Trader Joe’s Chocolate Lava Gnocchi Review

Trader Joe's Chocolate Lava Gnocchi
Trader Joe’s Chocolate Lava Gnocchi

I’m a little late to jump on the hype bandwagon on Trader Joe’s Chocolate Lava Gnocchi but as I say, better late than never. It’s hard to tell if this one will “stick” or not. I’m not too sure that it’s something that will be a long term product at Trader Joe’s. It has definitely made a splash and has people talking from Facebook to Reddit. There are sharply divided opinions between the sides. I fall somewhere in the middle. It’s a cool product, but it’s not so mind blowing, I’d buy it again.

Apparently, one of Trader Joe’s chief food buyers was in Harrod’s in London and saw a version of this and decided to contact the manufacturer and have them make a version for Trader Joe’s. It was originally a dessert item and this Trader Joe’s buyer thought it would make a great dinner item. I just don’t see that. This is clearly is sweet and should be served after dinner. Their picture on the cover of the bag is sprinkled with powdered sugar! I guess you could eat it for dinner. Nobody can tell us what to eat for dinner or not, but traditionally, you serve sweets after dinner. Just my $.02 on this.

Trader Joe's Chocolate Lava Gnocchi
Trader Joe’s Chocolate Lava Gnocchi

What we have here is a gnocchi that is colored with unsweetened cocoa powder and not terribly sweet and is filled with a sweet chocolate sauce. When you bite into them, it’s like a candy Gusher
gushing gooey chocolate into your mouth. It’s really quite neat.

I tried to prepare them as directed. But it didn’t work out. I guess my non-stick pan is losing it’s non-stickedness (is that a word?) because these suckers stuck on my pan with dear life leaving a thin layer of crispy fried gnocchi in my skillet. I eventually got through it but it’s not pretty. The directions want you to be a crispy skin on them in the skillet, but I’m not sure I care about that. Maybe the microwave next time?

Then we have to talk about the obvious thing that strikes you right off the bat. These things look like dog poops. There I said it. It looks like poop. There is no way around it. Even my kids said they wouldn’t eat them. I pushed past that and ate a couple and you can taste the potatoes in the gnocchi with a bit of chocolate thrown in, but it’s not until you get to the center you get to the good stuff and then you have ooey gooey chocolate center. The gnocchi part is a bit rubbery but not outside the bounds of a regular gnocchi, it just is weird in your mouth expecting something different because of the visual. This is just like the Chocolate Hummus they released recently. Weird visual and taste. You think you are eating chocolate frosty, but it’s hummus. Anyway, I think if you sprinkled some sugar on top or poured more chocolate on top it would be an excellent dessert.

The oven I used to bake these

By the way, it appears to be gluten free, but high on the carbohydrate count if you are counting that stuff.

Like I mentioned the chocolate hummus, this is just too weird for me. The odd visuals and taste just don’t cut it and I’ll probably just pass on this in the future. Thanks for trying Trader Joe’s!

INGREDIENTS: Potato Puree, Pasteurized Cream, Sugar, Rice Starch, Potato Starch, Whole Eggs, Cocoa Powder, Hazelnut Paste, Whole Milk Powder, Sea Salt.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *