Trader Joe’s Artichoke Timbales Review

When done properly, artichoke hearts can be absolutely incredible. So today we’re checking out the Trader Joe’s Artichoke Timbales, which we’re pretty dang excited about. According to the Trader Joe’s website, these are “an interesting way to serve vegetables at the dinner table,” and we’re itching to put those words to the test.

And that, of course, means we’re going to have to do some cookin’. The package does grant you permission to heat these in the microwave, but we thought they really deserved some oven lovin’. We won’t walk you through the whole process of cooking them here, but we did post some package scans at the bottom of this review in case you want to read the cooking instructions straight off the bag.

Now, if we understand the timbale concept correctly, they generally have a crust of some kind. In fact, in the novel The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, there’s a macaroni timbale, and the book describes “The burnished gold of the crusts.” Now, if you’re thinking that our staff must really be cultured to drop such a specific reference, just know that we got this information on Wikipedia. We’re not as cultured as you’re giving us credit for being…

These Trader Joe’s timbales, however, do not have a crust of any sort. They come in paper trays, but there’s no breading of any kind — just the part that we’d refer to as “filling.”

These are definitely made for folks with a passionate love for artichoke, as that’s the main ingredient. These mostly just taste like artichoke. While the package does mention parmesan and grana padano cheeses, neither of them makes a huge difference here. Basically, these are paper cups filled with mashed artichoke, with just hints of parmesan to enhance the flavor.

One timbale contains 130 calories and 550 mg of sodium, which means the full bag contains 530 calories and 2,220 mg of sodium. While it is perfectly possible to eat all four of these timbales in a single sitting, we definitely don’t think that’s what TJ’s intended. Each one of these is about the size of the bottom part of a muffin, and they do have some weight to them. We think two timbales is probably a pretty decent serving size.

The Trader Joe’s Artichoke Timbales are decent, and we can’t argue with TJ’s statement that they’re “an interesting way to serve vegetables at the dinner table.” However, you really need to have a strong appreciation for artichoke hearts to enjoy these, as they’re almost nothing but artichoke. As people with a casual appreciation for artichoke, we found these to be decent-tasting, but maybe a little too much.

Oh, and we think that a pastry crust would have really taken these to the next level, so it’s a shame TJ’s skimped on that part. Perhaps they just need to read more Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa…

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