Trader Joe's Shoppers Are Raving About a Popular Frozen Item: 'Always in My Freezer'
The frozen section at Trader Joe's has some great buys, especially when it comes to appetizers. This week, a TJ's shopper posted a pic on Reddit of a long-time fan favorite: Chicken Gyoza Potstickers. These chicken and vegetable dumplings come fully cooked, ready to heat and serve—making them a quick and easy way to get the beloved Asian-style appetizer into your belly in a hurry, according to Redditors.
"The potstickers are so good," wrote the original poster, "one of my favorites."
Fellow Redditors were quick to chime in, and for some, it brought back nostalgic memories of the popular TJ's item, which is made with wheat flour wrappers filled with chicken, cabbage, and onion and seasoned with soy sauce, sesame seed oil, and ginger powder.
One poster recalled first trying the potstickers as a kid when Trader Joe's was giving out samples and joked about how the employee kept feeding them what amounted to a whole meal's worth of taste tests. "I'm now 35 so this was probably like 20 years ago and obviously it left a lasting impression," the person posted. "We always had a bag in the freezer after that!! I haven't bought them for myself in years though so maybe it's time to get some again!"
Other posters mentioned pork and veggie versions of the product.
"I prefer the pork one, but these are good too," a Redditor said. "One of my favorite quick meals is cooking them in my wok with a green vegetable (Brussel sprouts, green beans, or broccoli) and finishing with a sauce (usually soy, oyster, and sesame oil with scallions and sesame seeds)."
Another poster suggested making them in an air fryer, while another person cooked them in soup.
"I put them in broth with any random leftover veggies I have – put a bit of toasted sesame oil on top and a shot of rice vinegar – so flippin good!"
Yet another poster said their favorite method is to bake them and then fry them up in a skillet to make them extra crispy. Yum!
Some even said that the Trader Joe's version of this traditional dish holds up next to versions from Asian restaurants—even the ones you can get in Chinatown—while others preferred it to the ones from Ling Ling, an authentic Asian frozen foods purveyor.
"I'm Chinese American and my family thought Ling Ling's were too sweet (a lot of Americanized Chinese food is like that)," the poster wrote. "I like Trader Joe's much more and used to rely on their dumplings when I didn't have easy access to a Chinatown."
"Beats Ling Ling Potstickers 1000%" another Redditor chimed in.
Still others preferred TJ's crescent-shaped dumplings to ones they found at Costco. TJ's suggests serving the potstickers with their Gyoza Dipping Sauce or just putting them on a bed of greens with a simple soy-sesame vinaigrette. These fans certainly make a pretty good case for keeping a bag in your freezer for the moment a potsticker craving strikes—no wrapper folding required!
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