I tried 13 of Trader Joe's holiday meal items, and I'd buy 7 of them again

• I tried 13 of Trader Joe's holiday meal items to see which ingredients and appetizers were the best.

• I don't think I'd buy Trader Joe's artichoke bread pudding or Portuguese bacalhau tartelettes again.

• I was a big fan of Trader Joe's family-style meat lasagna and eggplant parmigiana sfogliatelle.

When it comes to seasonal meal items at Trader Joe's, it can be difficult to figure out what to get to entertain family and friends for the holidays.

So, I tried 13 of Trader Joe's holiday food items to see which were the best and what I wouldn't get next time.

Here's how each food item stacked up.

Editor's Note: This story was originally published on December 22, 2023, and most recently updated on December 11, 2024. Product availability varies — some items on this list may not currently be available at Trader Joe's.

The eggplant parmigiana sfogliatelle seemed like an easy-to-make appetizer.

Trader Joe's eggplant parmigiana sfogliatelle was the first time I saw sfogliatelle, an Italian pastry, used in a savory dish.

I thought the delicate layered pastry would make for a phenomenal texture.

The eggplant parmigiana sfogliatelle was a satisfying, cheesy appetizer.

When I baked the appetizer, the exterior became crispy and flaky, and the interior was moist and chewy.

The eggplant pieces pulled apart easily, though the cheesy, saucy filling was a little messy.

They were simple to make in the air fryer, and I thought they looked more elegant than anything you'd expect to come from the freezer aisle.

Trader Joe's figgy cheddar combines sweet and savory notes.

I wasn't sure if I'd like Trader Joe's figgy cheddar because I usually prefer unadulterated cheeses. However, I decided to give it a try.

The figgy cheddar was so hearty and rich that it hardly needed a cracker.

The fig flavor gave the cheese a subtle hint of sweetness, and the rum (in which the figs were marinated) contributed a light, pleasant spiced note.

The cheese paired well with the chili cracker from Trader Joe's scalloped cracker trio, as the sweetness of the fig complemented the spice.

I thought Trader Joe's mini quiche duo looked delicious.

This pack of Trader Joe's mini quiches comes with two flavors: uncured bacon with sweet onion and Swiss cheese with mushroom.

Out of the package, I thought they looked promising and perfectly portioned.

These tasty two-bite appetizers were ready in 10 minutes.

The mini quiches were surprisingly moist.

I especially liked the version with uncured bacon and sweet onion, because they had a nice smoky flavor.

My wife preferred the mushroom-and-Swiss option, but that one was a touch too mushroom-heavy for my taste.

I wasn't sure how good Trader Joe's family-style meat lasagna would actually be.

Lasagna is a holiday staple for the Italian-American half of my family, so I had high expectations for Trader Joe's family-style meat lasagna.

Don’t tell my actual family that I enjoyed the meat lasagna.

At first glance, the components of the baked lasagna were oddly distributed — all the meat sauce was on top of the noodles and the bottom layers were solely pasta and ricotta.

Luckily, there was plenty of sauce to spread around.

I wouldn't be able to pass it off as homemade, but it was good enough to buy for my family of four again.

However, if the Italian side of my family finds out I'm praising a store-bought lasagna, I might not be welcome at the next party.

Trader Joe's shrimp pouches of many colors looked like a festive treat.

If there's one thing I could tell from Trader Joe's shrimp pouches of many colors, it's that food in various hues is always better than boring old monochromatic options.

The tasty shrimp pouches were an especially fun treat for my kids.

My 3-year-old daughter squealed with delight and insisted on trying each color when she saw these festive dumplings.

I pan-fried my shrimp dumplings so they'd be crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The dumplings weren't anything super special, but they were still pretty good and fun to look at.

I'll likely serve these as an appetizer this holiday season.

Trader Joe's Brie en croûte didn’t look great, but it's hard to mess up baked cheese.

The label for Trader Joe's Brie en croûte listed all sorts of ways to gussy the thing up — like dolloping raspberry preserves or red peppers and pine nuts on top.

I went for the most basic preparation.

The baked Brie was surprisingly delicious.

On its own, the pastry-wrapped Brie didn't look like something I'd want to put out for guests.

But when I sliced into it, all the molten Brie came cascading out, and I was reminded that cheese is delicious.

I thought the Brie paired perfectly with the flaky bits of pastry.

Trader Joe's scalloped cracker trio might prove to be divisive on a cheese plate.

Many people eat crackers straight from a box, but I usually prefer them crumbled into soup or used as a vessel for a spread.

Though these crackers come in rosemary, red-chili, and garlic flavors, my family wasn't exactly thrilled to try Trader Joe's scalloped cracker trio.

I had fun experimenting with different cheese-and-cracker pairings.

The crackers were a bit thicker and less crunchy than the kinds we usually like.

That being said, they were heartier, and I could see them holding up on a charcuterie tray, especially if dipped into an antipasto spread.

Trader Joe's fried olive bites reminded me of another classic appetizer.

Trader Joe's fried olive bites looked like a simple variation of jalapeño poppers.

When I air-fried them, a lot of the cheese filling oozed out onto the appliance's tray.

The olive flavor was very powerful.

I expected a full olive stuffed with cheese, but these were more like breaded and fried cheese-filled balls of olive tapenade.

If you truly love the flavor of olives, this is the appetizer for you.

Trader Joe's holiday vegetable hash comes with a myriad of vegetables and herbs.

The label on Trader Joe's holiday hash suggests using the mix of diced butternut squash, sweet potato, red onion, and celery in soups and stuffings.

I sautéed the hash to use as a side dish.

The hash would be a better ingredient than a side dish.

The holiday hash was tasty, thanks to the sage's assertive flavor and the squash's sweetness.

However, the slightly mushy hash didn't look the most appetizing, and it even turned off my squash-loving son.

Still, I could imagine it being a time-saver if I was making a wintertime stew.

I was excited to try Trader Joe's uncured bacon-wrapped porchetta pork roast.

As a porchetta lover, I had high hopes for Trader Joe's uncured bacon-wrapped porchetta pork roast.

Per the instructions, I roasted the pork at 500 degrees Fahrenheit until the bacon was browned and crispy.

This was supposed to take 25 minutes, but the bacon didn't seem that crispy even after 30 minutes in the oven.

I still followed the instructions and lowered the temperature to 325 degrees, as I feared I'd scorch the thing.

By the time it was finished, the inside was a little dry, but the bacon wasn’t very crunchy.

I enjoy rosemary, but, in my opinion, too much of the herb was stuffed into the pork.

The meat tasted best in a sandwich alongside the holiday vegetable hash, as the vegetables and bread helped cut the rosemary flavor.

Trader Joe's cranberry chevre had pieces of fruit inside the cheese.

I assumed Trader Joe's cranberry chevre would just be goat cheese rolled in sweetened, dried cranberries. However, it looked like the fruit was also whipped into the cheese.

I might have liked the cranberry chevre if it was presented as a dessert.

I didn't find the chevre to have enough of a tangy edge.

It was OK on one of the rosemary crackers from the scalloped cracker trio, but I could also picture it on a sandwich with the porchetta and holiday hash.

Trader Joe's artichoke bread pudding looked interesting.

I didn't know what to expect from Trader Joe's artichoke bread pudding.

Judging from the label, it seemed like a reconfiguration of stuffed artichokes.

The bread pudding also came in an oven-safe casserole dish.

I thought Trader Joe's artichoke bread pudding looked unappetizing and greasy.

The oven didn't fix the bread pudding's off-putting appearance, in my opinion.

Taste-wise, it was too heavy and had a strong black-pepper flavor.

It was the type of thing that tasted good on the first bite but was unpleasant by the third.

I wasn't sure how Trader Joe's Portuguese bacalhau tartelettes would taste.

I wasn't certain if I'd like Trader Joe's Portuguese tarts, which had a filling of bechamel, egg yolks, diced potato, and salted cod.

I tried not to let the "cod custard tarts" label deter me.

To put it gently, bacalhau tarts are not for me.

We try pretty hard not to waste much food in my household but we didn't even come close to finishing the tarts.

These were a bit like a cream-based seafood chowder embedded in pastry, but they mostly tasted like goopy cod.

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