The Trader Joe’s Loaded Potatoes aren’t new — they seem to have launched at some point in the summer of 2021. However, we somehow completely missed them when they were new. Yes, we Freezer Meal Frenzy folks tend to keep our ear to the soil when it comes to Trader Joe’s food releases, but this one escaped us. It’s a strange thing, because this is one of those meals that people go absolutely wild for.
Now, admittedly, we publish one review per day in normal times, and more than one new frozen meal comes out per day on average, so unless we grow our staff and start pushing out multiple reviews per day, we’re never going to catch up. And that means that things will inevitably slip through the cracks pretty much all the time. There are dozens — nay, hundreds — of frozen food items that we’d still love to take a crack at, and while we’ve been pushing through some of those, our backlog only grows and grows over time. It never shrinks. Such is life.
Anyway, now that our little ramble is over, let’s cook some potatoes! The box gives instructions for both the oven and the microwave, but we’re told that the microwave isn’t kind to these taters. And we believe it! We definitely think these deserve the baking treatment in the oven, so that’s the cooking method we used today. It takes a surprisingly long time, with 30 minutes of required cook time, but it’s probably worth it to avoid soupy potatoes. Probably… (If you want to read the full cooking instructions for both methods, check out the package scans at the bottom of this review.)
This comes out of the oven looking like a dream and smelling just as good. But looks and scent are not as important as taste, so let’s talk about the flavor.
First up, the potatoes are sort of diced up into cubes. A few pieces around the edge of the dish end up a little dry, but not terribly so. The rest of the potatoes, though? These are primo-quality stuff, with that starchy, earthy flavor and the skins left on the outside edges. And really, removing the skins would have been a crime for a dish like this.
The part that really, really matters, though, is that topping, which starts with a blend of cheese. Yes, you’ve got gooey gobs of cheddar and mozzarella, which is delightful. The cheddar is more of a sauce, but there is some shredded cheddar in the mix as well. Plus, the mozzarella adds just a little bit of stretchiness to the whole thing.
And then there are tomatoes, chives, and jalapeño peppers tossed into the mix for added flavor and just a little bit of spiciness. No, it won’t burn your mouth or anything, but there is a nice little kick to this dish that we really appreciated. Plus, the sweetness of the tomatoes contrasts really well with the hearty, savory quality of the rest of the dish.
There’s also some ground beef here, but it’s really not much. It does add a little bit of texture to the meal, but we would have honestly been completely fine without the beef at all. Plus, that would have allowed us to share this with our vegetarian friends.
We do think a little dab of sour cream would really complete this package. There’s not any in this meal by default, but we do think that added a scoop of your own would really take this dish to the next level.
One dish of these potatoes contains 490 calories and 880 mg of sodium. Both of those numbers are a little high, but due to the amount of potatoes here, this ends up being pretty hearty and filling. We definitely didn’t want more food after eating all of this.
The Trader Joe’s Loaded Potatoes are quite good, which is mostly because of the toppings. While you could take this over the top by adding a little bit of sour cream, what’s in the box is actually pretty satisfying as is.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this batch o’ potatoes, check out our package scans below.
