Are Trader Joe’s Onion Flowers the Answer to a Bloomin’ Onion at Home? We Tasted Them to Find Out

Fans of Outback’s Bloomin’ Onion (roughly everyone on planet Earth) have probably heard the news that Trader Joe’s came out with a frozen dupe for this iconic steakhouse app recently. They’re called “Onion Flowers” (cute!), and basically feature an entire sweet onion sliced to open like a flower and then fried in a savory golden batter. Well, we bought ‘em, and I sat down to finally pluck the petals off this bad boy. I love it, I love it not: I love it, I love it not…

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Here’s my honest review. 

New Trader Joe’s App

Trader Joe’s Onion Flowers

Trader Joe’s

Pros: This is a decent dupe of the Bloomin’ Onion and looks very artful out of the packaging. It’s not overly battered, too salty, or too greasy, and the onion has a nice fresh sweetness to it. And for less than $6 bucks, you get two onion flowers, which is a pretty good deal (especially compared to Outback).

Cons: This is hard to heat right, and that’s a big shame. The tricky part is getting it to thaw in the middle without burning the edges. The box comes with oven and air-fry directions, and I opted for air-frying, which I think was a mistake—I had to cook it way longer than the recommended time (11 minutes), and sort of disfigure the middle to make sure it would cook. And that’s not my only con, I’m sorry to say. THERE IS NO SAUCE. It comes sauceless. A big shame, considering there is a lovely photo of what looks like the Outback’s Bloomin’ Onion sauce on the box. 

Verdict: I think my hopes were just a little too high for this new Trader Joe’s appetizer. I’m happy it exists, but I wonder if adjustments can be made down the line. 

Credit: Liv Averett / Trader Joe’s

Rating:

5.5/10

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