There’s no shortage of online buzz when it comes to Trader Joe’s items. Across the internet, shoppers will share full product hauls, offer creative recipe suggestions, and post detailed reviews to help guide other TJ’s fans on their next shopping trip. But as one could expect, not all of these products are winners.
Following the launch of Trader Joe’s new Chicken Shawarma Bowl, multiple customers took to Reddit to air their grievances with the frozen food. “Chicken shawarma bowl. Disappointment,” reads the title of the thread that kicked off a conversation about the new ready-to-heat meal.
Available for $3.99 a box, the Trader Joe’s Chicken Shawarma Bowl features a bed of basmati rice topped with red bell pepper, spinach, pickled red onion, diced and seasoned shawarma-style chicken, and a garlicky sour cream sauce. Despite the ease of preparation that people love about frozen foods, many shoppers aren’t impressed with this one, to say the least.
“It was wet, like too much water, and the chicken was not good. I also assumed the creamy garlic sauce would be on the side as a packet you add (like the orange chicken bowl) so that was disappointing,” one Reddit user wrote.
“It’s terrible. I shudder when I think of the chicken texture,” another one added.
READ RELATED: Fecal Transplant: History, Types, Procedure, Risk & Benefits
Others pointed out that the frozen meal lacked flavor, with one calling it “oddly bland.” On the contrary, someone else described it as “very salty.”
This isn’t the first Reddit thread that has garnered criticisms about the new chicken bowl. Last week, several Trader Joe’s shoppers expressed their disappointment on the online platform, with one writing that the new item is “one of the worst frozen meal[s] from tjs no doubt.”
To satisfy shawarma cravings, some Redditors shared recipes for the chicken dish, while another noted that this meal is “so easy to make at home” with Trader Joe’s shawarma chicken thighs. Priced at $6.99 per pound, these boneless, skinless chicken thighs are seasoned with a shawarma spice marinade featuring onion, garlic, sea salt, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, paprika, turmeric, and parsley.
While shawarma is traditionally cooked on a spit, you won’t need this rotating rod to make the chicken product. “Grilling leaves you with perfectly charred chicken thighs, while baking results in tender, moist meat,” the grocery chain writes on its website.
Brianna Ruback
Brianna is a staff writer at Eat This, Not That! She attended Ithaca College, where she graduated with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Communication Studies. Read more about Brianna
