This Viral Trader Joe’s Trend Might Change How You Eat Their Soup Dumplings

Another day, another viral food trend—and this time, frozen dumplings are taking the spotlight. Well, that’s not that unusual, to be honest: Dumplings have been the star of the show on TikTok and Instagram for what feels like forever, with people rushing to throw them into bakes, bathe them in corn starch to give them a lattice bottom, and turn them into a lasagna. You name it, dumplings have been through it. 

Now, though, people have decided that dumplings (and specifically frozen soup dumplings—you know, the kind that you can get at Trader Joe’s?) should be paired with chunks of onion. Yep. Look, it’s 2026: Anything goes.

Soup Dumplings + Onion Cups = Food Heaven(?)

This trend started appearing at the end of 2025, with creator @courtneylcook gaining serious traction over on TikTok with the idea. Here’s the long and short of it: You cook your soup dumplings as per the package instructions (you don’t have to use Trader Joe’s ones here, either—just go for your favorite frozen soup dumplings). As they’re heating up, you slice an onion in half, separating the chunks into individual “cups.” Then, you pop your soup dumpling in the cup and shove the whole thing into your mouth. And that’s it. Oh, you can add sauce too, if you want; we’ve taste-tested a bunch of them. 

Now, obviously, this all sounds like it has the potential to completely ruin your dumplings and leave you with onion breath for the rest of the day, but the logic goes that when you use an onion cup, it catches all of the soup dripping from the dumpling. It also acts as a vehicle for the food to your mouth. Plus, the onion gives you a burst of fresh, slightly acidic crunch, which provides textural and flavor contrast to the dumpling itself. 

Some Love It, Some… Don’t 

As you can probably imagine, this trend has been making a lot of noise over on the socials—and, as you’ve also probably guessed, it’s not a universal win. Some folks have very fairly pointed out that the onion distracts from the actual dumplings and gives too much spiciness to the whole affair. “I can’t say I love it,” said creator @winstonsih, before giving the trend a two out of ten. Honestly, that’s kinda fair.

Others, though, have leant into the trend and have figured out ways to make it a touch more palatable. TikToker @biteswithesther said that soaking the onion cups in ice water with rice vinegar is a “gamechanger,” as it reduces the sharpness of the onions and makes them more palatable. We’ve gotta be honest, this all sounds like a lot of work for what should be an easy-to-prepare snack. But hey, if you’re a big fan of onions, then you go for it, folks.