Trader Joe’s Crispy Jalapeno Pieces aren’t exactly a new item in early 2022, but they did just recently upgrade the packaging and it caught my eye on the shelf and I realized I hadn’t reviewed this crazy product yet.
There isn’t much here, basically chopped up Jalapeno peppers coated in flour and deep fried with some salt added for good measure. Some people might consider them a snack and eat them straight out of the container. I am not one of them. Other people, would just put them on or in something in a recipe and I think that is what most people will do with them.
Straight out of the can, they could be considered a snack. I tried several small pieces and they are semi crunchy. Not as crunchy as a potato chip, but more like fried onions. They are softer than potato chips but not overly so. They are light green colored and it looks like whatever cut them did it like ridged potato chips.
Popping them in my mouth, you immediately get a burst of heat and that deep fried crunch and some salt. My mind immediately starts trying to figure out what the hell to do with these damn things and it comes like a flood.
Here are some ideas I have for them:
- Sprinkle them on top of your chili or nachos for a nice spicy crunch!
- Put them in and on top of a hamburger for that nice spicy punch.
- Sticking to the Mexican theme, I would sprinkle them on tacos in a heartbeat
- Sprinkle on your sushi Dragon Rolls.
- Put a kick on a southwest salad by working these into your salad
- Kick up your morning by mixing them in your scramble eggs or in an omelet.
They were a tad spicy for my palate to eat directly out of the can, but my teenaged son who is a self-proclaimed chili head, said they were good just for snacking and didn’t really feel the heat, so your mileage may vary.
The biggest issue I had for them was that they are mostly crumbles and not the big hearty chunks you see on the cover of the can. This makes it kind of hard to use them for some things like a topping for a sandwich. They aren’t the healthiest thing for you but you are only supposed to use them in moderation.
Would I buy this again? Probably not unless I had a specific use for them like taco night.
INGREDIENTS
jalapeno peppers, unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), high-oleic sunflower oil and/or high-oleic safflower oil, sea salt.
These are a go-to salad topper for me. I just had an arugula salad topped with these, chickpeas, and TJ’s creamy dill dressing. Freaking great, man.
Yummy. Had them on top of tacos and straight out of can so far. Just enough heat and crunch. Thinking of putting them on top of a roast beef sandwich with melted cheese. Going to also try crushing them into hamburger meat or spice up a meatball. Also going to mix with bread crumb for a topping on Mac n cheese.
i put these on top of mac and cheese as a topper