We tasted every Trader Joe’s granola we could get our hands on and ranked them. Our favorite is Organic Toasted Coconut Granola, but the runner-up was quite a surprise to us.
Like many busy people who want a quick breakfast or snack, I always keep some granola in my pantry. As much as I prefer making my granola, sometimes I’m pressed for time, which is where the store-bought stuff comes in. Of course, there are many different grocery stores where you can buy granola, but because some of my colleagues are die-hard Trader Joe’s fans, we recently decided to try every single TJ’s granola we could find in the New York area at both suburban and metropolitan locations of the store. Then we tasted them all and ranked them in order, from the one we’d keep on hand at all times to the one that’d likely get pushed to the back of our pantries. Why did we do this? Because that’s just the kind of weirdos we are—and because we hope it’ll help you narrow down the options at your local Trader Joe’s.
Because we were ranking these granolas, we did not sample them blindly like we usually do for our taste tests. We did, however, sample them in random order, with each taster going in a different order to avoid palate fatigue skewing the results. After crunching our way through eight different granolas, we tabulated the results and came up with our definitive ranking.
Caveat: As any Trader Joe’s shopper knows, what’s in stock varies from shop to shop, season to season, and whatever other whims of TJ’s we’re not privy to. So, before you ask why we didn’t try the supercrunchynuttywhoha variety you love, know that we did our best to round up as many as possible. So, with no further ado, the rankings, from back-of-the-pantry to pride-of-place atop our yogurt and in our snack baggies.
8. Very Berry Granola
Our editors loved that this granola is packed with dried blueberries and strawberries. It is nicely crunchy but slightly too sweet for our editors, who found its flavor and aroma a little overpowering for a breakfast cereal.
7. Chocolate–Peanut Butter Granola
Our senior social media editor, Kelli, liked that she could taste both the chocolate and peanut butter here, and our visuals editor, Jessie, liked that it wasn’t too sweet. “I can eat it, almost want it,” our editorial director, Daniel, humorously noted. Chocolate lovers note: There are chunks of chocolate here!
6. Chocolate–Coffee Flavored Granola
The combination of chocolate and coffee is a classic, and many of our editors love it. “Nice and chocolatey,” I wrote in my tasting notes. The coffee is very faint; there’s just a hint.” Though I wish this granola were more coffee-forward, others were fine with it as-is. “Very cocoa, not much coffee, but I’m OK with it,” Kelli noted.
5. Just the Clusters Maple-Pecan Granola
“Not very sweet, which isn’t a bad thing,” our associate culinary editor, Laila, observed. Our editors were divided on whether this tasted more like real or artificial maple syrup: Jessie thought the granola had the flavor of natural maple syrup, while Kelli thought it tasted “faintly of fake maple syrup.” The ingredients list reveals the cereal contains both maple syrup and natural flavors, so it’s possible that both Jessie and Kelli are correct and that in addition to real maple syrup, there is also a maple-mimicking flavoring. Both associate visuals director, Amanda, and I found this granola a touch too sweet, but I did enjoy the nuttiness of the pecans.
4. Almond Butter Granola
If you love crunchy granola with big clusters, this is the granola for you. Almost all our tasters commented on how big the clusters are. “The clusters are HUGE,” I enthused. “This might be the crunchiest granola I’ve ever eaten,” Kelli wrote. Though Laila could not taste the almond butter, Daniel thought it had a strong almond flavor: “Very almond, really almond flavor!”
3. Just the Clusters Vanilla Almond Granola
This was, by far, Amanda’s favorite granola. “Look, if I’m going to be a basic granola girl, I’m going to be the most basic of the basic,” she wrote. Like Amanda, Laila enjoyed this granola. “Very sweet, very vanilla-forward,” she noted. “Doesn’t taste like ‘wholesome’ granola, but the vanilla flavor—bordering on artificial—is weirdly pleasant. I’d eat it.”
2. Grainless Granola
Surprise! Our runner-up is…grainless granola! “Oh, this is good,” Daniel gushed. “Very coconutty, nutty, toasty, tasty, good salt seasoning. I approve.” Like Daniel, I was a fan of how nicely salty the cereal is and appreciated that it isn’t too sweet. I also liked that it has appropriately-sized clusters—not nonexistent or small but not so big they hurt your jaw—and plenty of coconut. Amanda agreed: “I adore how coconutty this one is,” she wrote.
1. Organic Toasted Coconut Granola
“I think I just love coconut in my granola,” Amanda wrote. Apparently, all of our editors do: Daniel and I both gave it rave reviews. “Nice hint of salt! Not too sweet. This is the only truly balanced granola so far,” I noted. Similarly, Laila enjoyed the granola’s saltiness and the varied textures of crunchy corn flakes, coconut chips, almonds, and sprouted quinoa.
