Trader Joe’s Shredded Hash Browns Review

Trader Joe's Shredded Hash Browns

Trader Joe’s makes a variety of hash brown styles, and we’d love to try all of them. You see, we tend to fancy ourselves as breakfast connoisseurs here at Freezer Meal Frenzy, and hash browns are a breakfast essential.

Now, we’ve reviewed Trader Joe’s Hashbrowns in the past, which is what they call their hash brown patties, and we found them to be quite good. Today, however, we’re looking at the Trader Joe’s Shredded Hash Browns. (We’re not sure why Trader Joe’s is struggling to decide whether hash browns is one word or two.)

At first glance, these seem pretty simple to cook up, though making the perfect plate of hash browns is an exercise in patience and precision. Heat up a pan to medium/hot, pour three tablespoons of oil into it, then dump in your hash browns no more than 1/2″ thick. The hash browns will sort of form into a loose patty on their own, and you’ll want to flip the whole thing over about halfway through to make sure both sides are properly browned. A large spatula is a must here, since these don’t stick together as well as a proper patty would. It’s a bit difficult to flip these without having them break into pieces.

Even though we followed the instructions to the letter, we struggled to get the timing just right. Our first effort ended up not cooking all the way through, and our second effort (shown below) ended up a bit overcooked on one side. These are finicky hash browns indeed.

Trader Joe's Shredded Hash Browns

These hash browns are a thing of true simplicity. The ingredients simply list potatoes and dextrose. That’s even fewer ingredients than are in the Trader Joe’s Hashbrowns. Now, the addition of dextrose puzzled us here, so we did some very light research on the topic. Dextrose is a type of corn sugar. According to Medical News Today, “It is similar to fructose and chemically identical to glucose, which is blood sugar.” We can’t tell if that’s a good thing or not, and even Medical News Today seems hesitant to commit to saying it’s strictly a good or bad thing.

Now, dextrose aside, the simplicity of these hash browns really works in their favor, since they don’t have the flaws of Trader Joe’s Hashbrown patties. Firstly, they don’t come out of the bag feeling greasy. And secondly, they don’t have the salty flavor that the patties have. If you like that salty flavor, you can always go ahead and add some salt, but if you don’t, you’ll definitely prefer these over the patties.

The downside to this simplicity, of course, is that they’re kind of bland on their own. We fixed ours with a side of ketchup, and they ended up tasting great. It seems clear to us that these aren’t designed to be eaten without a topping of some sort.

One bag is supposed to contain about seven servings, and a serving contains about 60 calories and 25 mg of sodium. That means a full bag weighs in at around 420 calories and 175 mg of sodium. Considering you probably won’t eat a full bag in one serving, this really isn’t that bad.

Trader Joe’s Shredded Hash Browns are a bit tricky to make, but they’re quite good. Of course, they’re also very simple, and you’ll want to serve them with ketchup (and perhaps a sprinkling of salt) to enjoy them to the fullest.

To learn more about the nutrition content or ingredients in these Trader Joe’s hash browns, check out our package scan below.

Trader Joe's Shredded Hash Browns

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