Gochujang is a flavorful condiment made from chili powder, fermented soybean, and gelatinous rice. It’s a staple of Korean cooking and can be found in many dishes we love, like bibimbap. That’s why we were pretty psyched to spot the Trader Joe’s Gochujang Vegetable Stir Fry with Zucchini Spirals at our local TJ’s.
The contents of this bag can be heated in the microwave or on the stove. We figured that we’d get better results from the stovetop method, so we followed those instructions. The process is pretty simple — it took us less than 10 minutes in total. The zucchini spirals did clump together, but once they thawed a bit, we easily broke them up with a spatula.
While there’s a pretty good amount of food here, this isn’t necessarily the heartiest of meals. A serving — which is 1/4 of the bag — contains only 50 calories, which means the entire bag is 200 calories. It’s fine as a light side, and you could easily bulk this up by adding some protein, but as it, it might not be enough to satiate you. The image below shows the contents of an entire bag.
How does it all taste? It’s pretty darn good, but you might be disappointed if you’re expecting an authentic gochujang flavor. It’s tasty, but it isn’t spicy at all. Even people that are sensitive to spice should be able to eat this without much of an issue.
The veggies, however, are cooked perfectly. We’ve found that frozen zucchini occasionally turns out mushy, but that isn’t the case here. Everything was fresh and satisfying.
The Trader Joe’s Gochujang Vegetable Stir Fry with Zucchini Spirals is extraordinarily light, and it’s lacking in the spice department. In spite of those minor complaints, this is a pretty delicious dish that’s full of healthy ingredients. As long as you’re ready to add a few extra s of your own (we paired ours with a fried egg), we’d say that it’s worth picking up.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this Trader Joe’s frozen stir fry, check out our package scans below.
