Trader Joe’s frozen appetizer line just keeps on growing. For example, they recently released the Trader Joe’s Olive Chicken Bites. Now, these olive bites are not really like anything else we’ve reviewed here at Freezer Meal Frenzy, so we’ve been interested in checking these out ever since they were announced.
Well, today is the day, folks. Today we’re reviewing the Trader Joe’s Olive Chicken Bites. We’re really curious about how these will taste.
First, of course, we must cook these. The box offers two different cooking methods: the microwave or the oven. We had some extra time on our hands, so we went with the oven. We also think cooking these in the oven will lead to crispier shells, and these seem like they need to be a little bit crispy. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions straight off the box, check out our package scans below.)
When we first picked these up, we sort of expected something similar to a batch of jalapeño poppers. But that’s not what these are. No, these are more like ball-shaped chicken nuggets, each with a green olive in the center. So you’ve got an olive in the middle, surrounded by a ball of processed chicken, which in turn is coated in a breading.
Without question, it’s the olive part of that equation that makes these stand out. The bitter, salty, olivey flavor adds a whole new dimension to the flavor profile here. Without the olives, we would have been tempted to find a good dipping sauce for these. With the olives, though, we don’t need one. The only downside is that the olive flavor is pretty rich, so if you eat these one after the other, eventually the olive flavor just takes over. These are best when eaten just a few at a time.
The chicken here is fantastic. It’s really soft and juicy, so it absorbs a lot of the olive flavor and ends up being really flavorful as a result. And the breading tastes pretty good as well.
The box says you should expect to find ten Olive Chicken Bites inside, but our package had 11. The box also recommends a serving size of three. If you stick with the package recommendation, you’re looking at 120 calories and 590 mg of sodium. If you eat the whole box in one sitting, well, you’re at way, way more than that. It’s hard to do the math on this, because the total amount of bites doesn’t really divide neatly into servings of three. But if you eat nine bites, you’re up to 360 calories and 1,770 mg of sodium. And nine bites still isn’t a full box.
But really, three bites does seem like the right amount here. These are designed to be an appetizer, not a full meal, so there’s no reason to overindulge. These are also more filling than we expected them to be. If you serve these as an appetizer or a side dish, we don’t think you’ll have trouble sticking with just three.
When you get down to it, the Trader Joe’s Olive Chicken Bites are really just an olive-filled twist on chicken nuggets. That said, they’re still really good. The olive flavor adds a little extra something, and the ingredients here are all really high in quality. We definitely feel comfortable recommending these!
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for these Trader Joe’s frozen appetizers, check out our package scans below.
