At Trader Joe’s, snacks can tend to get all the love. I mean, we get it. They sell incredible frozen appetizers (Parmesan Pastry Pups 4 life) and they make the best plain potato chips you can buy. All we’re saying is that you shouldn’t snooze on Trader Joe’s desserts.
From interesting ice cream flavors (PLEASE bring back the Black Tea and Boba non-dairy ice cream, you monsters!) to iconic baked goods, there are a lot of Trader Joe’s desserts that deserve space in your kitchen. Unfortunately, a lot of the best desserts at Trader Joe’s are seasonal; others were limited items that unceremoniously disappeared from shelves never to be seen again. What can we say? Falling in love with a product and having it taken away is the Trader Joe’s shopper’s lot in life. Here are five Trader Joe’s desserts we love, and that you can actually find in stores at the moment.
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These ice pops look like Otter Pops, but if you want something a little more natural than a tube of frozen sugar water that will most certainly turn your entire mouth bright blue, give these a shot. They’re a more natural take on the classic freeze pop. They taste like actual fruit, especially the berry version, which could pass for a frozen fruit puree. This is the best Trader Joe’s dessert if you need something that’ll keep you cool all summer long.
A good dark chocolate bar is an essential thing to have in the fridge, and this dark chocolate bar is one of the best desserts at Trader Joe’s if you have a one-track mind when it comes to chocolate. It’s bitter and a little bit savory with a nice, creamy finish. It’s 72% cacao, which is a good goldilocks number—more than that and you can encounter a lot more grit and bitterness in your chocolate. This is dark chocolate for everyone, and it’s from TJ’s so it’s affordable, too.
We tried these Trader Joe’s dessert bars when they were first released, and we’ve thought about them ever since. They bring together everything good about s’mores, no campfire needed. The marshmallow is gooey. The brownie layer is rich and fudgy, but these still aren’t a sugar bomb because the graham cracker layer has just a touch of salt for variety. Unreal. Trust us, buy these while they’re in the freezer section this summer.
Okay, this is more a breakfast than a dessert, but it involves chocolate, so it’s making the list. When we ranked all the bread at our local Trader Joe’s, this sweet bread landed in the #3 spot, beating out a lot of its savory brethren. It’s tender and doughy, and has a lot of chocolate chips in the mix. Still, it’s not overly sweet. This is one of the best desserts at Trader Joe’s if you don’t have a major sweet tooth.
If you love a classic cookiewich, you’re gonna love this Trader Joe’s dessert. These ice cream sandwiches are a consistent favorite (they landed in top spot after two separate taste tests). The cookies are soft and tender, and the ice cream is nice and creamy but not so creamy that the sandwiches can’t hold their form—no excessive squish here. And as we said, Trader Joe’s sources good chocolate, so the chips pressed into the sides of the sandwiches not only add texture, they taste really good, too.
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
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Gwynedd Stuart
Luke Field
Justine Sterling
Joe Rumrill
