Every year, when the leaves turn red and orange and the cool, crisp autumn weather arrives, my truest self emerges: She who dons cozy sweaters, frolics in the apple orchard, bakes with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves, and…yes, eagerly consumes all things pumpkin. One of the best places to scout for pumpkin products? Trader Joe’s. Every year, I make a pilgrimage to the grocery store just for their seasonal pumpkin treats—and there are many. The question is: Which are worth facing the notorious Trader Joe’s crowds to get this fall?
To find the Trader Joe’s pumpkin products worth buying, we visited our local Trader Joe’s and crammed our cart with every single pumpkin product we could find, lugged them to the office, and taste-tested and took notes on all of them. While many of them were delicious and wonderfully autumnal, not all of them passed the sniff test. Below, you’ll find the Trader Joe’s pumpkin products we think are worth buying for your Halloween or harvest party—or just because you need a little pumpkin-flavored joy right now.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Our Favorite Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Products
Pumpkin Bread & Muffin Mix
Following the package directions, we whipped up a loaf of pumpkin bread using this baking mix. Both our associate visuals director, Amanda, and I were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed this loaf. Spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice, the bread is balanced and not too sweet. “Good flavor, nice spice level, no complaints,” our editorial director, Daniel, noted. “Excellent texture, this is good.” Like all of us, our colleague Allisen Lichtenstein, a project manager at People Inc., thought it “was actually really tasty.” It took less than five minutes to prep, too: All we had to do was whisk in some eggs, oil, and water before popping it into the oven.
Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli
Daniel, Jessie, and our visuals editor, Jessie, thought these ravioli filled with honey-roasted pumpkin, ricotta, and mozzarella were good. “I can taste the pumpkin in there,” Jessie noted (being able to taste pumpkin is not a given with pumpkin products). “I like the bi-color pasta thing here, it’s cute,” Daniel said of the yellow and orange colors on the pasta dough. Made with fresh pasta dough, the ravioli takes just two and a half minutes to cook. We tossed it with some plain butter, but we agree it would be even better served with brown butter and fried sage (Check out Daniel’s recipe for malfatti for instructions on frying sage.)
Pumpkin Waffles
Amanda, Jessie, and I enjoyed these frozen waffles, which we heated in a toaster, but did not find them particularly pumpkin-y. Daniel, however, thought they had “good pumpkin aroma and flavor without being overbearing.” We all thought they were nicely crisp and tender; I found these slightly dry, but they probably would have been fine with some maple syrup.
Pumpkin Pancake and Waffle Mix
Except for Amanda, all the tasters enjoyed the pancakes made from this mix (Amanda found them a bit too mushy for her taste and would have preferred homemade pancakes). Jessie enjoyed its “subtle warm spiced flavor” and “soft, pillowy center,” and I liked that these weren’t too sweet. “Tastes like fall,” Daniel wrote.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Pumpkin Brioche Twist
Every one of us loved how plush, tender, and buttery this bread was—but none of us could detect actual pumpkin in it. (According to the ingredients list, this bread does contain pumpkin purée. We just couldn’t aste it.) “The thing about me is I love brioche in almost all forms, so this was pleasant,” Amanda noted. “However, I’d say the pumpkin flavoring is minimal and the cinnamon really takes center stage.”
Pumpkin & Spice Snickerdoodle Cookie Mix
Once again, we couldn’t quite taste the difference between this pumpkin snickerdoodle and a regular snickerdoodle, but these cookies were so good that it didn’t matter to us. “Nice texture, dense and chewy, which feels right for this kind of cookie,” Daniel wrote. I loved that they were tender with some bite, and though they were coated in a spiced sugar mix, they didn’t taste cloyingly sweet.
We weren’t able to get our hands on Trader Joe’s very popular pumpkin gnocchi, the mini pumpkin-ginger ice cream cones, and a few other fan favorites, nor could we find some of TJ’s newest products, such as the pumpkin bars and pecan-pumpkin oatmeal, but rest assured, as soon as we see them, we’ll taste them.
Serious Eats / Megan O. Steintrager
The Contenders
- Autumnal Harvest Creamy Pasta Sauce
- Fall Harvest Salsa
- Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli
- Pumpkin & Spice Brioche Style Liège Waffles
- Pumpkin & Spice Snickerdoodle Cookie Mix
- Pumpkin Bisque
- Pumpkin Bread & Muffin Mix
- Pumpkin Brioche Twist
- Pumpkin Butter
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Croissants
- Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread
- Pumpkin Joe-Joe’s Cookies
- Pumpkin Overnight Oats
- Pumpkin Pancake and Waffle Mix
- Pumpkin Tortilla Chips
- Pumpkin Waffles
Serious Eats / Megan O. Steintrager
