Trader Joe’s Lemongrass Chicken Stix Review

Trader Joe's Lemongrass Chicken Stix

We’ve been known to enjoy a good plate of spring rolls every now and again. Trader Joe’s Lemongrass Chicken Stix are actually a lot more like Lean Cuisine’s take on spring rolls than Trader Joe’s usual version — they’re skinnier and crispier than, say, the Trader Joe’s Mango and Sticky Rice Spring Rolls. These are actually what you’d call Thai-style spring rolls, and the packaging confirms this — these are a part of the Thai Joe’s line, after all.

We’ve been hoping to try these for a while now, and today is the day of reckoning.

When you open the box, you’ll find a plastic bag that holds all of the sticks. The box claims you should expect about ten sticks inside, and ours had exactly that.

Trader Joe's Lemongrass Chicken Stix

These sticks are not designed to be heated in the microwave. You can either deep fry them, or bake them on a cookie sheet. We went with the baking method, since we don’t have a deep fryer. All you have to do is preheat your oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit, then stick these on a cookie sheet and bake for about ten minutes. Easy peasy.

Even when cooked in the oven, these things end up pretty greasy. Ours came out with a shiny layer of grease on them. After letting them cool for a few minutes the grease seemed to retreat back into the shells from whence it came. Even so, you’ll definitely want to keep a napkin handy when eating these.

Trader Joe's Lemongrass Chicken Stix

Even though they’ll give you the greasy-finger effect, the shells are actually pretty crispy. There’s a satisfying light crunch every time you bite into one of these, which makes them a treat.

Now, these contain lemongrass-flavored chicken, with a heavy, heavy emphasis on the lemon part. And it’s not a natural lemon flavor, but a suspiciously artificial one. In fact, we would say these sticks taste strikingly similar to lemon-flavored Trix cereal pieces. Don’t get us wrong, these are actually pretty good, but anyone expecting a batch of savory Thai-style chicken spring rolls is going to be disappointed (for those people, we’d recommend the Lean Cuisine Garlic Chicken Spring Rolls).

These sticks don’t contain a ludicrous amount of calories. There are about 100 calories in the box’s recommended serving size, which is only two sticks. Of  course, we doubt you’ll just eat two of these — this feels more like it was designed to be split between two people. Five sticks, then, will run you about 250 calories. Still not bad, right? Each stick has about 100 mg of sodium, so half a box weighs in at 500 mg, which is less than your average frozen food. If you can stop eating at half a box, these actually make a pretty lightweight meal. Of course, if you eat the full box, all that lightweight talk goes out the window.

The Trader Joe’s Lemongrass Chicken Stix are not what we expected. They taste more like candy than any Thai-inspired dish should. That said, they are actually pretty tasty. If you’ve a hankerin’ for a whole lot of lemon flavor, these will satisfy that craving. If you want something a bit more savory, you’re best trying something else. As we mentioned in an earlier paragraph, the Lean Cuisine Garlic Chicken Spring Rolls might scratch that itch for you.

To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen food, check out our package scans below.

Trader Joe's Lemongrass Chicken Stix

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