As the weather cools and the fall season really kicks off, we’ve been making our way through the tasty fall foods lineup at Trader Joe’s (and Aldi too, for that matter). But you know what? This year, we’ve had our hungry little eyes focused on one particular item: the Trader Joe’s Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese Bites. Yes, Trader Joe’s has some really good stuff in the freezer aisle this year, but these mac and cheese bites were at the very top of our list of “must-tries” for the 2022 fall season.
Admittedly, we didn’t care for TJ’s standard mac and cheese bites when we tried them back in 2018, but Trader Joe’s put in the work and re-released them with a new recipe that really won us over. If you combine that with the excellent Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese, well, baby, you really got a stew goin’!
So we need to get these into our salivating mouths as soon as possible. But first, of course, we’ve got to cook these. These are super easy to heat up, whether you choose to use a conventional oven or an air fryer. We don’t have an air fryer in the Freezer Meal Frenzy office (we’ll have to change this some day), so we went with the conventional oven. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions straight off the box, check out the package scans at the bottom of this review.)
First up, let’s address the consistency of these. These mac and cheese bites are a bit softer than we expected them to be. They are hard to even pick up with your fingers, because they fall apart so easily. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but it’s something to consider if you plan on putting these out as a finger-food appetizer.
The flavor, though, is fantastic. The breading is decent, but it’s the filling that really speaks volumes. This stuff is excellent, combining the subtle sweetness of butternut squash with the gooey cheesiness of mac and cheese. There’s a tiny bit of nutmeg thrown into the mix, but it does elevate the flavor to another level. These bites are great, and we’re so happy that we got to try them this year before they get snapped up by TJ’s fanatics.
The box claims that there are only 230 calories and 320 mg of sodium in a serving, but a serving is just three bites. A box should contain about ten. If you eat the whole box in a sitting (we admit that we did), that puts you over 690 calories and 960 mg of sodium (that math works if your box contains nine macaroni bites — it’ll be more than that if you have ten in your box).
The Trader Joe’s Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese Bites are an absolute must-try this year. If you can get to a TJ’s store and you find these in the freezer, you should definitely try to grab some before they’re gone. We think these will be pretty hard to find within the next month or so, so get ’em while you can, folks!
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for these mac and cheese bites, check out our package scans below.
