Enthusiasm for microwavable burritos is kind of a thing with us. In fact, burritos were the initial inspiration behind Freezer Meal Frenzy. So you’ll have to forgive us for straying from the freezer aisle once in a while to see what other burrito options are out there. The Trader Joe’s Carnitas with Salsa Verde Burrito, for example, is not a frozen burrito; this one can be found in the refrigerated section.
This isn’t our first voyage into non-frozen Trader Joe’s burritos. In fact, we’ve already sampled the Super Burrito! and the Pollo Asado Burrito. Today, we’re going back to the fridge to indulge once again. We’ll go back to reviewing actual frozen food tomorrow, we promise!
The Trader Joe’s Carnitas with Salsa Verde Burrito can be heated in the microwave or the oven, but we opted for the microwave. It’s just so much more convenient to heat something for two minutes rather than 30 to 35. It comes out just fine if you use the microwave, though the tortilla would definitely be crispier if you opted for the oven. (If you want to see the full cooking instructions, check out our package scan at the bottom of this review.)
It’s hard to tell from the image below, but this burrito has a lot of shell to it. This tortilla is thicker than average, and it seems like a pretty sizeable portion of this burrito ends up double-wrapped. We actually don’t see this as a problem, as the shell is not bad. If this were a lower-quality tortilla, we might be a little bummed out, but this one tastes pretty good.
Inside the burrito is a mix of pork (carnitas), black beans, and brown rice, with just a little bit of pepper jack cheese. Let’s break down each component.
The pork is quite good. It’s stringy and rich with flavor, making it a joy to eat. While some burritos opt for a lower-quality pork, this one goes all out. We really appreciate that. Of course, the package calls this a “spicy” pork, and we heartily disagree. There’s no discernable spiciness to this burrito — it’s as mild as can be.
The black beans are really soft. Sometimes, black beans inside frozen burritos can get dried out and crunchy on the outside, but these ones are soft all the way through. We actually prefer our black beans to be soft, so we really enjoyed this. It’s possible that oven cooking might change this, however, though we can’t really comment on that since we didn’t use the oven for this (as we mentioned earlier).
The brown rice might seem like a boring choice on paper, but this one is loaded with a lovely cilantro lime flavor. That ensures that every bite is citrusy and fresh-tasting, and this is a great combination for the juiciness of the pork.
Unfortunately, there’s just not enough pepper jack cheese for us to even really comment on it. We’re sure it’s inside there somewhere, we just didn’t really notice it.
If you scan the nutrition facts really quickly, the first thing you’ll notice is probably the 270 calories. But when you look closer, you’ll realize that you’ll need to double that, because the 270 number is for half a burrito only. If you eat the whole thing in a sitting (which is quite likely), you’re at 540 calories instead. That’s kind of a lot.
The Trader Joe’s Carnitas with Salsa Verde Burrito is a great-tasting burrito that can be found in the refrigerator at Trader Joe’s. In a perfect world, this would have more cheese and fewer calories, but in the reality we occupy, this thing ain’t half bad.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this Trader Joe’s burrito, check out our package scans below.
