Trader Joe’s makes some incredible jerk chicken. We highly recommend their delicious Grilled Jerk Chicken Thigh Skewers, which are a tasty treat for lovers of meat. As it turns out, the folks at TJ’s managed to put this stuff into a burrito to create the Trader Joe’s Jerk Chicken Burrito. What jerks!
So, we know this isn’t a frozen food, but since we’re huge fans of burritos (and we’ve already reviewed several of TJ’s other non-frozen burritos), we figured no one would mind that we strayed from the freezer aisle. Plus, this won’t last long in the fridge, so we need to review it while it’s fresh!
To cook this, you’ll want to loosen the wrapper, then chuck it into the microwave for two minutes, flipping it over at about the halfway point. We’ve struggled with TJ’s burrito wrappers in the past, but then we learned that we could cut open the wrapper with a pair of scissors instead of trying to rip it apart — this works much better.
Note that there are also oven instructions on the package, and you can read those if you scroll down to the bottom of this review. For the sake of today’s meal, though, we just used the microwave.
Before we even cooked this, we noticed that the shell was really damp. Now, it was extremely humid out the day we bought this, so that might have been a factor, but it did make the shell soggy and hard to hold.
That said, we’re always impressed by how full Trader Joe’s manages to stuff their non-frozen burritos. This thing is absolutely packed with filling.
The jerk chicken is the first thing that stands out, as it has a lovely flavor and a spicy kick to it. It also has that stringy consistency of pulled chicken, which is really appealing in a burrito like this one.
The next thing to stand out, however, is the fruit salsa. It adds a sweetness that complements the spicy chicken in the best of ways. The sweet-and-spicy combo here makes this burrito a craveable treat.
Then you’ve got some kidney beans which add a nice soft crunch, and some coconut rice to round out the mix.
Now, there’s an authentic Jamaican restaurant not far from the Freezer Meal Frenzy office, and we’ve stopped there for jerk chicken a few times now. Their jerk chicken is served with a fruit salsa on a bed of kidney beans and rice. This burrito is basically that exact meal inside a wrap. The taste is surprisingly authentic (if our local restaurant is a measuring stick of authenticity), and we do think we’re going to be tempted to grab one of these burritos every time we go out to Trader Joe’s now. This is a really great flavor combination.
This does contain 480 calories and 930 mg of sodium, and both of those numbers are a bit higher than you’d expect from your average frozen meal. That said, we’ve seen worse in the TJ’s burrito lineup, and this thing is filling enough that we think we can justify those numbers as long as we don’t try to make this a regular meal — we are tempted to make it a regular meal though…
The Trader Joe’s Jerk Chicken Burrito is a Jamaican-style treat that really tickles our taste buds. While the shell of our burrito was a little soggy, everything inside it was incredibly delicious. Plus, we think the weather might have been a contributing factor in the sogginess, so it’s hard to hold Trader Joe’s feet over the fire on that one.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this Trader Joe’s burrito, check out our package scan below.
It would be really helpful if you could start the review with a rating of some sort!