these in my local Trader Joe’s freezer section the other day and was like, bring it on! Time to grab a six pack and turn on football and throw these in the air fryer for a nice snack.
These Trader Joe’s Crispy Shiitake Battered and Fried are a product of Vietnam. Not sure that makes a difference except I have never had Shiitake mushrooms done this way, only boring white button mushrooms so I was hoping for more texture and flavor in the final product.
You can make these two ways… Trader Joe’s has conventional oven and air fryer directions, but thought the air fryer would give crispier results and it shaves off several minutes on the prep time. So, I put the whole bag in the basket of the air fryer with the caps all up. They call for turning them over half way through but I didn’t bother because an air fryer is blowing air on the food to cook it evenly to begin with.
These mushrooms looked wonderful when I pulled them out of the air fryer. The exterior was super crispy and hard so I had my hopes up. I sliced a mushroom in half to show that they look like in a cross section. Nice meaty looking mushrooms and the batter is crispy and puffy, just what you want in this type of dish. I served them with Trader Joe’s Sweet Thai Chili sauce, one of my favorites, but by all means pick your own.
Before I give you the bad news, I think these look wonderful and you can rescue them quite easily. Most battered and deep fried mushrooms I’ve had, had some seasoning in the batter so they were preloaded with flavor and that was kind of what I was expecting, but these have nothing except maybe some salt. These have nothing. You can taste it right away when you take a naked bite. Just mushroom and bland batter. Of course dipping them in some type of sauce is half the fun but come on Trader Joe’s give us some flavor in these. Then let’s talk about the grease. They were just oozing with oil when I took them out. You might want to put them on a paper towel before serving.
To perk these suckers up I would grate some parmesan cheese when they are hot and then some salt and pepper before dipping them in some sauce because they really needed some help. Great execution on keeping the batter and mushrooms intact, but zero points on flavor.
Final Thoughts
Trader Joe’s Crispy Shiitake Mushrooms left me… undecided. On one hand, I love the concept of a quick, trendy snack you can whip up in the air fryer—bonus points for their gastropub-esque appeal. On the other hand, they were greasy and shockingly bland. These mushrooms are definitely more of a supporting actor than the star of the show, so you’ll need to bring in some reinforcements to make them shine. Blue cheese, ranch, sweet chili sauce—pick your favorite dip and go to town. Without it, they’re just crispy, oily bites of “meh.” Cool concept, shaky execution. I will give them 5 out 10 stars.
